Key
developments since May 2000: The border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea
came to an end in June 2000. A variety of mine action activities are underway.
A Mine Action Coordination Center has been established within the United Nations
Mission on Eritrea and Ethiopia, and the government has created anEthiopian Mine Action Office. The NGO HALO Trust conducted a rapid
assessment survey. Mine awareness activities and survivor assistance programs
expanded. Still, there were 170 new mine casualties in just the Tigray region in
2000.
There have continued to be reports of mine use by Ethiopia as well as
Eritrea during their border war from May 1998 to June 2000. While Landmine
Monitor does not have conclusive evidence, there are strong indications that
Ethiopian forces used antipersonnel mines during the conflict. In June and July
2001 letters to Landmine Monitor, the Minister of Foreign Affairs denied any use
of antipersonnel mines by Ethiopia.
Ethiopia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997 but has not yet ratified it. Landmine Monitor has received little new
information about the ratification
process.[1]
In a letter to
Landmine Monitor in July 2001, in response to allegations of use of
antipersonnel mines, Ethiopia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin
stated, “Ethiopia did not use anti-personnel mines throughout the course
of the war with Eritrea and my Government remains committed to the ideals that
your Campaign has been advancing.” He stressed that “the
ratification process of the treaty by States such as Ethiopia should be seen in
the regional context due to our peculiar situation.... In these situations
unilateral adherence of the Mine Ban Treaty by a single state in the region
would adversely compromise the national security of that state willing to abide
by the treaty. It will also render the implementation of the treaty impossible.
I, therefore, once again call for a regional approach to be adopted for the Horn
of Africa whereby the international community would put the pressure on those
states in the region to expeditiously adhere to the letter and the spirit of the
treaty.... In the absence of such a comprehensive approach, which the
international community has failed to deliver in the context of the Mine Ban
Treaty, law abiding nations like my own may be left with very little choice
other than reconsidering their commitment to the
treaty.”[2]
Ethiopia
attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in
September 2000, and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2001,
but not in December 2000. Ethiopia participated in the Horn of Africa/Gulf of
Aden Conference on Landmines in Djibouti, 16-18 November 2000 and the Bamako,
Mali Seminar on Universalisation and Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in
Africa on 15-16 February 2001.
Ethiopia voted in favor of the November 2000
UN General Assembly resolution supporting universalization of the Mine Ban
Treaty. Ethiopia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW)
Amended Protocol II and did not attend the Second Annual Conference of the CCW
States Parties in Geneva in December 2000.
Recent Use
From May 1998 to June 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea
fought a fierce border war in which antipersonnel mines were used extensively.
Eritrea, which has not signed the Mine Ban Treaty, has acknowledged use of
antipersonnel mines. Ethiopia, a treaty signatory, has strongly denied use of
antipersonnel mines. However, there have continued to be reports and
allegations of mine use by Ethiopia as well as Eritrea during the fighting.
While Landmine Monitor does not have conclusive evidence, there are serious
indications that Ethiopian forces used antipersonnel mines during the
conflict.
Although Ethiopia is not a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, the
use of mines by a signatory can be judged a breach of its international
obligations. Under Article 18 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties,
“A state is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and
purpose of a treaty when...it has signed the treaty....” Clearly, use of
mines defeats the object and purpose of the Mine Ban Treaty. Regarding this, in
his July 2001 letter to Landmine Monitor, Foreign Minister Mesfin stated that
“we thought it imperative to put it on record that we did not share your
view on the matter, as your analysis has the danger of placing a ratifying and a
signing state on the same
level.”[3]
Four different
confidential sources with knowledge of the mine action activities (survey,
assessment, clearance, awareness) that have been underway in Ethiopia in 2000
and 2001 have stated that Ethiopian forces used significant quantities of
antipersonnel mines in the border war. They have mentioned Ethiopian usage
along areas of the front line, in towns in the contested area, and the practice
of digging up Eritrean mines and replacing them around Ethiopian positions.
Landmine Monitor has been told that mine action agencies working in the
Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) are discovering minefields in front of undisputed
Ethiopian trench lines. The location of these minefields in relation to the
trench lines demonstrates that they were laid by Ethiopian forces for protection
of Ethiopian positions. They have been laid in a precise, regulated manner that
suggests that records would have been kept, but these minefields are not part of
the comprehensive records Eritrea has provided of its minefields.
