Wikileaks | Eritrea: ‘How to escape from Asmara’ [full text]

Everyday thousands of Eritreans cross to Ethiopia and other neighbor countries to escape mandatory indefinite conscription, forced labor and countless forms political and economic repression unleashed by the regime in Asmara.

That much we all know, or can find out from reports of the UNHCR.

Yet, little do we know about the costs and risks involved in this endeavor.

A leaked Cable of US Embassy Asmara, dated Dec. 2008 and classified as ‘Confidential’, presents an brief insightful description of the process, which the Embassy compiled ‘from numerous sources, including people planning to leave Eritrea and the relatives of people who fled (both successfully and unsuccessfully), to gain insight on how people leave Eritrea illegally.’

You are encouraged to read the full text of the Cable below.

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Reference ID – 08ASMARA575
Created – 2008-12-04 11:11
Released – 2011-08-30 01:44
Classification – CONFIDENTIAL
Origin – Embassy Asmara

VZCZCXRO8463
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHAE #0575/01 3391111
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 041111Z DEC 08 ZDS
FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0045
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUMICEA/JICCENT MACDIALAAFB FL
RUEKBIB/DIA WASHDC
RHRMDAB/COMUSNAVCENT
RUEPADJ/CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASMARA 000575
C O R R E C T E D  C O P Y  (SIGNATURE)
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E,
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
E.O. 12958:  DECL:  12/03/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF KTIP ER

SUBJECT:  HOW TO ESCAPE FROM ERITREA
ASMARA 00000575  001.2 OF 002
Classified By:  CDA Matthew D. Smith for Reason 1.4 (d)

¶1.  (C) SUMMARY:  All young Eritreans have "a plan" for getting out of the country.  Those who must leave illegally, however, face potential capture by Eritrean police and military from the early planning stages up to when they cross the border.  Post compiled information from numerous sources, including people planning to leave Eritrea and the relatives of people who fled (both successfully and unsuccessfully), to gain insight on how people leave Eritrea illegally.  END SUMMARY.

NATIONAL SERVICE ) A LIFETIME COMMITMENT
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¶2.  (C) Eritrean 20-somethings experience an extremely hard life.  The GSE conscripts the majority of Eritrea’s youth into military service and gives them little hope for eventual demobilization, while the lucky ones receive training at one of Eritrea’s technical schools.  After graduation, technical school graduates must enter into open-ended civil service jobs at one of the government ministries or para-statal companies, where the Eritrean government pays them between $3 and $30 per month.  Until Eritreans complete their national service requirement, the GSE will not allow them to obtain a passport or exit the country legally.  The unending service requirement, lack of opportunity, slave wages, basic commodity shortages, and general feeling of hopelessness lead many young Eritreans to leave the country illegally in search of a better life.

MAKING ARRANGEMENTS WITH FACILITATORS
—————————-Q-Q——
¶3. ( ) Fleeing Eritreans must first find a facilitator to make the arrangements.  The GSE is very keen to break these human smuggling rings and dispatches agents to pose as potential customers.  Other agents pose as facilitators, making all of the supposed smuggling arrangements prior to having the unsuspecting person arrested.  Several Eritreans told Emboff about friends apprehended by GSE police shortly before attempting to escape.  The GSE jailed these people from several months up to two years.  The police usually send AWOL soldiers back to their units where they are often severaly beaten, according to many Embassy contacts.  After finding a facilitator, a person waits for several weeks while the smuggler makes the final arrangements.  One Embassy contact told Emboff that Eritreans living in Uganda and Sudan often act as go-betweens, in an effort to compartmentalize the ring’s operations.

COST OF SERVICE
—————
¶4.  (C) The smugglers charge a non-negotiable price that has increased substantially over the past several years.  The most expensive and reliable service costs $4,000/person, and includes front-door service from Asmara to the Sudanese border.  A less expensive ($1,000/person) but more dangerous smuggling route originates in Tessenai, near the Sudanese border.  GSE soldiers tightly control the roads leading to Tessenai, and Eritreans unable to prove completion of national service are usually not allowed near the city. Passage from Mendefera (30 miles south of Asmara) to Ethiopia costs $1,000 to $1,300/person.  Eritreans living abroad often pay the fee for their relatives’ escape in hard currency to banks outside Eritrea.  Other Eritreans directly pay either the facilitator or the driver in local currency.

ONE SMUGGLING ROUTE EXPLAINED
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¶5.  (C) An Eritrean recently told Emboff about her sister’s escape from Eritrea.  A driver picked up the woman and gogk her to a oaoe house in Asmara, where she was later joined by fifteen other people.  After several days, a different driver drove all fifteen people to another safe house in the small coastal town of Tio (150 miles southeast of Asmara).  The smugglers issued the males Eritrean College of Marine Biology student identity cards, and instructed the men to present the IDs at checkpoints.  The smugglers said the females did not need false IDs.  After several days, a different driver drove the passengers north to Karora, a Rashaida village on the Eritrea/Sudan border.  Along the route, the Eritrean military stopped the vehicle numerous times, where they checked and accepted the male passenger’s fake ID cards.
ASMARA 00000575  002.3 OF 002

¶6.  (C) The passengers waited in Karora for several days until 30 more smuggled Eritreans arrived.  During this time, the villagers demanded money for the passengers’ care and feeding, and implied they would inform GSE officials if they were not paid.   A Rashaida villager eventually guided all 46 smuggled Eritreans across the Eritrea/Sudan border on foot. The guide left the Eritreans a few miles from the refugee camp, but told them to "walk toward the lights."  The Eritreans said they encountered Sudanese police while walking to the camp, but they seemed strangely uninterested in the Eritreans’ presence.  All Eritreans making this particular journey arrived safely at the refugee camp.

SMITH

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