Armed and insecure

Ethiopian economy and disrupted the African Union summit”. 504 At the time, the Eritrean government
responded to the accusations as follows: “totally a fabrication and the report is absurd”. 505
Specifically regarding casualties caused by landmines, cluster bombs or other ERW (explosive
remnants of war), while there have been no reported incidents since the end of 2012, up to that
point 2,522 people had been killed and 2,777 injured by mines and ERW in Eritrea; nine were
killed and 43 injured in 2011 and 2012, and “of the nine fatalities, seven were children”. 506 The
danger posed by mines continues: in late 2013, “Eritrea reported that 434 mined areas remained
over an estimated 33.4km 2 ”. 507
Military Spending and Holdings
Eritrea’s historical, and ongoing, conflict with Ethiopia has resulted in enormous military
spending, particularly for such an otherwise poor country. Though the most recent available
data comes from 2003, the levels are remarkable and likely to be somewhat similar today to the
extent possible. In 2003, Eritrea’s military expenditure was 20.9 per cent of GDP (the highest
in the world by far that year), or 31.1 per cent of all government spending (the third highest
globally that year, after Singapore and Oman). 508 These mind-boggling levels were already a
stark reduction compared with their 1999 levels: 34.4 per cent of GDP (the highest in the world,
double that of second-place Angola), or 41.9 per cent of government spending (behind only
Sudan and Ethiopia, its belligerent, that year). 509 Such an emphasis on the military has taken a
huge economic and social toll on the country. UNDP calculates Eritrea’s Human Development
Index at 0.351, putting it 181 st out of the 187 nations compared; indeed, “military expenditure,
including the huge costs of military mobilization, is one major factor contributing to the country’s
economic decline”. 510
Eritrea’s emphasis on the military can easily be gleaned from its reported 200,000 active and
120,000 reserve soldiers. In terms of weaponry holdings, public information is somewhat
sparse—as is often the case for highly secretive countries—but according to ‘The Military
Balance 2010’, Eritrea held 270 (T-54/T-55) tanks, 40 reconnaissance and 25 armoured
personnel carriers, 15 BMP-1 armoured infantry fighting vehicles, and at least 204 units of
artillery (including 25 self-propelled, over 19 towed and 44 multiple rocket launchers and over
100 mortar systems); its navy had 13 patrol and coastal combatants; and its air-force holdings
included 31 combat capable aircraft and one attack and eight support helicopters. 511
504 UN News Centre, ‘Eritrea planned massive attack against African Union summit, says UN report’, July 2011,www.un.org/apps/news/story.
asp?NewsID=39178#.V2pGZvl96M8.
505 BBC, ‘UN report accuses Eritrea of plotting to bomb AU summit’, July 2011, www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14335752.
506 Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor, ‘Eritrea, Casualties and Victim Assistance’, September 2015, www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2015/eritrea/
casualties-and-victim-assistance.aspx.
507 Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor, ‘Eritrea, Mine Action’, 2015, www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/reports/2015/eritrea/mine-action.aspx.
508 SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/SIPRI-Milex-data-1988-2015.xlsx.
509 Ibid.
510 OHCHR, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, Sheila B. Keetharuth’, May 2013, www.ohchr.org/Documents/
HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session23/A.HRC.23.53_ENG.pdf.
511 IISS, ‘The Military Balance 2010’.
PAX ! Armed and insecure
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