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afrol.com, 10 September - Assessments on the number of landmines deployed in Western Sahara range between 200.000 and 10 millions. Morocco has not signed the Mine Ban Treaty, and the Polisario on various occasions has assured that the Sahrawi government would sign the Treaty if allowed. At the same time, officials continue to speak of a possible need for the weapon. According to Mr. Dah Bendir, who is responsible for Polisario Mine Engineering, "Due to the actual situation of uncertainty, we cannot make a commitment to destroying all the mines we have, because we may go back to war tomorrow morning. But it's our will to do so when the conflict is finally resolved." Dah Bendir was interviewed by the Landmine Monitor, responsible for the annual follow-up reports of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Polisario acknowledges having a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, but will not disclose the number and types of mines. It has imported mines from Algeria and perhaps other nations. It has also acquired mines by lifting them from the Moroccan defensive walls. Polisario is not known to have used antipersonnel mines in 1999 or 2000. Western Sahara is heavily mine-affected. After years of colonial and post-colonial conflict, mines and UXO litter the landscape. Moroccan and Polisario forces fought intermittently from 1975 to 1991, when a cease-fire went into effect and a UN peacekeeping force, MINURSO, was deployed to the region. The cease-fire resulted in a territory that is divided between the Polisario and Morocco by defensive walls, known as berms (earthen walls of about three meters in height). Both sides have fortified these walls with mines. The most mine-affected area in Western Sahara is thought to extend up to ten kilometers to the east of the berms. The desert conditions of sand, wind and occasional heavy rain make mine shifting a constant phenomenon. The Sahrawi Campaign to Ban Mines believes that since November 1999, the number of mine accidents in Western Sahara has increased, noting that about forty-two accidents occurred between November 1999 and March 2000. SCABAM attributes this to the fact that the northern part of the country experienced heavy rainfall, leading to more movement throughout the region, and resulting in an increase in mine/UXO accidents. Many mine accident victims do not receive assistance until two or three days after the accident occurs. Other victims die on their way to medical treatment, as in some cases the closest health facility can be up to forty hours away. Some clearance has been conducted by militaries from both sides, though it only totals a small percentage of the problem. A Swedish Demining Unit operated for several months in 1998. Polisario and MINURSO have cooperated in identifying and marking danger areas along MINURSO patrol routes. A UN report on the Western Sahara in January 1999 recommended a pilot demining project, but there does not appear to have been any follow-up on this. The Global Landmine Survey sent an exploratory mission to the Western Sahara to look at the feasibility of a Level One Survey, but no further action has occurred. The Polisario liaison with MINURSO told Landmine Monitor about an agreement reached between Polisario and the UN "related to the destruction of mines in the area and since then we have been destroying all types of mines and UXO that we have found in our region." According to Fadli Mohamed Ahmed, a Sahrawi officer who represented the Polisario in an international landmines conference held in October 1999 in Catalonia, Spain, the Polisario have cooperated with the UN by presenting maps of minefields and suspected areas. The most recent report of the UN Secretary General states that "during the period 13 May 2000 to 3 July 2000, 278 mines and unexploded ordnance were marked and 124 destroyed on the Moroccan side while 488 were marked and 177 destroyed on the Polisario side." Between 6 December and 22 May 2000, both sides in cooperation with MINURSO conducted 28 disposal operations for UXO and ammunition. Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) conducted a mine awareness program from April 1998 until May 2000, educating about 90,000 Sahrawi refugees. NPA had a mine awareness team in each of the main refugee camps (Smara, Laâyoune, Auserd, and Dakhla), as well as in a smaller camp based at a women's training school. It also conducted mine awareness through the media, such as radio programs. Morocco unwilling to act on mines On the First Meeting of States Parties (Maputo, 1999), the Moroccan representative said: "My country is only deferring signature of the convention, and this is due to the conditions linked to the security of our southern provinces and to the achievement of our territorial integrity.... We should also be precise that this circumstantial situation will disappear on its own when the integrity of my country will not any more be the object of threats or controversies.... We hope that this situation will resolve in the future months." However, Morocco is not known to have ever produced or exported antipersonnel (AP) mines. Morocco has recently stated that it does not import or export antipersonnel mines. According to an arms monitoring group in France, Morocco has not imported any AP mines since 1978. The size and composition of Morocco's current AP mine stockpile is not known but is considered by Moroccan officials as highly sensitive. There is no new information regarding the use on antipersonnel mines by Morocco in the past year. Morocco states that to its knowledge there are no Moroccan civilian mine victims.
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