After some thirty years of conflict, Eritrea, led
by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), gained independence from
Ethiopia in 1993. Decades of conflict have left a significant landmine problem
in Eritrea. The past year has witnessed a conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia
over their border, which was never formally delineated after Eritrean
independence. Eritrea in particular has been accused of using mines during the
fighting.
Mine Ban Policy
Eritrea has not signed the Mine Ban Treaty.
Eritrea was not been actively involved in the Ottawa Process. It attended some
of the treaty preparatory meetings, but did not endorse the pro-treaty Brussels
Declaration in June 1997 and did not attend the treaty negotiations in Oslo,
even as an observer. Eritrea sent representatives to observe the signing
ceremony in Ottawa in December 1997. However, Eritrea has expressed some
support for banning antipersonnel mines by voting in favor of all three pro-ban
U.N. General Assembly resolutions in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Eritrea is not known
to have produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Currently, no information is
available on the size or composition of Eritrea's stocks of AP mines.
Use
In the late 1998 and 1999 border conflict between
Ethiopia and Eritrea, there have been some allegations of use of antipersonnel
mines. In February 1999, an Ethiopian government spokesperson accused Eritrea
of using as many as 50,000 mines in the Badme region alone, while maintaining
that “in the ongoing conflict Ethiopian defense forces have never used
antipersonnel landmines.”[1]
Ethiopia has signed the Mine Ban Treaty. An unnamed but “high
ranking” Ethiopian army officer claimed that 110,000 landmines (100,000 AP
and 10,000 AT mines) had been planted in Badme and some parts of Sheraro, areas
“liberated” from Eritrea during Operation
Sunset.[2]
On another front, the Eritrean Islamic Jihad (EIJ), a rebel group active in
Eritrea's western lowlands near Sudan, have used antipersonnel mines. Eritrea
has accused Sudan of supporting EIJ combatants. EIJ members have planted
landmines in western Eritrea that match those provided to Sudanese troops and to
Sudan-supported rebels in southern Sudan and Uganda. Human Rights Watch saw two
antitank mines, which had already been disarmed and unburied, that were
displayed by Eritrean officials who claimed they had been discovered on
well-traveled rural roads in 1996, where they could not have been long in place
without detonating.[3] Human
Rights Watch saw a third landmine of this exact type which had been left on a
road that they had just traversed between Tessenei and Barentu in northwestern
Eritrea and that was discovered by civilians living in the area when they
noticed that the packed dirt road had been disturbed during the night. All
three were new Belgian-made plastic landmines of the same design (PRB M-3), with
the words "pressure plate" printed on their pressure plates in French, German,
and Italian.[4] Each had nearly
identical lot numbers, suggesting that they were from the same shipment. In
addition to this, Human Rights Watch saw antipersonnel mines of the same type in
Eritrea, southern Sudan, and northern Uganda, all carrying similar Arabic
markings and all held by Sudanese government forces or supplied to Sudan-backed
rebel groups.[5]
In the past, an estimated two million mines were used in Eritrea, between
1975 and 1991, by the armed forces of Ethiopian General Mengistu and the
EPLF.[6] Between 500,000 and one
million mines are thought to still be in the
ground.[7] As of 1994, around
fifty different antipersonnel and antitank mines from over fourteen countries
had been identified in Eritrea.[8]
In addition to mines, an estimated three million unexploded ordnance are thought
to litter former conflict
areas.[9]
Following are lists of mines found in Eritrea:
Antipersonnel mines in Eritrea and their countries of origin: Unknown
(Cuba); PRB M35 (Belgium); Type 69, Type 72, PPM-2 (China); V Mine (Italy);
MIAPDV 63, MIAPID 51 (France); P2 Mk2 (Pakistan); Type 72 (South Africa); M3,
M14, M16A1, M18A1 Claymore (USA); MON-50, MON-100, MON-200, OZM-3, OZM-4,
OZM-72, PMD-6, PMD-57, PMN, PMN-2, POMZ-2/2M (Former Soviet Union); PMP-71,
PPM-2 (Former- East Germany); DM-11 (Former- West Germany); PP-MI-Sr, PP-MI-Sr
II (Former- Czechoslovakia); PROM-1 (Former
Yugoslavia).[10]
Antitank mines in Eritrea and their countries of origin: PRB M3, PRB M3 A1
(Belgium); Type 72 (China); Unknown (Cuba); M/71 (Egypt); UKA 63 (Hungary); P2
Mk2, P2 Mk3 (Pakistan); Mk-7 (U.K.); M7A2, M15 (USA); Type 72 (South Africa);
PMZ-40, TM-46, TMN-46, TM-57, TM-62M, TM-62P, TMK-2 (Former Soviet Union); PM-60
(Former East Germany); PT-MI-Ba II, PT-MI-Ba III, PT-MI-K (Former
Czechoslovakia); TMA-3
(Former-Yugoslavia).[11]
Mine Clearance
Between 1977 and 1994, more than half of the
estimated two million mines planted in Eritrea were
removed.[12] This calculates into
an impressive total of nearly 60,000 mines cleared per year. It is also
estimated that in areas that were cleared, 150,000 mines remain due to poor
clearance equipment and
techniques,[13] a clearance rate
of 87 percent, well below humanitarian standards. Eritrean deminers suffered
hundreds of casualties during these
operations.[14] A more recent
estimate puts the total number of landmines, both antipersonnel and antitank,
removed since 1991 at 465,000.[15]
This again calculates to a high total of over 58,000 mines removed per year.
