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CRISIS PROFILE: Ethiopia-Eritrea border trouble23 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMTSource: AlertNet - background material Number killed: 70,000 Number displaced: Eritrea: 1 million Ethiopia: 360,000 (Source: Global IDP Project) Number of landmines laid: 240,000 by Eritrean forces 150,000-200,000 by Ethiopian forces (Landmine Monitor) Border: Total length: 1,000 km (620 miles) Width of buffer zone: 25 km (15 miles) No. U.N. peacekeepers: 3,300 (UNMEE, December 2005) Current UNMEE mandate: runs until 15 March 2006 Humanitarian situation: Eritrea: No. in need of food aid: 2.3 million people, or two-thirds of the population (OCHA, UNHCR, Dec 2005) No. internally displaced people: 45,000 (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Nov 2005) Percentage headed by females: 40 (WFP) Ethiopia: No. IDPs as result of border war with Eritrea: 62,000 (Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, May 2005) No. in need of food aid: 2.6 million (WFP, Jan 2006) DETAILED CRISIS PROFILE Fears are growing that Ethiopia and Eritrea could re-start a border war five years after their last dispute that killed at least 70,000 people and displaced another 1.4 million. Tensions along the border have risen sharply since October 2005, and both sides have been seen carrying out military manoeuvres involving troops, tanks and air defence missiles. Although both countries signed a peace agreement in 2000, the border dispute has not yet been fully resolved. It centres around the small, flashpoint town of Badme. The 1,000-km (620-mile) border has never been properly demarcated. Before the 1998-2000 war, people crossed it regularly to graze their herds, trade and find work. During that period most of Badme’s estimated 5,000 residents voted in Ethiopian elections and used the Ethiopian Birr currency. While the two governments remained on friendly terms, this fluidity did not pose a problem. But this changed as tensions grew between the two governments. In July 1997 – four years after Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia – Ethiopian troops temporarily occupied Eritrean territory around the area of Bada in eastern Eritrea. In November that year the Eritrean government introduced its own currency and tried to regulate cross-border trade, leading to a dispute over where the border lay. In May 1998 hostilities broke out in the region of Badme, and Eritrea occupied the Ethiopian-administered town. Badme was later recaptured by Ethiopia in 1999. In 2000, after a temporary lull in hostilities, Ethiopian troops went on to occupy a large part of southwest Eritrea. During the two-year war both sides bombed major towns, laid more than 400,000 landmines, and used World War One-style trench warfare which killed thousands of soldiers. Tens of thousands of people fled or were expelled from both sides of the border – Ethiopians from Eritrea and vice versa. Thousands more living in war zones were internally displaced. The region was experiencing a food crisis, partly caused by severe drought. In May 2000, the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was “deeply alarmed” about the impact of the hostilities on the already critical humanitarian situation. After several attempts by the United States, the United Nations Security Council and the Organisation of African Unity to end the war, peace was restored in June 2000. Both sides agreed to sign an OAU peace plan in Algiers after Ethiopia had effectively won the war. Under the Algiers peace plan a 25-kilometre-wide (15-mile-wide) buffer zone was created between the two countries, patrolled by the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) of 3,300 peacekeepers. An independent boundary commission was also set up under the Algiers peace agreement to decide on the exact location of the border based on past colonial treaties. Ethiopia and Eritrea agreed they would accept the commission’s decision and there would be no right of appeal. The commission was made up of five lawyers. Ethiopia and Eritrea appointed two each who then nominated a fifth member, the president. In April 2002 the commission ruled on the boundary but did not make a decision about the flashpoint town of Badme until 2003 when it ruled that Badme was in Eritrea. Ethiopia appealed against the ruling, but the commission maintained its decision. Now both sides are locked in a stalemate. Ethiopia has said since December 2004 that it will comply with the ruling even though it does not agree with it, but refuses to co-operate with the physical demarcation of the boundary until it can hold talks on the issue. Eritrea refuses any diplomatic initiative unless the initiative enforces demarcation of the border. In September 2005, Eritrea warned it might re-start the war if the United Nations fails to resolve the dispute over Badme. It followed up this threat in October by banning U.N. helicopter flights in the border zone. The flights were used to carry supplies and peacekeepers, and to monitor the area. As a result of the ban, the U.N. was forced to close several bases along the border and was only able to monitor about 45 percent of the buffer zone in October. The U.N. changed its description of the situation on the ground from ‘’stable’’ to ‘’tense’’. The U.N. force was further reduced in January 2006 when Eritrea demanded the removal of all its Western peacekeepers. Humanitarian problems remaining from the last war: Thousands have still not been able