Landmine
Monitor has also been told that Ethiopian military personnel were observed by
various international organizations (both governmental and non-governmental)
removing antipersonnel mines from front line positions prior to pulling back
from the TSZ. These mines were being placed into apparently original packing
boxes for removal back into Ethiopia.
During a field visit in April 2001, an
Ethiopian officer, the Director of the Ethiopian Demining Project, told Human
Rights Watch that during the conflict Ethiopian combat engineers took
antipersonnel mines laid by Eritrean forces and relocated them to places where
they thought Eritrea would approach. He said Eritrea had laid the mines in
front its trenches to slow an Ethiopian
counter-offensive.[4] This same
officer was subsequently contacted by a Landmine Monitor researcher for
clarification. He confirmed that there were instances of relocation of Eritrean
antipersonnel mines taken from the ground, but said this was done by soldiers on
patrol and not by engineers. He said the amount of relocation was
insignificant.[5]
In early
June 2000, humanitarian sources told the UN Humanitarian Integrated Regional
Information Network (IRIN) that there was much concern that both countries had
mined border areas.[6] The US
State Department human rights report on Ethiopia for the year 2000 stated,
“During the year, the Ethiopian army reportedly laid landmines in the
Eritrean territories that it
occupied.”[7]
The
Eritrean government in late May and early June 2000 accused Ethiopia of laying
mines in the towns Ethiopian forces were occupying. In particular, when Eritrean
forces recaptured the town of Barentu two weeks after it had been taken by
Ethiopian troops, there were press accounts stating that the Ethiopians had
looted and mined the town.[8] In
an aide-memoire dated 17 July 2000 to the OAU and UN, Eritrea said that
“Ethiopia has and continues to plant new mines inside sovereign Eritrean
territory, particularly in the areas which fall within the temporary security
zone.”[9]
On 16 March
2001, it was reported that the United Nations Mission on Eritrea and Ethiopia
(UNMEE) had received 10 Dangerous Area Survey reports from Ethiopian authorities
and called it “the first significant handover of landmine information
since UNMEE arrived in the region.” At the same time, its Mine Action
Coordination Center reported that “Ethiopian authorities have said records
were not kept on where landmines were laid or on recent demining
efforts.”[10] Both sides
are required to provide maps of mined areas to UNMEE.
In May 2001, the UN
Development Program reported that Eritrean records of some 1,000 mined areas had
been provided to the UNMEE MACC in Asmara. It said that up to 40% of these
areas are thought to be in Ethiopian controlled territory (much of which is
disputed by Eritrea). It noted that a “mission will be going to northern
Ethiopia shortly to talk with local military officers and determine if any
informal records have been kept by Ethiopian units that would supplement the
existing
data.”[11]
Landmine
Monitor wrote to the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia to inform him that it was
anticipated that Ethiopia would be identified as having used mines in this
Landmine Monitor reporting period (since May 2000), and invited a
response.[12] In his reply,
Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin said, “Ethiopia being the victim of
Eritrean aggression did not have the need to plant landmines as it was fighting
mobile warfare to liberate its occupied territories. It was the Eritrean army
that had to mine the fields in order to defend the areas it forcefully occupied.
Hence, Ethiopia...did not use antipersonnel landmines throughout the course of
the war. In fact, on the contrary, the Ethiopian army was forced to engage in
landmine
clearance.”[13]
Landmine
Monitor subsequently provided the Foreign Minister with a draft of this country
report. In his response, Foreign Minister Mesfin reiterated, “Ethiopia
did not use anti-personnel mines throughout the course of the war with
Eritrea,” and said that the report “reaches at erroneous conclusions
based on unreliable and dubious sources....”
[14] Ethiopian officials had
previously denied use of antipersonnel mines in remarks at the landmine
conferences in Djibouti in November 2000 and in Bamako in February 2001, as well
as on other occasions.[15]
Use by Non-State Actors
Insurgents opposed to the government of Ethiopia,
particularly the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation
Front (ONLF) are reported to have “regularly used landmines,”
resulting in two to five deaths per month during the year
2000.[16] The OLF reportedly
claimed responsibility for several landmine explosions on the Ethiopian-Djibouti
Railway in 2000, which resulted in between 5-15 civilian
deaths.[17]
Landmine Problem
Landmines have been used in Ethiopia during various
conflicts for decades, the latest being the border war fought between Ethiopia
and Eritrea from mid-1998 to mid-2000. Following the signing of a formal peace
agreement on 12 December 2000 and the deployment of the United Nations Mission
to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), an agreement between the parties on 6 February
2001 established the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ), a 25 kilometer-wide
demilitarized zone in the former conflict area.
