One reported killed in landmine explosion

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) is investigating landmine explosions in which two boys were reportedly wounded, one fatally, south of the Eritrean capital, Asmara. In a statement issued on Friday, UNMEE said the incidents occurred on 17 and 22 July in the villages of Tisha in Senafe subzone and Arazen in Tserona. According to the statement, mine-clearance teams operated in the central Egri Maekel area and in the western Badme area, clearing 3,425 square metres and 69.3 km of road. They also conducted mine awareness training for 1,777 people in July, including 174 children. Eritrea's landmine contamination stems from its long struggle for independence and the 1998-2000 border war with Ethiopia. Since the border war ended, UNMEE has been deployed in the region to monitor the ceasefire. Mine explosions have been reported since the end of the war. On 31 January, a civilian truck drove over a mine in the temporary security zone, injuring five people - two of them seriously. And last October, a bus carrying 61 civilians hit a freshly laid anti-tank mine in the same area. Six critically injured people, including women, were evacuated for treatment by a UNMEE helicopter. UNMEE later suspended mine-clearance activities in Eritrea after the government banned its helicopter flights but resumed despite the ban with military de-miners from Kenya and Bangladesh, working with commercial de-miners from southern Africa and Slovakia. A 2004 survey of Eritrea indicated that 481 communities - 655,000 people - were socially and economically affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance. eo/mw