to return home since the last war. Many are forced to live in camps and temporary accommodation until the border dispute is resolved and their lands are demined. Eritrea in particular is suffering the after-effects of the war, since most of the fighting took place on its land. Its most fertile farming region was heavily mined, and essential infrastructure destroyed. Ongoing tensions over the border have led to border closures which make it harder for people to trade and buy food. Both people and funds have been diverted away from farming to prepare for possible war. Eritrea: In the past year Eritrea has placed increasing restrictions on aid workers. In early 2005 U.N. vehicles were seized, in May the government introduced taxes on aid imports and imposed size restrictions on non governmental organisations, in August the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was expelled, and in September the government reduced the number of people receiving free food aid from 1.3 million to 72,000. Since then some free food aid distribution has resumed and there are plans to set up food-for-work programmes to replace free food distribution, but it is unclear when they will begin and how many will benefit. Food shortages: The combined effect of the border war and severe drought means an estimated 2.3 million people out of a total population of 3.6 million need food aid, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). However initial reports say there was a good harvest in 2005, and fewer people will need food aid as a result. This cannot be confirmed until the government releases its harvest figures, but even in a good year Eritrea cannot produce more than 50 percent of its needs. More than one million farmers were displaced by the war and the country’s infrastructure was badly damaged. Landmines were laid in some of the most fertile and populous parts of Eritrea. The conflict was followed by one of the region’s worst-ever droughts, which has affected more than 60 percent of the population in the past four years. Now up to 40 percent of households are headed by females and are especially vulnerable to food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme. Nearly 19,000 men died in the war, and 300,000 are currently doing their national military service. People who have returned home: Since the end of the war, one million displaced people have returned home but, according to the World Food Programme, nearly half of them are still dependent on food aid. The ongoing tensions near the border and the presence of landmines have prevented them from accessing their own and communal lands. People still uprooted: There are still an estimated 45,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), most of them living in camps and completely dependent on humanitarian aid. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 85 percent of them are women and children. Most of the IDP camps are in or near the U.N.-patrolled buffer zone. They have severe water shortages, little or no sanitation and only half the children living in camps attend school, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Villages destroyed by the war in the border’s 25-km-wide (15-mile-wide) buffer zone still need to be rebuilt. They lack water, transport and basic health and education services. The IDPs cannot return home until the border issue is resolved, mines are cleared and the war-damaged infrastructure is rebuilt. Ethiopia: People who have returned home: As with Eritrea, landmines and continued insecurity have prevented many returnees from using their land, leaving them dependent on food aid. According to the Global IDP Project, many are unlikely to become self-sufficient until the frontier is demarcated, their lands demined and security ensured. According to a July 2005 OCHA report, a lack of clean drinking water, sanitation, drugs and medical services in resettled parts of Tigray region has increased levels of disease, especially diarrhoea. There is little information on nutrition in the region, but Médecins Sans Frontières-Holland found acute malnutrition among young children in one site. A full nutritional survey has yet to be carried out to confirm this finding. People still uprooted: The Global IDP Project says the war displaced 360,000 people in Ethiopia, most of them in the Tigray region near the Eritrean border. OCHA estimates there are now 62,000 people still displaced in the Tigray region, most of them living in host communities. Landmines in both countries: Eritrean forces laid 240,000 mines and Ethiopian forces laid 150,000-200,000 mines during the border war, according to the Landmine Monitor. Ethiopia is one of the 10 most mined countries in the world, and its northern Tigray region is one of the worst-affected in the country. In Eritrea, landmines were laid in some of the most populated and fertile regions in the country - the Debub and Gash Barka regions. Debub is the country’s traditional breadbasket. Landmines are one of the main reasons why people cannot return home or, when they do, cannot rebuild their lives because mines cut them off from pastoral and farm land. TIMELINE:Brief history of Eritrea-Ethiopia border dispute 1952 – Eritrea, a former Italian colony and U.N.-mandated territory since World War Two, is federated with Ethiopia under Emperor Haile Selassie. 1962 – Eritrea becomes a province of Ethiopia, fuelling Eritrea’s independence struggle. 