Considerable areas of the
TSZ remain mined, a major concern with respect to the return of refugees and
internally displaced persons. The mine contamination is far greater than just
the TSZ[18] where UNMEE operations
are focused. The government of Ethiopia acknowledges that landmines pose a
serious threat to the
population.[19]
The
government estimates that 70,000 hectares (700,000,000 square meters) of land is
rendered unproductive because of the presence of mines or
UXO.[20] The head of the demining
program estimated that about 600 kilometers of trenches in the border areas are
mined. He said Chinese, US, Russian, Belgian and Egyptian mines have been
found.[21]
Ethiopia had
requested that UNDP provide assistance in assessing the scope of the problem,
and designing an appropriate response. A joint mission with UNDP, UN Mine Action
Service (UNMAS), and UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) traveled to
Ethiopia in November 2000 to plan the next steps and make recommendations to the
government[22]
Mine Action Funding
As part of its $400 million loan package to
Ethiopia for reconstruction and national development, the World Bank and the
government set aside $30 million for mine action related
activities.[23] But in May
2001, it was reported that $10 million of that sum would instead accommodate a
need for additional compensation to families of those deceased during the
fighting; the remaining $20 million is considered “sufficient” for
the mine action
activities.[24]
On 17 April
2001, the European Commission granted Euro6.7 million as humanitarian aid to
Ethiopia,[25] in addition to a
grant last year of Euro7 million for victims of the border
conflict.[26] Although the
implementing agency, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO)
handles, among other projects, mine action activities in Ethiopia, Landmine
Monitor could not determine from them how much of this grant would be spent on
mine action programs.
In mid-April 2001 Canada donated, through the UNDP,
US$400,000 for mine action activities in Ethiopia, and specifically to improve
the training of deminers and to boost public awareness of the
menace.[27]
As of 28 March
2001, the United Nations reported the following:
UNMAS had received $1.4 million (55%) of its $2.55 million request for 2001
for support for mine action in the TSZ;
UNDP had received $550,000 (31%) of its 2001 request of $1.78 million to
support the Ethiopian Mine Action Program; UNDP has also requested $1 million
for 2002 and another $1.53 million for a Level One Impact Survey;
UNICEF had received $150,000 (36%) of its $420,000 requested for mine
awareness;
WHO had received none of its $290,000 request for victim assistance.
Mine Action Coordination
The mine action program is converting from a
military to a civilian structure. A technical group was delegated the
responsibility of developing recommendations of statutes and a proposed
structure for an Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO), which were put before the
Council of Ministers for
approval.[28] UNDP has a mine
action support program in place to provide technical support to the program and
assist in the building of local capacity.
In mid-May 2001, UNDP reported that
the “civilian Ethiopian Mine Action Office is finalizing organizational
plans and hopes to begin appointing additional staff next week.” It noted
a “strong push by relevant government agencies” to insure that the
Office is civilian
run.”[29]
In May 2001, it
was also reported that UNDP and the government were close to signing a project
document which will detail support for “the emerging National Mine Action
Strategy and capacity
building.”[30]
An
integral part of UNMEE is the Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC), which is
under the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and staffed by the UN Office for
Project Services (UNOPS). The mandate of the MACC is to provide mine action
support to the peacekeeping force, coordinate operations in the TSZ and provide
technical and managerial support to both Eritrea and
Ethiopia.[31] UNMEE has formed a
mine action priority coordination setting group chaired by the Deputy Special
Representative of the Secretary
General.[32] The MACC is located
in Asmara, with a liaison officer in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian government
plans to work with limited input from the UNMEE.
