AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL : AI’s Clandestine and Nefarious Mission to Eritrea

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AI’s Clandestine and Nefarious Mission to Eritrea

Acts of unwarranted hostility perpetrated against Eritrea in the past 20 years, purportedly to advance certain “global strategies”, have been numerous indeed.
•    The blatant act of aggression launched from 1998 until 2000 under the pretext of a border dispute;
•    The various subterfuges peddles to obstruct implementation of the ‘final and binding” EEBC Arbitral Decision;
•    UNSC sanctions imposed against Eritrea without factual and legal basis in 2009 and 2011;
•    Baseless accusation leveled against Eritrea at the UNHRC in 2013 and thereafter;
•    Frantic disinformation and demonization campaigns against the GOE to isolate the country diplomatically;
•    Organized human trafficking and youth migration pursued for the purposes of strategic depopulation and downgrading of Eritrea’s defense capabilities etc.
One of the manifestations and tentacles of this intensive campaign of hostility was the “subversive operation” of Amnesty International in 2011.  The following is an excerpt from the confidential communications and instructions of AI to its operatives. (The mission was later aborted as its details were prematurely leaked.)

 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Peter Benenson House,
1 Easton Street
London WC1XODW
United Kingdom

Priority Status: Top
Level: Strictly Confidential
Resonance: Urgent

1st August 2011

Mr. Adams SubiWaitara
Senior Researcher
Amnesty International
Tanzania Section
Eastern Africa and the Horn
P. O. Box 4331
Dar es Salaam.
Tanzania.

Dear Mr. Adams,
Re: Confidential Mission to the State of Eritrea.
On behalf of the Department of African Affairs and of the Committee of Amnesty International based here at the International Secretariat, I wish to announce to you that you have been appointed to be part of a 4 man delegation to Eritrea beginning 6th to 16th September, 2011.
Three of your colleagues will be as follows:
Mohammed Hassan Noor is of Somali origin but lives in the UK and works at the Amnesty International United Kingdom Section Office. Currently, he is in Nairobi carrying out some projects on behalf Human of Rights Watch.
Ms. Concepcion Empeno is our Volunteer Investigator and will be coming in as a nun/Catholic Sister and will meet you in Nairobi on the 2nd of September. She is Philipino in origin.
Kathryn Achilles-She is based in West Africa but has wide experience in the entire African Continental Affairs. You will meet all of them in Nairobi from 1st of September. I do believe that with this team and with you as part of it, we shall get quality reports and feedback that we can always rely on.
…Please, check the accompanying attachment for further details. All the logistics for this Mission will be provided in Nairobi at Amnesty International Kenya Section Offices.
Sincerely Yours
Catherine Price
Africa Special Programmes
A1 UK Section
London

Aim of the mission
•    The main aim of the mission to Eritrea is to provide funding and to help in setting up website and computer centers. Our intended goal is that by December this year the regime should be shaking and ready to fall.  We are working on the final detail now of an ICC Warrant for crimes against humanity. The ultimate aim is to enable this exercise to later bring about change as has happened in other African and Arab countries like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Bahrain.
•    The mission must be very discreet and in infirmity, to the extent that none other than you can know that it is going on. All that we do are confidential and MUST NOT BE IN PUBLIC domain. Your mission to Eritrea MUST be made in total secrecy to the extent that no body else can grasp what Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are doing. We shall give you the name of the correct hotel in Asmara. The individuals that you identify to work with in Asmara must be ready to later mobilize the rest of the Internet community in other parts of the country as soon as possible. They should be able to use the money they receive from us in a correct way as intended.
•    Do not identify yourselves as AI members at any place, be careful with identification and other such particulars. Do not operate in the day time, except at night and in discrete manner. Do not take any photos with normal cameras, except with the micro-cameras that will be provided to you when you meet Ms. Concepcion Empeno in Nairobi. These types of cameras can be used everywhere once concealed, and are not machine detected. They are like earphones for the mobile phones.

•   Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have received funds from the US State Department for the implementation of this mission. (End of Excerpt)

This isolated incident amplifies the scope and magnitude of the hostile agendas pursued by certain quarters to sow discord and turmoil in the country and roll back its hard-won independence.  All these attempts have been foiled by the resilience of the Eritrean people.  Today, in these promising times when the regional situation is changing in the aftermath of the historic Eritrea-Ethiopia peace agreement, certain forces who have not accepted the new reality seem still wedded to the policy of adversity and hostility.  The recent report by Human Rights Watch that peddles vitriolic disinformation on the National Service is a case in point.

Ministry of Information
Asmara
10 October 2019