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World Landmine News
ERITREA: SPECIAL REPORT on returnees (ERITREA)

NAIROBI, Kenya, 22 feb 02 (IRIN)--

As Eritrea reaches a political crossroads, there are signs that the young nation is shaking off some of the effects of successive wars. On the surface, prospects look gloomy - the damage to Eritrea\'s economy caused by war and drought is immense and donors are threatening to slash or stop aid because of the country\'s perceived lack of democratisation.

\"Substantial funding will be required to rebuild the country,\" one observer noted. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), a total of 1.6 million people - out of a population of three million - have been affected by war, drought, or a combination of both.

The two-year border war with Ethiopia, which broke out in May 1998, resulted in the deaths of some 19,000 fighters and the displacement of tens of thousands of people. The number of civilian deaths is unknown. But since the Algiers peace accord was signed by the two countries in December 2000, increasing numbers of people are going home - whether they be refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs) or prisoners of war.

About 170,000 IDPs have been returned to their home areas, but a further 73,000 are still homeless as their villages have either been destroyed, contaminated by mines or unexploded ordnance, are under Ethiopian control, or because of general insecurity. Furthermore, as of November 2001, more than 13,000 Eritreans expelled or deported from Ethiopia were being housed in camps in Eritrea, OCHA said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is visiting hundreds of prisoners of war taken in both countries, but, in a move described as \"positive\" by observers, the two sides are now releasing batches of prisoners. The ICRC however believes the releases are not happening swiftly enough.

Stretching much further back to the war of independence from Ethiopia which began in the 1960s, hundreds of thousands of Eritrean refugees streamed into Sudan. At the height of the conflict in the mid-1980\'s, there were almost 500,000 refugees in Sudan. But now the refugees are returning in their thousands.

REFUGEES RETURNING

According to the UN refugee agency, the Eritreans in Sudan represent one of the oldest groups of refugees on the continent. \"UNHCR has been caring for Eritrean refugees in Sudan longer than for any other large group of exiles, with the first camp opened by the agency in eastern Sudan in 1967,\" it said.

They began fleeing hostilities at home after the Eritrean liberation movement rose up against Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie\'s annexation of the territory in 1962.

Subsequent periods of drought drove thousands more Eritreans into Sudan, so that at their peak they numbered about 500,000. The 1998-2000 war also saw the arrival of thousands more refugees, although many of these have since gone back.

Now, the old caseload Eritreans have started returning voluntarily in huge numbers, mainly to the Gash Barka region, because of improved conditions in the country, according to UNHCR. The mass return is based on an information campaign, with the distribution of thousands of leaflets in the camps in Tigrinya, Arabic and English explaining what awaits the refugees at home.

Officials from the government\'s humanitarian wing, the Eritrean Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (ERREC), are also touring the Sudanese camps to answer refugees\' questions. In addition, refugee leaders are being encouraged to visit Eritrea for a first-hand look at conditions and reintegration programmes. In the first visit of its kind recently, 60 refugee leaders arrived in their homeland. UNHCR says it hopes these visits will \"raise interest in repatriation\".

Since May last year, some 39,000 refugees have gone home. An estimated 121,000 Eritreans still remain in refugee camps, mainly in Sudan\'s Kassala and Gedaref states, UNHCR says. According to Tahir Ali, UNHCR\'s chief of mission in Asmara, significant but as yet undetermined numbers of Eritreans also live in urban areas of Sudan.

As of 26 January 2002, more than 50 convoy movements had taken place. Returning Eritreans can choose where to settle and are provided with a shelter structure, one blanket per person, two mosquito nets per family, a kerosene stove with kerosene and water barrel, agricultural tools, kitchen sets, soap and a carry-all bag. Families also receive a cash grant of up to US $200 and food assistance. They are then helped to reintegrate into their societies.

Tahir Ali told IRIN it was expected a total of 60,000 camp refugees would
return to Eritrea by the end of the year, with a further 62,000 repatriating next year. Afterwards, UNHCR would tackle the issue of repatriating urban refugees. Ali said UNHCR was happy with conditions in Eritrea and the agency\'s assessment of the returnees was \"very positive\".

While UNHCR has adequate funding for the repatriation exercise, it is concerned about the socio-economic integration of the refugees as there is only short-term assistance for reintegration activities, Ali said. But the agency is hopeful that one of Africa\'s longest-running refugee situations will soon be at an end.

\"The sustainable reintegration of returning refugees, IDPs, expellees and other returning populations requiring special assistance will be at the heart of regional reconstruction and development, helping to rebuild Eritrea and consolidate the peace process,\" UNHCR says.

The Eritrean government says the mass return of refugees from Sudan is a \"vote of confidence by the people of Eritrea\". \"They are voting with their feet,\" Eritrea\'s deputy ambassador to Kenya, Teweldemedhin Tesfamariam, told IRIN. He said the returnees had nothing to fear from the internal political situation in the country. \"Eritreans, whether they are refugees or otherwise, are not afraid of storms in teacups,\" he said. According to Teweldemedhin, the refugees were returning at this point because the appropriate mechanisms were in place. \"They probably feel the situation is more certain now that hostilities [with Ethiopia] have ceased,\" he added.

Analysts note that in the last decade, relations between Eritrea and Sudan were frosty, with the former accusing Khartoum of \"fanning Islamic fundamentalism\". Because of this, it was impossible to set up a tripartite arrangement - between Sudan, Eritrea and UNHCR - to handle the repatriation of refugees. But ties have since improved and a tripartite agreement was signed in April 2000.