Survey and Assessment
As part of the effort to determine the extent of
contamination in and along the TSZ, the British NGO HALO Trust was commissioned
by the UNMEE MACC to conduct a rapid assessment survey of Ethiopian-controlled
positions.[33] The US Department
of State funded the survey, in the amount of $750,000, one-third of which was
considered as support for
Ethiopia.[34]
Such rapid
assessment surveys are expected to continue in other parts of the country beyond
the TSZ and its surroundings. However, discussions of a full Level One-Impact
Survey, initiated with the German NGO Santa Barbara, have not developed
further.[35]
Discussions
between the government and mine action survey specialists were planned for late
May to identify the methodology and plan to implement “the much needed
impact survey of mines and unexploded ordnance throughout
Ethiopia.”[36]
Mine Clearance
The United Nations has called on both Ethiopia and
Eritrea to play a crucial role in mine clearance. Information about mined areas
has begun to be turned over to UNMEE, as noted above.
The Ethiopian Ministry
of Defense operates the Ethiopian Demining Project (EDP). EDP has a staff of
250 and its work is concentrated on the border area with
Eritrea.[37] However, donor
support, maintenance of equipment, training and adherence to international
clearance standards were adversely affected by the conflict with Eritrea,
limiting the effectiveness of the
program.[38]
The Ethiopian
government claims that for the period February 1999 to August 2000, it removed
261,244 antipersonnel mines and 13,103 antitank
mines.[39] Ethiopian forces in
the border area have also cleared numerous mines since the cessation of
hostilities in mid-2000.[40]
According to Captain Etsay Slassie, three demining teams that had been
clearing antipersonnel mines in the Zalambeza area have stopped the operation
due to lack of explosives.[41]
The area already cleared has not been resettled because Ethiopian authorities
are waiting for the zone to be internationally certified to be free of
mines.[42]
During a Human
Rights Watch field visit to Zalambasa in the border area in late April, the
Captain noted that before there were no standards for demining. He said
engineers cleared the area, but quality had not been assured. He said that the
deminers had lacked standard training and equipment and often used bayonets to
probe for mines; he added that sometimes they missed mines because it is a big
area and they get tired. He also said that as it was then planting season,
people had tried to plow and graze cattle, but there were “explosive
incidents” so they
stopped.[43] He said that by
summer, two or three companies would be trained to standard.
UNDP reported
that a training camp that had been established in 1995 had “gone through
necessary modification and rehabilitation and the first training course was
scheduled to begin mid-May [2001]. This should put the first deminers in the
field at the end of
June.”[44]
UNMEE
specialist engineers have undertaken some demining, but only of areas such as
access routes and bases that pertain to its peacekeeping
mission.[45]
Mine Awareness Education
In October 1999, Rehabilitation and Development
Organization (RaDO) started a pilot project to carry out landmine awareness
activities with the financial and technical support of UNICEF, targeting
displaced populations in the western Zone of Tigray region in cooperation with
the Tigray Regional Government. Since then, project funding has been provided
largely by the US State Department through
UNICEF.[46] A similar project
was carried out in the eastern zone of the same region with technical support
from UNICEF and financial support from the World
Bank.[47]
In early 2000, the
project was expanded to cover the Central and Eastern zones affected by the
recent conflict, with the support of UNICEF. By mid-2000, RaDO developed a
project network of coordinators, agents and technical supervisors operating at
the Zonal, Woreda and Tabia levels. A network of Community Mine Task Forces
established by RaDO supports this technical capacity. These task forces
facilitate community level participation, support RaDO agents in implementation
and act as a symbiotic monitoring and evaluation system for the
program.[48] RaDO utilizes
various media printed in the local language as well as a weekly radio program
for community discussion. Songs and poetry performed by drama clubs are also
used to reinforce messages and information and the child-to-child
program.[49] Various clubs
formed by 30 schools are carrying mine awareness programs in churches and public
meetings.[50]
RaDO also
carried out an assessment of need of the Afari society – some 33,000 are
displaced out of a population of 1.1 million and the region is one of
Ethiopia’s most disadvantaged; the population is predominantly nomadic.
