Mine education at risk, UN warns

The United Nations has warned of the dangers to displaced people and returnees if mine awareness experts are forced to carry out national service in Eritrea.

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) said vital mine awareness work could be put back some six months by the national service requirements.

“UN agencies have indicated that this will severely hamper and endanger the return of IDPs [internally displaced people] and refugees into western Eritrea and have asked for a review of
the situation,” said acting UNMEE spokeswoman Gail Bindley Taylor-Sainte in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

The Mine Risk Education (MRE) teams work with displaced people and families who fled their homes to avoid the fighting in the two-year border war with Ethiopia. They teach them how to spot landmines and recognise infested areas.

Dave Edwards, a mine expert with UNMEE, said if the MRE teams were discharged, the programme would go back to square one and they would have to start re-training new staff.

The teams are hired by the international charity, Danish Church Aid, but are employed by the Eritrean Demining Agency (EDA) – in charge of demining in the country.

Some 26 MRE experts of the 52 strong team face being discharged so that they can complete their national service.

UNMEE believes the main area which will be affected is western Eritrea, which was the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the war, and where tens of thousands of refugees are returning from Sudan.