High level landmine contamination

The main concern for humanitarian organisations in the Ethiopia-Eritrea border region is the high level of landmine contamination, said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its July report. Mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) are concentrated in the most contested areas near the joint border, and “constitute a severe threat for the successful return and reintegration of both internally displaced people and refugees”, said the report. The peacekeeping mission will play a vital role in reducing the threat by undertaking mine surveys, awareness and clearance activities.

Meanwhile, a senior Ethiopian army officer said it could take as long as four months to clear mines from one of the most heavily contested areas. In a report posted on the pro-Ethiopian government website ‘Walta’ on Thursday, Major Teclai Kidanu said that 31,000 underground and surface planted anti-personnel mines, and 500 anti-vehicle mines had been defused so far on the Bure front. Major Teclai, head of the demining engineering section, said the Eritrean-planted mines were on a five to seven km tract of land at Bure. A total of 3,000 mine pieces had been removed out of about 100,000 believed to have been planted on the Bure front, the ‘Walta’ report said.