Ethiopian Mine Action Office Background

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Ethiopian Mine Action OfficeBackground

• It is since 1995 with support of the united
  states that mine action was established in
  Ethiopia
• It was established under the ministry of defense
• Until 2001 de-mining had been the responsibility
  of the defense
• It is later that with the advent of
  Ethio-Eritrea conflict that a civilian national
  mine action authority, EMAO, was established
• The purpose of establishing the new mine action
  authority was due to different circumstances

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Map of the General Survey
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Problems Encountered

• Ethiopia has been in a conflict for many years
• Out of all the conflicts which left Ethiopia with
  huge scattered landmines and mine fields was the
  Ethio-Eritrea conflict.
• Only In this conflict
• About 364,000 people were displaced
• Houses and infrastructures were destroyed
• lands bordering with Eritrea were planted by
  mines extensively

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Practical Effect

• Right after the cessation of hostilities between
  the two countries
• Displaced people rushed to their homes and became
  victimized-high number of victims registered
• Those who managed to reach homes could not resume
  life due to the fact that their houses were
  destroyed, infrastructures were either destroyed
  or blocked by mines
• To the same reason people could not utilize their
  lands for cultivation as well as for grazing
• Returning the people back to their homes were
  also economically, socially and politically
  viable to the government

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Examples of practical effect
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Continued
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Seeking Solutions

• Therefore the government decided to take loans
  from the WB for
• Household rehabilitation
• Maintenance or reallocation of roads and power
• Construction of community infrastructures
• Supporting the family of deceased
• Supporting the deportees from Eritrea
• Demobilization of troops
• The WB agreed to give more than 300 million USD
  as a soft loan for all projects

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The necessity of mine action in Ethiopia

• When government planned to take the loan it was
  realized, by both parties, that almost all
  components in the plan cant be executed with out
  mine action involvement
• Therefore de-mining became a prerequisite and 15
  million USD has been allocated for de-mining.
• As a result of this EMAO was established as an
  autonomous office to assist the implementation of
  the projects as well as to build its own capacity
  in order to address all landmine related problems
  all over the country

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Continued

• As a result of this mine action implementation
  has been fully integrated to all the the project
  components since inception.
• The whole operation was financed by the loan
• Due to this effect, about 90 of the displaced
  has returned home
• 24 out of the 30sqkms immediate suspected land is
  cleared

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Results

• A Capacity of fully equipped and qualified six
  national manual de-miners (748) and three
  machines exist.
• 6 MDD were contracted for a year
• In addition to this, recently,there are 15 MDDs
  imported and 8 dog handlers trained by NPA.
• The MDD will be extended to 25 and a full scale
  training center will also be established
• The UN also assisted in the technical capacity
  building since start.
• More than 80 of the population of the area were
  made aware of MRE and victims of the unaware has
  reduced dramatically

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Pros and Cons of the loan Fund

• Ethiopia has taken its initiative to tackle its
  own problems
• That helped not only to address the problems but
  also to the quick development of its own capacity
• Operation started fast, all went smooth, and the
  capacity established was as desired

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Continued

• On the other hand Ethiopia did not receive enough
  donations compared to many other countries
• Thanks to the EC now there is money plugged for
  the next two years to continue operations.

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Future plans

• In order to have a reasonable and well planed
  de-mining operation that suits to the country
• We will have 5 technical survey and RRTs which
  will be budgeted by NPA
• We will have a full scale training center which
  will be mobilized jointly by NPA and THE UN
• We will increase the capacity of machines from 3
  to 6 which will be resource mobilized by the UN

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Continued

• We will strengthen the existing 6 manual
  de-mining Coys through the EC budget
• Then life is simple for the next two years
• The big head ach is what would happen after two
  years. I know the government will say we have
  allocated 15 million USD, Capacity is build to
  full scale,----- a lot a lot