Eritrea
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Five-Year Review: Non-signatory Eritrea has expressed interest in joining the convention and supports its humanitarian objectives, but has not taken any steps towards accession. Eritrea has participated as an observer in most meetings of the convention. Eritrea has not produced cluster munitions and denies stockpiling them, but used cluster munitions during the 1998–2000 war with Ethiopia.
Policy
The State of Eritrea has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Eritrea last commented on cluster munitions in May 2013, when a representative said the government has held preliminary discussions about Eritrea’s accession to the convention, but the process has not progressed due to other priorities.[1] In 2012, a government official said that a committee had been established to study the ban convention and provide recommendations on accession.[2] Eritrea has stated that it supports the Convention on Cluster Munitions and sees benefits in joining.[3] As a contaminated state, Eritrea states it understands the problems caused by cluster munitions and therefore supports their prohibition.[4]
Eritrea did not participate in the international meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but attended the two African regional meetings, where it supported a comprehensive ban.[5]
Eritrea has participated as an observer in all of the convention’s Meeting of States Parties, except in 2013. It attended one intersessional meeting of the convention in 2012. Eritrea has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Lome, Togo in May 2013.
Eritrea is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Eritrean and Ethiopian forces both used cluster munitions during their 1998–2000 border war.[6]
Eritrean aircraft attacked the Mekele airport in Ethiopia with cluster bombs in 1998.[7] In April 2009, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission in The Hague awarded Ethiopia US$2.5 million “in respect of deaths and injuries, medical expenses and property damage resulting from the dropping of cluster bombs in the vicinity of the Ayder School in Mekele.”[8]
Although Ethiopia has denied it, there is ample evidence that it attacked several parts of Eritrea with cluster munitions.
In May 2013, Eritrea stated that it does not use or stockpile cluster munitions or function as a transfer country.[9] In October 2010, Eritrea said it has not produced cluster munitions.[10]
Eritrea has denied stockpiling cluster munitions.[11] It reportedly inherited Chilean-manufactured CB-500 cluster bombs when it achieved independence from Ethiopia.[12] According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, it also possesses Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[13]
[1] Statement of Eritrea, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013.
[2] CMC meeting with Ghebremedhin-Mehari Tesfamichael, Finance and Administrative Officer, Eritrean Mission to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 18 April 2012. Notes by the CMC.
[3] CMC meeting with Elsa Haile, Director, Department of International and Regional Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New York, 20 October 2010. Notes by the CMC; and statement of Eritrea, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 9 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[4] CMC, “Report on the Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” September 2008.
[5] For details on Eritrea’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 199.
[6] The UN Mission in Eritrea and Ethiopia’s Mine Action Coordination Center (UNMEE MACC) reported that in 2007, unexploded PTAB 2.5 and BL755 submunitions were found in Eritrea. See UNMEE MACC, “Annual Report 2008,” undated draft, p. 1, provided by email from Anthony Blythen, Programme Officer, UN Mine Action Service, 7 April 2009. Additionally, a UN team in the area of Melhadega in Eritrea identified and destroyed an unexploded M20G dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunition of Greek origin in October 2004, but it is not known who used the weapon. See UNMEE MACC, “Weekly Update,” Asmara, 4 October 2004, p. 4.
[7] Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission, “Partial Award—Central Front—Ethiopia’s Claim 2 between The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the State of Eritrea,” The Hague, 28 April 2004, p. 24.
[8] Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission, “Ethiopia’s Damages Claims Between The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia And The State of Eritrea,” The Hague, 17 August 2009.
[9] Statement of Eritrea, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013. In an interview with the Monitor, the representative repeated that Eritrea does not produce, export, use, or stockpile cluster munitions, but is affected by cluster munition remnants from the war with Ethiopia. Interview with Filmon Mihretab Kifle, Director for Regional Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Lomé, 22 May 2013.
[10] CMC meeting with Elsa Haile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New York, 20 October 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[11] Ibid.
[12] Rae McGrath, Cluster Bombs: The Military Effectiveness and Impact on Civilians of Cluster Munitions (London: Landmine Action, August 2000), p. 38.
[13] International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 423.