Eritrea
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Eritrea has expressed interest in the humanitarian objectives of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not taken any steps towards accession. Eritrea last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2015. Eritrea voted in favor of the key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
Eritrea has not produced cluster munitions and denies stockpiling them, but used cluster munitions during the 1998–2000 war with Ethiopia. There is evidence that cluster bombs were used in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region during the first half of 2021, but the user and circumstances of use are not known.
Policy
The State of Eritrea has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Eritrea has acknowledged the convention’s humanitarian rationale, but has not taken any steps to join it.[1] Eritrea stated in 2008 that as a country contaminated by cluster munition remnants, it understands the problems caused by these weapons and therefore supports their prohibition.[2]
Eritrea did not participate in the international meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but attended two African regional meetings, where it supported a comprehensive ban.[3]
Eritrea participated as an observer at the convention’s meetings of States Parties in 2011–2014 and the First Review Conference in 2015, but has not attended a meeting of the convention since then. Eritrea has participated in regional workshops on the convention.
In December 2021, Eritrea voted in favor of the key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] Eritrea has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Eritrea is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Production, transfer, and stockpiling
Eritrea stated in 2013 that it does not use or stockpile cluster munitions.[5] Previously, a government official said in 2010 that Eritrea has not produced cluster munitions and possesses no stocks.[6]
However, Eritrea reportedly inheritedChilean-manufactured CB-500 cluster bombs when it achieved independence from Ethiopia in 1991.[7] It also possesses Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[8]
Use
Eritrea has used cluster munitions in the past. It is unclear if the Eritrean Air Force used cluster bombs in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region during the first half of 2021.
Media reports, as well as accounts and images shared on social media, indicate that several types of Soviet or Russian-made RBK-series cluster bombs may have been used in attacks on Gijet and Samre, southwest of the city of Mekelle, on 20–25 February 2021, and on Guyya and Menji near the town of Abi-Adi Tembien on 13 June 2021.[9] The air-delivered cluster munitions reportedly used included RBK-250, PTAB-2.5M, and RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh bombs. RBK-250 ZAB-2.5 incendiary weapons may also have been used.
The Eritrean Air Force possesses aircraft capable of delivering Soviet-made RBK-series cluster bombs. As of 31 May 2022, Eritrea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs had not responded to a 2021 request from Human Rights Watch (HRW) to confirm or deny the Eritrean Defense Force’s use of cluster munitions during the outbreak of hostilities in Tigray in 2020–2021.[10]
Previous use
Eritrean and Ethiopian armed forces both used cluster munitions during their 1998–2000 war.[11]
Eritrean aircraft attacked the Mekele airport in Ethiopia with cluster bombs in 1998.[12] In 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.”[13]
Although Ethiopia has denied it, there is ample evidence that it also used cluster munitions during the war, to attack several parts of Eritrea.
[1] In 2010, Eritrea told States Parties that it supported the convention and saw benefits in joining. Statement of Eritrea, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 9 November 2010. Notes by the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). In May 2013, a representative said that the ratification process had been delayed by other priorities. Statement of Eritrea, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013. In 2012, a government official said a committee assigned to study the convention would provide recommendations on accession. 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.
[2] CMC, “Report on the Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” September 2008.
[3] For details on Eritrea’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), p. 199.
[4] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[5] Statement of Eritrea, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013; and interview with Filmon Mihretab Kifle, Director for Regional Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Lomé, 22 May 2013.
[6] CMC meeting with Elsa Haile, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, New York, 20 October 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[7] Rae McGrath, Cluster Bombs: The Military Effectiveness and Impact on Civilians of Cluster Munitions (London: Landmine Action, August 2000), p. 38.
[8] International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 423.
[9] For an example of the claims, see, Hiwot, Kindeya G. (ProfKindeya), “These are the bombs that jets of Abiy Ahmed @AbiyAhmedAli are dropping in #Tigray against civilians everytime his forces lose battles. Some of these images seem to suggest the probable use of gas cannisters than ordinary bombs. #tigraygenocide #Tigraywillprevail @antonioguterres.” 21 June 2021, 06:32 UTC, Tweet; and Martin Plaut, “Situation Report EEPA HORN No. 168 – 14 June 2021,” 14 June 2021.
[10] Letter from Mary Wareham, Advocacy Director, Arms Division, Human Rights Watch, to H.E. Osman Saleh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Eritrea, 21 June 2021.
[11] 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, United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS), 7 April 2009. Additionally, a UN team in the area of Melhadega in Eritrea identified and destroyed an unexploded M20G DPICM-type submunition of Greek origin in October 2004, but it is not known who used the weapon. UNMEE-MACC, “Weekly Update,” Asmara, 4 October 2004, p. 4.
[12] 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.
[13] 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.