Mine awareness activities will target Elidar, Dupti, Dalul, Erepti, Afdera and
Berhale weredas, in Zones 1 and 2, which are located on border areas most
affected by the war. While there has been no previous systematic data
collection on mine victims in the area, RaDO collected preliminary information
on 25 reported
incidents.[51]
The total
population that has received mine risk education since the beginning of the
project is more than 86,000 as of 31 May
2001.[52]RaDO has made a
needs assessment to extend its area of operation to Afar
region.[53]The total budget
for the RaDO program for the year 2001 is equivalent to
$786,932.[54]
In November
2000, the International Committee of the Red Cross conducted an assessment in
the northern Tigray region of Ethiopia to determine the extent of mine/UXO
contamination. The assessment was extended to the Occupied Territories with the
object of initiating mine awareness activities, which would be developed further
once the Occupied Territories were returned to Eritrea and/or handed over to
UNMEE. The information collected during the needs assessment made it possible
to design appropriate mine awareness materials, and will be used in developing a
training curriculum. Some 10,000 leaflets, posters and pocket calendars were
produced and distributed urgently in the Occupied Territories and northern
Ethiopia (Senafe and Zalambessa) to inform people of the dangers to which they
were exposed.[55]
Handicap
International runs mine risk awareness programs in the Somali refugee camps in
northeastern Ethiopia. The total beneficiaries of the project in the year 2000
were 172,627 Somali refugees (who are supposed to be repatriated to
mine-affected areas of Somaliland). The total budget for the year 2001 is Birr
900,000 equivalent to about
US$110,000.[56] The project is
funded by the European Union, UNHCR and Handicap International
(France).[57]
Landmine Casualties
A survey in the Tigray region for the period
1998-2000 identified 314 mine-related casualties (114 killed and 200 injured),
mostly of children herders.[58]
Of those casualties, 170 were new victims in the year 2000. In one incident on
21 November 2000 in Adigrat town, Tigray region, seven children were injured in
a mine explosion.[59]
Civilians returning to the conflict zone between Eritrea and Ethiopia are
now under considerable landmine
threat.[60] Overall, the
government estimates the fighting displaced 350,000
people.[61] Efforts by the
Ethiopian authorities to keep displaced persons from returning to mined areas
along the Eritrean border reportedly resulted in civilians avoiding roadblocks
and wandering through mined areas with numerous
casualties.[62] The policy of
blocking access was later stopped and casualties reportedly subsided.
Fifteen mine-related casualties were recorded in the Somali National Region
in 2000.[63] During a needs
assessment mission in Afar, the RaDO team visited five mine victims in Dubti
Hospital. Even though there are no records of victims, the team registered 12
new victims in 2000 in Dabu
Kebele.[64]
Survivor Assistance
In Ethiopia, few hospitals are capable of
performing emergency surgery and most health posts are not competent enough to
provide emergency care to mine victims. There are a few organizations that
produce orthopedic appliances, the government runs some and others are operating
as NGOs or run by NGOs.
There are four prosthetic/orthotic centers in
different parts of the country: Addis Ababa, Mekelle, Harar, and Dessie.
The four centers reported production figures for the year 2000 as
follows:[65]
Prostheses
Orthotics
Pairs of crutches
POC Addis Ababa
713
913
763
Mekelle
397
128
336
Dessie
189
4
102
Harar
103
76
153
Total
1,402
1,121
1,354
Established in 1961, the Addis Ababa Prosthetic-Orthotic Center (POC) is
an indigenous NGO governed by a board traditionally headed by the rehabilitation
department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. It receives funding
from ICRC and the Christoffel Blinden
Mission.[66] In the year 2000,
records at the center indicate that 122 mine victims received ortho-shoes and
363 received prostheses.
The Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) and
Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission established the Dessie
orthopedic workshop in 1980. It is under the Bureau of Labor and Social Affairs
of the Amhara region. The major activity of the center is physical
rehabilitation. Starting in July 2000 the center has an operational agreement
with the ICRC to jointly assist war victims. Between July and December 2000,
the center provided prostheses to 118 patients, 59 of which were mine
victims.[67]
The Harar
orthopedic workshop, 525 kilometers east of Addis Ababa, was established by the
ICRC in 1982. It is currently under the Bureau of Labor and Social Affairs of
the Harrari region. The major activities of the workshop are physical
rehabilitation and counseling. Between July and December 2000, the workshop
provided prostheses to 97 patients of which 30 were mine
victims.[68]
Arbaminch
Rehabilitation Center is a local NGO established in March 1996. The center is
located in Arbaminch town in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and
People’s National Regional State. The Center produces prostheses and
