Eritrea: Government
seizes vehicles, mine-clearance stopped
24 June 2005
Eritrea: - Mine clearance has now stopped in Eritrea, one of
Africa's worst mine-affected nations, because the government seized in April 40
vehicles that had been in use by the national mine-action agency as part of a
UN demining assistance program. The government also has announced a significant
downsizing of an international program, in place since 2002, that provided
technical expertise in combating the country’s massive landmine problem.
An estimated 2,000,000 mines are thought to have been laid
during the course of decades of conflict, including the 1998-2000 war with
Ethiopia, the 30-year war of independence with Ethiopia (1961-1991) and World
War II, ranking Eritrea "...among the most mine affected nations in the
world", according to Don Lieber, an Eritrea researcher for the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
Habtom Seguid, the deputy general manager of the Eritrean
Demining Agency (EDA), the national demining authority in Eritrea, confirmed
that his agency issued a "stand-down" order to government mine
clearance teams in early April as a result of the government’s seizure of
demining vehicles.
At the same time, the government announced it will not renew the
contracts of most foreign technical experts with the United Nations Development
Program's (UNDP) "Mine Action Capacity Building Program" (MACBP) -the
program designed to work with the government in developing its own,
comprehensive humanitarian mine-action program.
MRE in Senafe, Eritrea
The head of the UNDP landmine program in Eritrea, Paul
Collinson, said this "’downsizing’ will leave significant technical gaps
in the nation's demining programs, potentially setting back the significant
progress made this past year by the government in alleviating risks to
civilians."
Collinson noted that "taken together, they (vehicle
seizures and downsizing the assistance program) represent a halt to national
demining in the country." "On inspection of the vehicles in the EDA compound
I found that they had been removed without any written authority or
consent," he added. "No information was provided as to where these
vehicles had gone. Several days later we were informed that the vehicles were
parked in an Eritrean Defence Force (EDF) Base. These were UNDP/Donor vehicles,
brought into Eritrea with donor funds by the UNDP for use in our mine action
program with the EDA. This was a total surprise."
Seguid, of the EDA, said the vehicles were taken on the orders
of more senior authorities because of misuse, without elaborating other than
suggesting that Eritrea's current fuel shortage may have been a factor. He
added, "We are waiting for senior government officials to issue new rules
on vehicle use and I am confident we will have the vehicles back shortly."
UN officials in Asmara, Eritrea's capital, said they were given
no prior information about any misuse by staff, nor have they received
information about the vehicles return.
According to a senior EDA official, various government ministries
"above the EDA", including the Ministries of Development and Defense,
were involved in the decision to take the vehicles and that "the office of
the State President is also aware of this." (Calls for comment to the
Office of the President and the Ministry of Development by Landmine Monitor
have gone unanswered.)
International technical advisors, from various countries but all
working with the UNDP's assistance program (MACBP), were informed on Friday,
May 13, that their contracts will not be renewed. The advisors are specialists
in areas of mine action including landmine-victim assistance, mine-action
information management, medical coordination, emergency ordinance disposal
(EOD), logistics, and quality assurance/safety standards.
Seguid said that the departure of foreign mine action experts
represents nothing more than an agreed-upon 'phase-out' of international
advisors, now that there is a "good degree of independent national
(demining) capacity.
Several international mine action officials in Asmara, however,
told IRIN , that the experts’ departure will create significant gaps with
detrimental effects on Eritrea's mine action needs and these gaps were to
preclude any phasing down of the program.
Mine action information management is one such area where the
"government's capacity will be left at zero", with the departure of
experienced experts, according to one advisor with the MACBP program.
"Mine action is dependent on information management" he said.
"Severe problems have existed in Eritrea surrounding the management of a
complex mine action database system.
The problems were not of the government’s doing, he said, but
nevertheless the national capacity to manage the data base will be non-existent
if the experts leave any time soon. This will effect affect all aspects of mine
action, including effective planning, education, and clearance."
Meanwhile, areas in which the government has appeared to achieve
a strong level of independent capacity - particularly mine clearance - are
curtailed as a result of the April seizure of vehicles. Government
mine-clearance teams from the Eritrean Demining Operations agency (EDO) had
been engaged in substantial clearance activities during the past year in some
of the most mine-affected parts of the country. In 2004 and 2005 (as of May 1),
government demining teams had destroyed 2,180 mines and Unexploded Ordinance
(UXO), and cleared 3,740,349 Sq. meters of land, according to research
conducted in Eritrea by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). According
to Marty Steel, a UNDP demining advisor, "Government clearance was
instrumental in allowing for the return of almost 20,000 IDPs (Internally
Displaced Persons) in the Shilalo area in February.
The United Nation's Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC) -
with a limited mandate of providing demining support to the UN Peacekeeping
Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) is
not effected by these decisions and remains engaged in mine action within its
peacekeeping support mandate.
This is the second time in nearly three years that the
government has announced unexpected changes in mine-action. In July 2002, the
government issued Proclamation 123/2002, which restructured the national
mine-program by establishing the EDA, shortly followed by instructions that all
active international mine-action groups had to cease operations (a few were
subsequently allowed to remain). This caused a temporary stoppage, in the fall
of 2002, of all humanitarian mine-action in the country.
Senior UN demining officials, requesting anonymity, said that
the confiscation of demining vehicles and the technical advisors departures
will have significant short-term implications for the future of demining
efforts in this highly mine-contaminated nation.
"The national humanitarian demining program is in
turmoil" said one mine-clearance expert.
Author(s): Tamar Gabelnick <tamarSPAMFILTER@icbl.org> Don
Lieber (ICBL Researcher) <donbrxSPAMFILTER@yahoo.com>
Source: International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
