Ethiopia: demining and safety education

Ethiopia is a land-locked country in the eastern Horn of Africa region.

HALO has been working in Ethiopia since 2022. The surrounding region is littered with unexploded ordnance from historic conflicts.

Our mine clearance work started in the southern region, close to the Somaliland border. Since 2025, we've been focusing our efforts on the northern Afar region.

Alongside our surveying and clearance work, we've run 200+ training sessions to help keep the local people safe.

374,928

Square meters made safe

8,128

People trained in staying safe

Situation in Ethiopia

Across the region, the humanitarian situation is fragile from years of conflict, drought, famine and poverty. Ethiopia's borders with Eritrea, Somaliland and Somalia are strewn with landmines. The landmine problems began almost a century ago with the Italian invasion of the 1930s. There are still legacy minefields and explosives from wars with Somalia (1970s) and Eritrea (1990s), and the Tigray civil war in 2022.

Seven of Ethiopia's regional states are thought to be contaminated with explosives. In 2023, the UN's Mine Action Service estimated that over seven million Ethiopians were relying on mine clearance to be able to return home and resume their jobs.

Landmines kill valuable livestock and limit access to the scarce water and grazing land. This triggers further conflicts between clans. Roads are being rebuilt, but severe droughts have pushed nomadic communities into the local villages. This creates population pressure, especially in the border areas.

The northern Afar region is a bastion of peace and stability in the region, but nearby conflicts have spilled over to contaminate the land with explosives. This area is in critical need of mine clearance and humanitarian support.

Goat herder with a flock of goats on the Ethiopian border — Herding goats in the mine-filled borderlands

In my community there are a lot of mines.

One resident lost his arm in an explosion. Innocent people use the roads and footpaths and it can cost them their lives.

Ubah
HALO Deminer, Ethiopia

HALO's work and impact in Ethiopia

Our work in Ethiopia began in 2022, clearing minefields in the Somali State border region in the south of the country. This work was essential to open up trade routes from Berbera Port in Somaliland to Ethiopia and the interior of the Horn of Africa.

Our clearance work initially focused on the minefields around the villages of Dabogoryaale and Khatumo, located in Gashamo Woreda in the Jarar Zone.

In 2024, we surveyed 64 hazardous areas along the border between Ethiopia and Somaliland.

HALO's teams have cleared hundreds of thousands of sq meters of land for grazing and community expansions. They've destroyed anti-personnel and anti-tank mines, and explosives from battles between Italian and British troops in World War 2.

Since 2025, in cooperation with the Ethiopia Mine Action Office, we've focused on the northern Afar region. This is a strategically important area, and one of the more recently contaminated areas in Ethiopia.