provides physiotherapy treatment to people with disabilities. Between 1996 and
2000, the center provided prosthesis to 103 patients, 11 of which were mine
victims.[69] It also provides
counseling, educational, medical and social rehabilitation services. Caritus
Netherlands was the sole funder of the workshop from 1995 up to 2000. Currently
CORDAID provides funding with Birr 8,773,533 (US$1,083,152) allocated for
2001.[70]
The ICRC, through a
Special Fund for Disabled, supports prosthetic/orthotic centers in Ethiopia and
acts as a regional resource for 24 orthopedic projects. The Addis Ababa center
provided technical training for 31 prosthetists and orthotists from 12 countries
with an annual budget for the program in Ethiopia of
US$1,500,000.[71]
The Addis
Ababa Rehabilitation Center of the Disabled, previously the Heroes Center, was
established in 1979. The aim of this governmental center is to support war
victims with walking appliances. The center produces prostheses, orthoses, and
walking aids. Between August 2000 and December 2000, the center provided
appliances to 400 disabled
people.[72] The annual budget of
the center averages Birr 400,000 (US$49,382) and was previously supported by
ICRC from 1979-1995.[73]
The
Ethiopian Physiotherapy Association was established in July 1997 and became a
member of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy in May 1999. The
Christoffel Blinden Mission and Handicap International provide the Association
with technical and financial
support.[74] It is attempting
to collect landmine victim and services data from the various rehabilitation
centers across
Ethiopia.[75]
From 1997 to
1999, Handicap International and RaDO established physical rehabilitation
services in eleven hospitals, in five regions (Jimma, Mettu, Nekemptie, Dire
Dawa, Bahir Dar, Debre Tabor, Woldya, Soddo, Hossana, Axum and Maychew).
Services continued in these hospitals in 2000, and RaDO, in cooperation with
UNHCR, expanded the program to two more hospitals in two other regions (Gambella
and Assosa).
In the year 2000, information from some hospitals indicated
that prostheses were provided to 47 mine victims. Besides providing basic
physiotherapy treatments and walking aids to in-patients and to disabled
persons, the project trained 38 nurses and 55
technicians.[76]
The
Landmine Survivors Network established a project to assist landmine survivors
and people with limb loss in Ethiopia starting in April 2000. The project has
registered 65 survivors in the Addis Ababa area as well as visits to some 300
victims in local hospitals.[77]
In addition to peer support, the group seeks to link survivors to required
services through a rehabilitation services directory. The project is funded at
US$122,740 for the year
2001.[78]
The NGO, RaDO has
also been providing physical rehabilitation services for physically disabled
Somali and Sudanese refugees in camps in Ethiopia. In the year 2000, 24 mine
survivors were among the group of disabled assisted by the
organization.[79]
In
Ethiopia, assistance to mine victims is mostly in the areas of physiotherapy
services and the provision of prostheses. Services focusing on the economic,
psychological and social re-integration of mine victims are limited.
[1] An Ethiopian diplomat based
in Rome said in September 2000 that an ad hoc working group was established in
August 2000 under the auspices of the Prime Minister to facilitate the
ratification process, and that ratification could occur before the end of 2000.
Email from Nicoletta Dentico, Italian Campaign to Ban Landmines, 11 September
2000. On 11 October 2000, an Ethiopian delegate told the UN General Assembly
that Ethiopia “is taking steps for its ratification.” Statement by
Meheret Getahoun at the General Debate of the First Committee, UNGA, New York,
11 October 2000, p. 3.
[2]
Letter from H.E. Seyoum Mesfin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Democratic
Republic of Ethiopia, to Ms. Mary Wareham, Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 23
July 2001. The full text of the letter is available on the Landmine Monitor
website at
www.icbl.org/lm/comments/.
[3]
Letter from Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin to Mary Wareham,
Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 23 July
2001.
[4] Discussion with
Captain Etsay G. Salassie, Director of Ethiopian Demining Project, during Human
Rights Watch field visit to Makele and Zalambasa, Tigrai region,
Ethiopia/Eritrea border, in Zalambasa, 25 April
2001.
[5] Telephone interview
with Captain Etsay, 6 July
2001.
[6] United Nations, IRIN
News Briefs, “Ethiopia: Landmine Deaths in Irob,” 8 June
2000.
[7] US State Department,
2000 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Ethiopia, February
2001.
[8] Some of these reports
were unclear as to who laid the mines, and some said both sides may have mined
the town. IRIN-CEA, “Civilians returning slowly to Mined
Town,” 2 June 2000; “Eritreans Assess Damage in Barentu,”
BBC World (Africa), 2 June 2000; Ann M. Simmons, “Destruction,
Danger Await Eritrean Returnees,” The Times, 2 June 2000; Patrick
Graham, “Eritreans Don’t Think the War is Over,” National
Post, 4 June 2000; “Eritrean Town Looted by Retreating Ethiopian
Army,” Reuters, 2 June 2000; “Ethiopian Forces Reported Still
in West Eritrea,” IRIN News Briefs, 31 May
2000.