Teweldemedhin said his government was coping with the returnees by mobilising the receiving communities to help with reintegration. He added that the government was building establishments such as schools and clinics, and \"most importantly, we are allocating them [the returnees] land to rebuild their lives\". He also underlined the role of the international community. \"Through the UNHCR, they are doing everything possible to bring them home,\" he said.

EXCHANGE OF POWs

One of the most active international organisations in Eritrea is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Its spokesman in Asmara, Paul Conneally, told IRIN that apart from the usual ICRC activities of assessing prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees, the organisation is also trying to promote human rights awareness in the country.

The ICRC is training future decision-makers on international humanitarian law, particularly in the military, the police and the university. \"There are three stages,\" Conneally said. \"First comes sensitisation, secondly involvement - which means training the trainers, and thirdly autonomy whereby they are no longer dependent on the ICRC.\"

He said the programme had the full cooperation of the Eritrean government, although training with the military was still at the first stage as the army had not yet been demobilised. But the police training was well advanced. \"The Eritrean government has an open attitude in the sense that they want a professional force,\" Conneally said.

He stressed, however, that facilitating the release of all prisoners of war was the ICRC\'s priority. Ever since the ICRC was given \"headquarters\" status in Eritrea last year, it has been much easier to operate in the country and the organisation is allowed unhindered access to POWs and other detainees. He explained that the ICRC\'s job included registering every prisoner, interviewing them in private, facilitating communication with their families, and checking on the physical and psychological conditions of detention.

Since the Algiers peace agreement of December 2000, ICRC says it has organised the repatriation of 937 Eritrean and 703 Ethiopian POWs. At the time of the agreement, the organisation had registered some 2,600 Eritrean POWs in Ethiopia, and about 1,000 Ethiopian POWs in Eritrea.

Nevertheless, Conneally said, the exchange of POWs was proceeding too slowly. The Algiers accord calls for the unconditional release of POWs. Eritrea claims Ethiopia has attached conditions to the POW exchange and attributes this to the slow pace of releases. \"We have been repatriating them unconditionally and this has not been reciprocated to our satisfaction,\" the Eritrean deputy ambassador to Kenya, Teweldemedhin Tesfamariam, argued. Ethiopia is angry that Asmara has refused to divulge the fate of one of its top fighter pilots, shot down during a bombing raid in 1998. Last year, Addis Ababa halted the exchange of POWs, saying the issue first had to be resolved. The exchanges have since resumed.

Since June 2000, the ICRC in Eritrea has also been involved in establishing the \"voluntary return\" of Ethiopians from the country. \"All are interviewed to ascertain their willingness to leave,\" Conneally told IRIN. He said there was a clearance process whereby repatriating Ethiopians had to finish their business such as closing bank accounts, so that these days there was no longer any forced repatriation. Since the ICRC became involved in June 2000, he said, some 40,000 Ethiopians had returned voluntarily. \"The rate has now slowed to a trickle,\" he added.

The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) also has a human rights component, but the two organisations carry out their work independently of each other, although there is some information-sharing, according to Conneally.

HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS

International human rights organisations have recently criticised what they describe as the worsening situation in Eritrea. Amnesty International said the resolutions of last month\'s long-awaited National Assembly session \"seriously undermine the rule of law and the protection of human rights\". It voiced concern over the detention of 11 prominent dissidents, accusing the National Assembly of \"blatantly interfering with the independence of the judiciary\" by proclaiming that the 11 had committed treason. The government, it said, had \"unleashed an unprecedented campaign of oppression against its critics\". The sentiments were echoed by Human Rights Watch which wrote of \"shrinking liberties\" in Eritrea.

More importantly, the European Parliament dealt a serious blow to Eritrea\'s image, accusing it of human rights violations and expressing concern over the \"authoritarian trend\" in the country. In a resolution, passed early in February, it highlighted the arrests of the dissidents, the ban on the private press, the non-implementation of the constitution, last year\'s expulsion of the Italian ambassador and the failure to hold parliamentary elections in December 2001.

Eritrea strongly criticised the resolution as \"replete with gross misrepresentation of facts\", saying it was \"unfair and unjustified\". But the European Union is Eritrea\'s leading development partner and the resolution could have far-reaching implications. Denmark has already announced it will not provide further bilateral development aid after 2005.

Independent observers say it is important for Eritreans \"to know they\'re known outside their own borders, that what they do in the \'privacy\' of their own country is being watched...and will have lasting effects on the way their country is handled in the future\". But, they add, there has to be some balance and an attempt to place events in an \"Eritrean context\".

\"The black and white tying of assistance to certain donor goals will likely backfire,\" said one NGO worker with many years\' experience in Eritrea. \"Donors perhaps need to have better informed representation in countries like Eritrea.\"

\"You\'ve got a devastated, war-torn country,\" he told IRIN. \"You\'ve still got tens of thousands of IDPs. You\'ve got tens of thousands of refugees already repatriated or quite close to doing so. You\'ve got the impending demobilisation of some 250,000 soldiers, who\'ll want education, skills training, jobs, homes, money, benefits and a chance at a normal life. You\'ve got overburdened families. You\'ve got a disaffected educated class. You\'ve got an uncertain next couple of months militarily. And you\'ve got the huge challenge of trying to get this country\'s development process back on track. All that requires huge amounts of money, assistance, technical expertise and equipment.\"

\"The donor countries certainly have legitimate demands about democratisation and human rights, but there are also often other issues, deep, internal issues in those developing countries, which don\'t always mesh with the demand for immediate gratification by the donors,\" he added.

Posted: Friday, March 1, 2002



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