Local News

“Stay Away From Mines”

04/16/2007

- Message from children to children in Eritrea

“Stay away from mines and UXOs” – echoed the voices of 300 children marching on one of Asmara’s main streets on the Wednesday morning of April 4. They had gathered from various schools to participate in the march and in the celebration of the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Eritrea. 

Gathering Government officials, the international community and children, this was a day to boost all efforts aiming at making the communities, especially children, aware of the danger of mines but also to enable them to live more safely with the threat.

“Eritrea is one of the most mine affected countries in the world with almost 700,000 people living in affected areas”, Mr. Macleod Nyirongo, UN Resident Humanitarian Coordinator said during the ceremony. “The use of mines in Eritrea can be traced back almost one century”, he continued. Children are victims to more than half of mine incidents in the country. In addition, the threat posed by mines hampers children’s access to schools, clean water and health care.

“One time I saw a mine, I was playing and then I called my parents who called for help”, Yonas, an 11 years old boy said at the day. “I was scared but I had seen how to do on television,” he added then turned to watch other children performing a drama with the theme “Do not pick up any object if you did not drop it – a mistake made one day can have an impact on the rest of your life”.

UNICEF, supported mainly by the US Department of State and complemented by the Governments of Finland, Switzerland and United Kingdom, is working with the Government for Mine Risk Education (MRE) in Eritrea. Activities aim at educating communities, especially targeting children, by 100 community volunteers, 10 MRE teams and through schools and radio/TV programs. In 2006, 65,000 people, including 25,000 children, received Mine Risk Education. To reach children in school, over 100 teachers and Ministry of Education staff were trained in MRE to in their turn train other teachers. The Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Eritrea was organized by the Eritrean De-mining Authority (EDA) in cooperation with UNICEF, UNMACC, Eritrean Red Cross Society and the ministries of Information and Education.

Students marching in the streets of Asmara