Demining activities halted following helicopter flight ban

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said on Friday that it had suspended its mine clearance activities in Eritrea after the government imposed a ban on the mission's helicopter flights.

"According to the agreement that we have signed [with Eritrea] we cannot carry out demining activities without a helicopter on standby because if there is an accident we would have no way of taking that person out," Gail Bindley-Taylor-Sainté, UNMEE spokeswoman, told the UN News Service.

Eritrea demanded that with effect from 5 October, all UN helicopters cease using its airspace.

Bindley-Taylor-Sainté said helicopter access was a mandatory safety requirement during mine clearance. "One of the things that we're concerned about is the need for a medical evacuation in case a deminer steps on a mine," she added.

The UN Security Council, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and senior UNMEE officials have all urged Eritrea to reverse its decision to ban the flights, warning that the restrictions would impede the mission's peace operation.

A 2004 survey of Eritrea indicated that 481 communities - totalling 655,000 people - were socially and economically affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Eritrea's landmine/UXO contamination stems from its nearly three-decade long struggle for independence and the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia. Since the latter conflict ended, UNMEE has been deployed in the region to monitor the ceasefire and to help ensure the observance of security commitments.

UNMEE commander Maj-Gen Rajender Singh said on Thursday that the helicopter flight ban would significantly reduce the peacekeeping force's ability to patrol the border region.

"Our surveillance and monitoring of the border - of the Temporary Security Zone - was dependent to a very large degree on aerial surveillance," Singh said.

The flight ban prompted fears that Eritrea could be trying to cover-up military movements in anticipation for a renewed conflict with Ethiopia.

Singh, however, said UNMEE had not observed any military build-up by either side.

"As of now, we have not seen any massive build-up on any of the two sides - there has been no build-up," Singh told reporters in the Eritrean capital, Asmara.

At least 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed during the war caused by a dispute over the border. Tension between Eritrea and Ethiopia has remained high despite a 2000 agreement to end the war.

Under the terms of the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities, both parties undertook to respect the verdict of an independent boundary commission on where the border should lie.