[9] The aide-memoire was
subsequently provided the UN Security Council and circulated as UN Security
Council document S/2000/726, 21 July 2000. See also, “Eritrea Complains
Ethiopia Violates Peace Pact,” Reuters, United Nations, 24 July
2000.
[10] “Ethiopia
submits landmine survey,” UN IRIN, All Africa Global Media, 13 March 2001;
“Landmines: Ethiopia Makes First Significant Handover of Maps,”
excerpt from UNFoundation.org news, 16 March 2001, on
dehai-news.
[11]
“Ethiopia Humanitarian Update 17 May 2001,” UNDP Emergencies Unit
for Ethiopia, 17 May 2001, (see
www.reliefweb.int).
[12] Letter
to H.E. Mr. Seyoum Mesfin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
from Mary Wareham, Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 25 May
2001.
[13] Letter from H.E.
Seyoum Mesfin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Federal Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia, to Ms. Mary Wareham, Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 3 June 2001. The
full text of the letter is available on the Landmine Monitor website at
www.icbl.org/lm/comments/.
[14]
Letter from Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyoum Mesfin to Mary Wareham,
Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 23 July
2001.
[15] Interview with Ogulu
Owar Ochalla, Bamako Seminar on Landmines, Bamako, Mali, 15-16 February
2001.
[16] US State Department,
2000 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Ethiopia. February
2001.
[17]
Ibid.
[18] United Nations
Development Program, “Mine Action Update,” 1 March
2001.
[19] Ethiopian government
official during the announcement of a US$400,000 Canadian donation to UNDP for
mine action programs, 16 April
2001.
[20] Statement by Dr.
Waktasu Negeri, Head of the Ethiopian delegation to the conference of Horn of
Africa/Gulf of Aden States on landmines, Djibouti, 16-18 November
2000.
[21] Discussion with
Captain Etsay, during Human Rights Watch field visit to Makele and Zalambasa,
Tigrai region, Ethiopia/Eritrea border, in Zalambasa, 25 April
2001.
[22] United Nations
Development Program, “Mine Action Update,” 1 March
2001.
[23]
Ibid.
[24] “Ethiopia
Humanitarian Update 17 May 2001,” UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, 17
May 2001, (see
www.reliefweb.int).
[25]
“EC Approves 6.7m Euro Humanitarian Aid to Ethiopia,” Addis
Tribute, 27 April 2001, p.
4.
[26]The Daily
Monitor, Addis Ababa, 27 April 2001, p.
1.
[27] Icblmediareports, 16
April 2001. The Canadian embassy in Addis Ababa said in a communiqué that
the Ethiopian authorities planned to implement a “national mine action
program.”
[28] Interview
with Captain Etsay G. Slassie, Director, Ethiopian Demining Project, Addis
Ababa, 11 January 2001. See also “World Bank Supports Ethiopia’s
Recovery Program,” MZ Communication, Washington, DC, 6 December
2000.
[29] “Ethiopia
Humanitarian Update 17 May 2001,” UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, 17
May 2001, (see
www.reliefweb.int).
[30]
Ibid.
[31] UNMEE MACC, "Concept
of Operations," 17 February 2001, p.
1.
[32] UN Secretary General's
Report on UNMEE, United Nations, New York, 21 February 2001, p.
7.
[33] Briefing on local mine
situation by Willie Lawrence, Chief Operations Officer, UNMEE MACC, Asmara, 27
February 2001.
[34] US
Department of State, Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs, "FY00 NADR
Project Status," 27 December 2000. (FY2000 was October 1999 to September
2000.)
[35] Interview with
Captain Etsay G. Slassie, Director, EDP, Addis Ababa, 11 January
2001.
[36] “Ethiopia
Humanitarian Update 17 May 2001,” UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, 17
May 2001, (see
www.reliefweb.int).
[37]
Interview with Captain Etsay G. Slassie, Director, EDP, Addis Ababa, 11 January
2001.
[38]
Ibid.
[39]
Ibid.
