Eritrea
Mine Ban Policy
Policy
The State of Eritrea acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 27 August 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 February 2002. Eritrea has not enacted domestic legislation or reported any new national measures to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, as required by Article 9.[1]
Eritrea previously attended meetings of the treaty semi-regularly until 2014, but has not attended a meeting of the treaty since the Third Review Conference in Maputo in June 2014. Eritrea also last submitted an Article 7 transparency report in 2014.
On 5 December 2018, Eritrea voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 73/61 promoting universalization and implementation of the convention, as it has in previous years.[2]
Eritrea is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, nor is it party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Production, stockpiling, retention, transfer, and use
Eritrea has stated that it has never produced antipersonnel mines, and that all the mines used in past conflicts were obtained from Ethiopian forces (either from minefields or storage facilities) during the 1962–1991 war of independence.[3]
In its Article 7 reports, Eritrea has indicated that it no longer has a stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[4] Eritrea’s treaty-mandated deadline for destroying any stocks of antipersonnel mines was 1 February 2006.
In 2010 and 2011, Eritrea reported that it is retaining 101 live antipersonnel mines for training purposes and 71 inert mines.[5] It has not reported on the intended purposes and actual uses of the live retained mines.
In 2006, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia alleged the transfer of antipersonnel mines from Eritrea to non-state armed groups in Somalia.[6] Eritrea said that the allegations were “baseless and unfounded … Eritrea has never provided landmines or any other military support to any of the factions in Somalia.”[7] Eritrea did not respond to requests for information from two presidents of Mine Ban Treaty Meetings of States Parties for further information on this matter.[8]
There have been no reports of new use of antipersonnel mines since the end of the 1998–2000 border war with Ethiopia. Between 2003 and 2008, there were incidents caused by newly laid antivehicle mines in the Temporary Security Zone, according to news reports and the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC).
[1] At a March 2004 regional mine workshop, Eritrea said it planned to “take all the necessary measures to adopt implementing legislation.” However, Eritrea has not reported on any national implementation measures, such as legislation, in its recent Article 7 reports.
[2] “Implementation of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction,” UNGA Resolution 73/61, 5 December 2018.
[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 10 March 2008.
[4] See Form B of each Article 7 report. Eritrea maintains that all of the approximately 450,000 mines it obtained from Ethiopia during the 1962–1991 war were subsequently laid during the 1998–2000 border conflict, except for those that were unusable, which were disposed of or destroyed. In 2002, Eritrea claimed that 40,000 mines had been destroyed by the Eritrean Defense Forces following the end of the liberation war. UNMEE MACC could not confirm this. See, Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 249. UNMEE MACC estimated that Eritrea laid about 240,000 mines during the 1998–2000 conflict. Interview with Phil Lewis, Program Manager, UNMEE MACC, Asmara, 18 January 2002.
[5] Eritrea is retaining 40 PMN, 40 POMZ-2, and 21 PMD-6 (up one from 20 in 2009) live mines, as well as 71 inert mines of each of the following types: 57 POMZ-2 (one in 2009), four M35 (one in 2009), three MON-100 (one in 2009), two M16, and one each of the PPM-2, PMN, PMD-6, M14, and MON-50 antipersonnel mines. Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 10 April 2010; and Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 4 April 2011.
[6] The May 2006 report of the UN Monitoring Group stated that the government of Eritrea transferred 1,000 antipersonnel mines to “militant fundamentalists” in Somalia on or around 5 March 2006. The November 2006 report stated that the government of Eritrea transported antipersonnel mines and other weapons by cargo aircraft from Assab, Eritrea to Mogadishu, Somalia in July 2006. In addition, an October 2005 report alleged two shipments of unspecified mines (either antipersonnel or antivehicle) from Eritrea to Somalia. See “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1630 (2005),” S/2006/229, 4 May 2006, p. 12; “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1676 (2006),” S/2006/913, 22 November 2006, pp. 11–16; “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1587 (2005),” S/2005/625, 4 October 2005, p. 16; Landmine Monitor Report 2006, pp. 411–412; and Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 369–370.
[7] Letter A1/212/07 from Elsa Haile, Director, UN and Multilateral Organizations Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 6 July 2007.
[8] For details of statements and actions by the two Presidents relating to the UN Monitoring Group reports, see, Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 356.