Over the past five years, Eritrea has mounted a mine clearance program.
Although it has relied on U.S. government assistance from the Department of
Defense Humanitarian Demining Program through the US Central Command, "the
activities are strongly controlled" by the Eritrean
government.[16] The government
established the National Demining Headquarters in the capital Asmara with a
command element, Historical Research Department, and one demining company of
around eighty deminers.[17] The
government has also established a Demining Training Center to support the
program and the US government’s Humanitarian Demining assistance program
trained 120 deminers in
1996.[18]
As of 1998, this single demining company had cleared 1,235 antipersonnel
mines, 126 antitank mines over a total of almost two and one-half square
kilometers and eighty-seven kilometers of
roads.[19] These totals appear
more realistic than the two previous totals given for clearance. In addition to
the structured demining, informal demining by civilians goes on as
well.[20]
To date, no comprehensive nationwide survey has been conducted in Eritrea.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has identified Eritrea as one of
the countries requiring a national
survey.[21] A UNMAS assessment
mission to Eritrea scheduled for mid-1998 was postponed due to security
concerns.[22] Eritrea's
reluctance to accept assistance from countries other than the U.S. has limited
its ability to expand its mine action
program.[23] For its part, the
demining authority prioritizes clearance by into three categories: (1)
Resettlement areas for refugees; (2) Transportation infrastructure, and (3)
General land use.[24] To date,
land that has been cleared has been rehabilitated for refugee return, "road
building, farming and grazing, utility projects (such as power and
telecommunications), mining and drilling, and natural resource
exploration.[25]"
Mine awareness is also part of the Eritrean mine action program. The program
uses signs and mass media, which was not the case prior to 1995, to inform local
populations about the danger in the
area.[26] In addition to
assistance with clearance, in 1997 the U.S. program has worked with the
Historical Research Department on mine
awareness.[27]
U.S. assistance to Eritrea for mine action totaled around US$2 million in
1998 and has totaled $8 million since its inception. Funding is projected at
US$2.2 million for 1999.[28]
Landmine Casualties
There is little information regarding casualties
related to mines in Eritrea. The government reported that between May 1991 and
May 1993, 2,000 incidents, including civilians and mine clearance personnel,
occurred in Eritrea, but no updated figures have been
quoted.[29] A 1998 U.S. report
states that mine action has led to a decline in accidents, but offers no
concrete statistics to illustrate the
decline.[30] One explanation for
low casualty figures, though again no figures are given, is the demining
authority's prioritization of resettlement areas prior to the return of refugees
and displaced people.[31] Again,
the lack of a comprehensive survey in Eritrea, which would include victim data,
limits accurate calculation of the problem. Health services and subsequent
treatment and rehabilitation in the country are "generally inadequate"
especially in rural areas, making this a key point for
improvement.[32]
[1]Ethiopian Government
Spokesperson, “Total Victory for Operation Sunset,” Ethiopian
News Service, Addis Ababa. www.telecom.net.et/~ena, 28 February 1999;
Professor Addis Birhan, “Mind Eritrea's Mine Fields,” Walta
Information Service, Addis Ababa. www.telecom.net.et/~walta, 6 March 1999;
Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 17 March 1999, p. 2.
[2]The Weyne newspaper
quoted in “Ethiopian Officer Says Eritrea Plants Mines,”
AB2703144099, Mekele Voice of the Tigray Revolution in Tigrinya, 1500 GMT, 26
March 1999.
[3]Sudan. Global Trade,
Local Impact: Arms Transfers to all Sides in the Civil War in Sudan, Human
Rights Watch Short Report, vol.10, no.4 (A), August 1998, p.42.
[6]Carolyn Taylor et al,
Landmine Warfare- Mines and engineer munitions in Eritrea. National Ground
Intelligence Center. No. NGIC-116-004-94, 1994, p. 5.
[7]Taylor et al, Landmine
Warfare, p.1; U.S. Department of State, Hidden Killers, September
1998, p.25; UNA-USA, "A Report on Landmine Clearance in Africa," The Eighth
Annual Citizen's Inspection Tour, April 25-May 2, 1998, p.20.
[8]Taylor, et al., Landmine
Warfare, pp.11-12; U.S. Department of State, Hidden Killers, July
1993, p.86.
[9]U.S. Department of State,
Hidden Killers, 1998, p. 25.
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