Chapter

Explosive remnants of war

Harry H. G. Post

The 1998-2000 Eritrea-Ethiopia war and its aftermath in international legal perspective : from 2000 Algiers Agreements to the 2018 Peace Agreement

The Hague : Asser Press, 2021

p. 603-641

English

The 1998–2000 Eritrea-Ethiopia war has produced a considerable increase in Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) in two countries which already had a massive number of landmines, booby traps and other explosive devices from previous conflicts. The magnitude of the problem has thus increased dramatically, to the extent that hundreds of people have been killed and horrendously maimed and that large areas of land have remained wasteland. This chapter focuses on the international legal side of ERW: what rights and duties exist in general international law and international humanitarian law in respect to explosive remnants of war, relevant for the situation in Eritrea and Ethiopia. During the war neither was a party to the basic international instruments applicable to landmines and other ERW, notably the 1997 Ottawa Convention on the ban of anti-personnel mines did not apply (although both States became a party after the war). In respect to the use of ERW, the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission (EECC) could only apply the relevant international customary law. In the analysis here, we will follow the efforts of the EECC. The question of responsibility, including in the period after the cessation of hostilities, and in particular responsibility for making the explosive remnants of war harmless, moves the discussion from the jus in bello to the jus post bellum. The chapter also discusses the state of ERW in Eritrea and Ethiopia as it has developed since 2008. The major weakness remains the lack of mine clearance action. This is more than symbolised by the dramatic failure of both countries to clear mines in their territory before the deadlines set to them under the Ottawa Convention. The result over all is: ever new numbers of innocent victims in both countries also in modern times.

• The 1998-2000 Eritrea-Ethiopia war and its aftermath in international legal perspective : from 2000 Algiers Agreements to the 2018 Peace Agreement / Andrea de Guttry, Harry H. G. Post, Gabriella Venturini, editors