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### Viewing cable 08ASMARA543, BIO NOTES ON ERITREAN PRESIDENT ISAIAS AFWERKI

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08ASMARA543 | 2008-11-12 10:10 | 2010-12-15 21:09 | SECRET//NOFORN | Embassy Asmara

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    P 121055Z NOV 08
    FM AMEMBASSY ASMARA
    TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0005
    INFO AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
    R
    E
    DJ/AMEMBASSY QJQBOUTI 3104
    AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
    AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
    SECDEF WASHDC
    CIA WASHDC
    DIA WASHDC
    NSC WASHDC
    CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
    JICCENT MACDILL AFB FL
    CJTF-HOA J2X CAMP LEMONIER DJ
    HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
    COMUSNAVCENT

` `

    S E C R E T ASMARA 000543

    NOFORN

    DEPT FOR AF/EX AND AF/E

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2010
    TAGS: PINR ER
    SUBJECT: BIO NOTES ON ERITREAN PRESIDENT ISAIAS AFWERKI

    REF: ASMARA 345 "IS ISAIAS UNHINGED?"

    Classified By: Ambassador Ronald K. McMullen for reason 1.4(d)

    ¶1. (C) Summary: Isaias is an austere and narcissistic
    dictator whose political ballast derives from Maoist ideology
    fine-tuned during Eritrea's 30-year war for independence. He
    is paranoid and believes Ethiopian PM Meles tried to kill him
    and that the United States will attempt to assassinate him.
    He is not notably nepotistic and has not favored his
    ancestral village or immediate family. This message includes
    some biographic tidbits offered as an addendum to USG bio
    information on foreign government leaders. End Summary.

    ¶2. (C) Aiming for 112: Isaias, 62, told a visiting German
    parliamentarian in late 2008 that he is healthy and expects
    to live another 40 or 50 years. He said he hopes to serve
    his country as long as he is able. In a May 2008 television
    interview, Isaias said Eritrea might hold elections "in three
    or four decades."

    ¶3. (S/NF) An Alleged Ethiopian Assassination Attempt:
    Isaias and Meles, brothers in arms during the 1980s, are now
    blood enemies. Why? In 1996, while returning from a
    vacation in Kenya, Isaias, his family, and his inner
    entourage stopped in Addis, where Meles offered to fly them
    back to Asmara in one of his aircraft. Isaias accepted the
    offer; en route the aircraft caught fire, but managed to turn
    back and land safely in Addis. According to someone who was
    on the aircraft, an infuriatd Isaias accuse Meles to his
    face of trying to kill him and his family. Isaias has not
    trusted Meles since, according to this source.

    ¶4. (S) Fears of an American Assassination Attempt: Isaias
    thinks the United States will attempt to kill him by missile
    strike on his residence in the city of Massawa, according to
    late 2007 information from the Force Commander of UNMEE.

    ¶5. (C) Holier Than Thou: Isaias has berated the Chinese
    ambassador in Asmara for China's embrace of market
    capitalism. Isaias was sent to China by the Eritrean
    Liberation Front for political commissar training in the
    1960s, where, according to the Chinese ambassador, "he
    learned all the wrong things." Isaias was turned off by the
    cult of personality surrounding Mao, but apparently
    internalized Maoist ideology.

    ¶6. (C) Fluent in Arabic: Asmara-based Arab ambassadors are
    impressed by Isaias' fluency in Arabic. There is some debate
    about where he learned it, but all agree he is a comfortable
    and capable Arabic speaker.

    ¶7. (C) Talented Speechwriter: In mid-2008, after Isaias
    delivered an impressive address in English to a gathering of
    ministerial-level representatives on the subject of Darfur,
    Yemane Ghebremeskel, the director of the office of the
    president, said Isaias had written the speech himself.

    ¶8. (C) Hot Temper: At a January 2008 dinner he hosted for a
    codel and embassy officials, Isaias became involved in a
    heated discussion with his Amcit legal advisor about some
    tomato seedlings the legal advisor provided to Isaias' wife.
    Isaias complained that despite tender care by his wife, the
    plants produced only tiny tomatoes. When the legal advisor
    explained that they were cherry tomatoes and were supposed to
    be small, Isaias lost his temper and stormed out of the
    venue, much to the surprise of everyone, including his
    security detail.

    ¶9. (C) Holds a Grudge: A senior party official said Isaias
    and Djibouti President Guelleh had (g(eed during a 'u'e 2008
    telephone conversation to try to resolve at the presidential
    level issues related to the June border clash. According
    this senior Eritrean official, Isaias was livid when Guelleh
    supposedly shortly thereafter lambasted Eritrean aggression
    in a media interview. Isaias reportedly felt personally
    betrayed by President Guelleh, and has been obstinate about
    resolving the Djibouti-Eritrea border dispute ever since.

    ¶10. (C) Thin Skinned: Isaias asked to be named the patron of
    the World Bank-funded Cultural Assets Rehabilitation Project
    (CARP). When individuals involved with CARP published the
    book "Asmara: Africa's Secret Modernist City," it failed to
    include a note of thanks to CARP's patron. Isaias was miffed
    and shut down CARP.

    ¶11. (C) Good Op-Sec: Isaias has an aversion to talking on
    the telephone and frequently sleeps in different locations to
    foil a coup or assassination attempt. During the winter
    months he spends most of his time in Massawa rather than in
    Asmara. When dining in restaurants, Isaias will often switch
    plates with a subordinate, apparently to avoid being
    poisoned, according to the Qatari ambassador.

    ¶12. (C) The Early Years of Little Beer Pot: Isaias' father,
    Afwerki, comes from the village of Tselot, which is perched
    on the lip of a 7,000' escarpment four miles southeast of
    Asmara. When Isaias was a boy Afwerki reportedly spent much
    of his time in Tigray, where he owned a coffee farm that was
    later nationalized by the Derg. With Afwerki largely absent,
    Isaias lived with his mother (rumored to have family roots in
    Tigray) in a working class neighborhood in eastern Asmara
    near the train depot and the Lutheran church. Isaias' mother
    made and sold a traditional beer called sewa. By some
    accounts, Isaias was nicknamed the Tigrinya equivalent of
    "Beer Pot," after the ceramic jug from which sewa is
    dispensed.Q Qoday he is a QeQvy whisky drinker, but perhaps
    as a youth his nickname referred as much to his habits as to
    his mother's business.

    ¶13. (C) No Pork for His Ancestral Village: In November 2008
    emboffs visited Tselot and saw no indication that the village
    has received any special favor from Isaias. Like most
    Eritrean villages, it has electricity but no running water or
    sewer system. Gaunt cattle and untended donkeys roam the
    village. Their droppings are quickly gathered and formed
    into oval patties, which are then stuck on rock walls, dried,
    and used as fuel for cooking. Afwerki is said to be buried
    in the village cemetery, but emboffs could not locate his
    grave. Isaias' immediate family is rarely featured in the
    state-run media and keeps a low profile. Although his
    portrait adorns many shops in Asmara, there is no cult of
    personality in Eritrea. Isaias often appears in the media
    clad casually in slacks, jacket, open-necked shirt, and
    sandals or loafers. He rarely travels in a motorcade.

    ¶14. (C) Hard-hearted: When a visiting U.S. movie star in
    early 2008 raised the plight of two Embassy Asmara FSNs who
    have been imprisoned without charge since 2001, Isaias glared
    stonily at her and replied, "Would you like me to hold a
    trial and then hang them?"

    MCMULLEN

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