1975 – Following the ousting of Haile Selassie, Lt-Col Mengistu Haile Mariam emerges as the leader of the Dergue Marxist regime in Ethiopia. In following years thousands of suspected opponents are killed in the "Red Terror" campaign. 1984-5 – Famine in Ethiopia claims around one million lives. Throughout the 1980s rebel groups fight for independence in Eritrea and the northern Ethiopian province of Tigray. 1991 May – Eritrean rebels enter the Eritrean capital Asmara. Days later Ethiopian and Eritrean rebels seize Addis Ababa. Mengistu flees. 1993 May – Eritrea gains independence after a referendum. Eritrea enjoys good relations with Ethiopia. 1997 July – Ethiopian troops temporarily occupy Eritrean territory around the area of Bada in Eastern Eritrea. Nov – Eritrea introduces its own currency, and attempts to regulate cross border trade lead to a disagreement over where the border lies. 1998 May to June – First offensive. Eritrea makes advances into Ethiopian-administered territory on the Badme plains, including Badme town, and in and around Zalambessa. June - Ethiopia accepts a peace plan drawn up by the United States and Rwanda which requires Eritrea to withdraw to pre-May positions. Nov - Ethiopia accepts an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) peace plan but Eritrea objects to certain elements, talks fail. 1999 Feb to March – Second offensive. Ethiopia counter-attack wins back territory including Badme after days of World War One-style trench warfare with the loss of thousands of lives. 2000 May to June – Third offensive. Ethiopia makes more gains, including in the regions of Debub and Gash Barka, between them accounting for 80 percent of Eritrean food production. May - U.N. Security Council votes for an arms embargo against both sides in punishment for renewing the war. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declares the border war has ended. June - Both sides agree to a ceasefire. Dec - A peace agreement brokered by the OAU is signed in Algiers. The plan calls for the deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force in a 25-km (15 mile) buffer zone. As part of the agreement, an independent boundary commission is set up to decide on the exact location of the border based on past colonial treaties. Ethiopia and Eritrea agree to accept the commission’s decision with no right of appeal. 2001 Jan - A 4,200-strong U.N. peacekeeping force is deployed to monitor peace between the two countries. 2002 April - The Hague-based five-member Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) delivers a ruling on border but fails to delineate the disputed town of Badme on the ground, saying it requires more time. 2003 Mar - The EEBC finally rules that Badme is in Eritrea, but Ethiopia rejects the ruling. Nov - Ethiopia accepts "in principle" the 2002 EEBC ruling but wants a dialogue with its neighbour first, which Eritrea refuses. 2005 Sept - Eritrea warns it might re-start its war with Ethiopia if the U.N. fails to resolve the dispute over Badme. U.N. Security Council extends the mandate of the U.N. Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) until 15 March 2006. Oct - Eritrea bans U.N. helicopters from its airspace. As a result, the U.N. is forced to close several bases along the border. Nov - U.N. peacekeepers say both Ethiopia and Eritrea have moved troops and tanks towards the border. The U.N. Security Council threatens sanctions on both nations if they fail to step back. Eritrea dismisses the threat as an example of big power bias. Dec - Eritrea orders U.N. peacekeepers from Western countries to leave. The U.N. Security Council agrees to pull out American, Canadian and European peacekeepers from Eritrea and relocate them "temporarily" in Ethiopia. 2006 Jan 7 - Ethiopia complies with a U.N. demand to withdraw troops from its tense border with Eritrea. Eritrea refuses to lift restrictions on U.N. peacekeepers. Jan 18 - U.S. and Eritrean officials hold talks in Washington over the border crisis, but Eritrea blocks U.S. mediator Jendayi Frazer from travelling to the Eritrean side of the border. USEFUL LINKS: For official government perspectives on the border dispute, check out the press releases and opinion pieces available on the Eritrean Ministry of Information website and the Ethiopian Ministry of Information which also includes Ethiopia’s official position on relations with Eritrea. Both sites have histories, written from their different perspectives. Another good official source is the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea website which gives a short history of the conflict, and facts and general information about the U.N. mission along the border. The International Crisis Group published a useful report in December 2005 looking at the nitty gritty of the current tensions. Landmine Monitor is a good source of information on the landmines laid during the war in each country, including how much land is affected, how much has been cleared and the number of fatalities. Good sources of information on refugees and internally displaced people include the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, the U.N. Refugee Agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross are good places to find key facts and figures by country. In July 2005 the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs published a short but useful survey of resettlement in Ethiopia’s Tigray region which borders Eritrea Finally for information about food needs, the World Food Programme has lots of useful information about both Ethiopia and Eritrea. |