[40] Briefing on local
mine situation by Willie Lawrence, Chief Operations Officer, UNMEE MACC, Asmara,
27 February 2001.
[41]
Information supplied to Landmine Monitor during a field visit to Ethiopia, 25
April 2001.
[42]
Ibid.
[43] Discussion with
Captain Etsay, during Human Rights Watch field visit to Makele and Zalambasa,
Tigrai region, Ethiopia/Eritrea border, in Zalambasa, 25 April
2001.
[44] “Ethiopia
Humanitarian Update 17 May 2001,” UNDP Emergencies Unit for Ethiopia, 17
May 2001.
[45] Rehabilitation
and Development Organization. "Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia 2001,"
February 2000, p. 7.
[46]
Information Note, UNICEF Ethiopia Landmine Awareness Project, November
2000.
[47] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization. "Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia 2001," February
2000, p. 13.
[48] Interview
with Ben Lark, UNICEF Mine Awareness Consultant, Asmara, 1 March
2000.
[49] Interview with Ato
Tilahun G. Kidan, RaDO Executive Director, Addis Ababa, 22 January 2001, with
updated figures provided July
2001.
[50] See Ethiopia:
residents in north clear landmines, Waltz Information Center/BBC monitoring, 6
February 2001.
[51]
“Ethiopia Humanitarian Update 17 May 2001,” UNDP Emergencies Unit
for Ethiopia, 17 May
2001.
[52] Interview with Ato
Tilahun G. Kidan, Rado Executive Director, Addis Ababa, 22 January
2001.
[53] RaDO Needs
Assessment Report in Afar, February
2001.
[54] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization, "Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia 2001," February
2000, p. 14.
[55] Email from
ICRC, Mines/Arms Unit,Geneva, to Landmine Monitor (HRW),11 July
2001.
[56] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization, "Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia 2001," February
2000, p. 13.
[57] Interview
with Mr. Olivier Fracois, HI country representative for Ethiopia, 18 January
2001.
[58] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization, "Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia 2001," February
2001, p. 15.
[59] Monthly
Victim Update Report, RaDO/UNICEF, December 2000, p.
2.
[60] “Demining
Underway in Northern Ethiopia,” AFP, 22 June
2000.
[61] Interview with
Captain Etsay G. Slassie, Director. EDP. Addis Ababa, 11 January
2001.
[62] Interview with
Teclemichael W. Giorgis, Deputy Commissioner, Eritrean Refugee and Relief
Commission (ERREC), Asmara, 2 March 2001. (Note: the discussion arose as
Eritrean humanitarian officials face the same dilemma in keeping civilians out
of unsafe areas.)
[63]
Rehabilitation and Development Organization, "Humanitarian Mine Action in
Ethiopia 2001," February 2001, p.
15.
[64] RaDO Needs
Assessment Report in Afar, February
2001.
[65] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization, “Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia
2001,” February 2001, p.
12.
[66] Interview with Ato
Yohanes Berhanu, Poc Manager, 17 January
2001.
[67] Interview with Ato
Daniel Kassa, Dessie Orthopedic Workshop Manager, 16 January
2001.
[68] Interview with Ato
Tsegaye Wmedhin, Harar Orthopedic Workshop Manager, 18 January
2001.
[69] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization, "Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia 2001," February
2001, p. 10; interview with Ato Taffese Chirbo, Arbaminch rehabilitation center,
Manager, Arbaminch, 17 January
2001.
[70] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization, “Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia
2001,” February 2001, p. 10; interview with Ato Taffese Chirbo, Arbaminch
rehabilitation center, Manager, Arbaminch, 17 January
2001.
[71] Rehabilitation and
Development Organization, “Humanitarian Mine Action in Ethiopia
2001,” February 2001, p.
12.
[72] Ibid, p.
11.
[73] Interview with Ato
Mulugeta Eshetu, Rehabilitation Center of the Disabled Manager, Addis Ababa, 18
January 2001.
[74]
Rehabilitation and Development Organization, "Humanitarian Mine Action in
Ethiopia 2001," February 2001, p.
11.
[75] Interview with Ato
Desalegn Damtew Ethiopian Physiotherapy Association President, Addis Ababa, 23
January 2001.
[76]
Rehabilitation and Development Organization, "Humanitarian Mine Action in
Ethiopia 2001," February 2001, p.
10.
[77] Ibid, p.
11.
[78] Ibid, p.
11.
[79] Ibid, p. 10.
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