Presented by: Ollie P. Anderson, Jr., Senior Consultant, Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs, Department of State

Mr. President;

Heads of Delegations;

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing us this opportunity to intervene. We have already made available to you our magazine "To Walk the Earth in Safety," the United States commitment to humanitarian demining worldwide. For the purpose of the conference record, I would like to summarize U.S. Humanitarian Demining Assistance to the Horn of Africa/Gulf of Aden region.

To date, U.S. humanitarian demining assistance to eight countries in the Horn of Africa/Gulf of Aden region totals more than $45 million as follows:

The U.S. provided $846,000 in humanitarian demining assistance in FY2001 to support the establishment of a humanitarian demining program. Additional U.S. support is expected in future fiscal years. Training will begin in February 2001 and vehicles and equipment will also be provided.

U.S. humanitarian demining assistance began in FY94 and is currently more than $8.5 million. The U.S. recently joined with the United Nations in supporting a landmine survey in the Temporary Security Zone and a mine awareness initiative in the country. Future assistance to Eritrea will depend on continued progress toward a lasting peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

The U.S. has funded demining activities in Ethiopia since FY93. To date, more than $8 million has been contributed. The U.S. recently provided funds to UNICEF to conduct a mine awarness program in the country. Future assistance to Ethiopia will depend on progress toward a lasting peace with Eritrea.

The U.S. is prepared to re-engage demining training operations in Ethiopia and Eritrea once both sides have agreed to a permanent peace. I wish to invite your attention again to the example cited by Ambassador Schermerhorn in her opening statement of Armenian and Azerbaijani deminers cooperating in landmine training in Tblisi, Georgia. On the morning of the first day of training, neither side would enter the cafeteria until the other side had left. By evening, they had come together to play soccer. Both Eritrea and Ethiopia have an interest in clearing landmines. This common interest could begin the healing process.

The U.S. has provided demining assistance since 1995, and total U.S. contributions could surpass $13.2 million by the end of FY2001. The U.S. continues to support demining in Rwanda. We have no program in Burundi because of the conflict.

The United States has provided humanitarian demining assistance through the HALO Trust Fund and CARE. Since 1998, the U.S. has provided more than $2.8 million in demining assistance to Northwest Somalia.

Egypt began receiving humanitarian demining assistance in FY99 with a U.S. contribution of $615,000 for training. The U.S. Department of Defense will provide an additional funding for more training to begin in the spring of 2001 bringing the total U.S. contribution to $1.5 million.

The U.S. has allocated $3.2 million for a humanitarian demining program scheduled to begin in Oman next February. The program will consist of mine awareness and demining training, equipment, computers and vehicles.

Yemen first received U.S. humanitarian demining support in FY97, and total U.S. contributions to demining operations in Yemen are expected to surpass $6.7 million by the end of FY2001.

Worldwide, the United States has provided over $400 million to support humanitarian demining programs in 37 countries. This assistance is in the nature of sustainable development assistance, i.e., it aims to assist the recipient nation to develop its own indigenous capacity to conduct demining training and operations to make its own territory mine safe.