Landmine awareness campaign

More than 15,000 people in northern Ethiopia have participated in mine awareness programmes, the pro-Ethiopian government Walta Information Centre said on 6 February. Mine awareness campaigns had been launched by the Rehabilitation and Development Organization (RaDO) in Gulomeheda and Irob districts, the report said. Clubs had also been formed by some 30 schools to carry out mine awareness in churches and through public meetings. Coordinator for RaDO, Tewelde Alemayehu, said that over the past three months the organisation had educated 15,563 residents from the two districts about land mines laid by Eritrea during the two year border conflict. He said 34 people had been killed and 69 others injured in the area by land mines.

Military officials from the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) told IRIN that both sides had laid land mines in the disputed border region, and that land mine awareness programmes were essential in both countries - but it was not known how many mines each side had laid.

In a press conference held on 7 February, UNMEE Force Commander Major General Patrick Cammaert said there had been "some reluctance to hand over" full information on land mines from both parties. He said since arrangements had been made to establish the Temporary Security Zone both parties had agreed to submit "the last remaining information on mines". Cammaert said the information was important for the deployment of the UN forces "but in particular for the returning of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)."