Landmines
Progress on banning landmines in Africa

afrol.com, 7 September - More than 22 million antipersonnel mines have been destroyed from the arsenals of at least fifty nations world-wide, and the number of new landmine victims is dropping sharply in heavily mined countries like Mozambique, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said in a report released today simultaneously in about 20 countries.

"Antipersonnel mines are increasingly a relic of the past," said Stephen Goose of Human Rights Watch. Nearly three-quarters of the world's nations have now joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty that outlaws any possession or use of antipersonnel mines. The United States is not among them. 

The ICBL's 1,100-page Landmine Monitor Report 2000: Toward a Mine-Free World was edited and produced by Human Rights Watch, a founding member of the ICBL, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. The report provides new details on mine use, production, trade, stockpiling, demining and mine victim assistance in every country of the world in the period from the March 1999 entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty to mid-2000. (See attached sheet on Key Findings of the Landmine Monitor report). 

The report states that since March 1999 it appears that antipersonnel mines were used in twenty conflicts by eleven governments and numerous rebel groups. Angola, which has signed the treaty, continued to use mines, and it is likely that Burundi and Sudan, which are also signatories, used mines. Several of the parties involved in the war in Congo Kinshasa have been accused of using mines, in particular Rwanda and Uganda. 

CHAD
- Chad signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 6 July 1998 and ratified it on 6 May 1999. Thus, the treaty entered into force for Chad on 1 November 1999. Chad has not enacted domestic implementation legislation for the treaty. 
- Decades of conflict and the 1973 Libyan invasion have left Chad with a landmine and UXO problem. Minefield records are close to non-existent, and there is not yet a comprehensive mine database. Libya is not a signatory of the treaty.
- Reliable and comprehensive information on victims is hard to come by in Chad. Accidents that take place at great distances from a medical facility are unlikely to be officially recorded. But in October 1999, the HCND reported 127 mine and UXO-related casualties since September 1998. There have been fifteen reported incidents involving children. 
- Clearance activities in Chad have been sporadic, mostly due to resource constraints. Some 100-200 Chadian military have been trained in mine clearance. One priority set by the HCND is mine clearance in a 100-kilometer radius around Faya Largeau, scheduled to begin in March 2000.

MAURITANIA
- Mauritania signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997. On 21 July 2000, Mauritania deposited its instrument of ratification with the United Nations, thus becoming the 100th country to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty. On the occasion, Mauritania's Ambassador to Canada, Adberrahim Ould Hadrami said, "Mauritania is located in the most mine-affected region in the world. Mauritania's ratification of the Ottawa Convention demonstrates our commitment to join the international community in addressing the landmine problem in Africa and elsewhere."
- Mauritania is mine-affected from World War II and from the war in Western Sahara. Mines are found in the Adrar region, the Tiris Zemour region and the Dakhalt Nouadibou region, as well as around the military bases of F'Derik, Bir-Mogrein, and Tour Bleue in Nouadhibou.
- Mauritania was accepted into the U.S. humanitarian demining program on 10 December 1998. It will receive approximately $3.185 million in bilateral demining assistance from the U.S. in 1999 and 2000.

MOZAMBIQUE
- Mozambique signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 25 August 1998. 
- Minefields have been located in all provinces of Mozambique, but the most heavily mined regions are found along the border with Zimbabwe in the west of Manica province, in the center of the country in Zambezia and Tete provinces, and in the south in Maputo and Inhambane provinces. Few maps and records were kept of the mines laid during Mozambique's decades-long civil war, which ended in 1992. Mines were used by both the Frelimo government and the Renamo rebels around areas including military headquarters, towns and villages, sources of water and power, pylon lines and dams, as well as on roads, tracks and paths and alongside bridges and railway lines.
- Since the war, many of these, including the bridges on N1, the main road up the country, have simply been demarcated as mined areas, and/or cleared when the roads were repaired. On smaller upcountry grade roads, the culverts and bridges were similarly mined and even fewer of these have been cleared. 
- The National Demining Institute (IND) has recorded a nationwide total of 1,759 mined areas.

NAMIBIA
- Namibia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 21 September 1998. Angolan UNITA rebels and Angolan government troops have used landmines inside Namibia. The number of mine incidents in Namibia has increased dramatically since December 1999. According to the police since December 1999 AP mine incidents have increased by "an alarming 12.01%. Mine clearance operations have continued and in February 2000 the U.S. completed its training program. 
- Namibia should make clear the nature of its support for any foreign forces that are using antipersonnel mines, and make clear its views with regard to the legality under the Mine Ban Treaty of its joint military operations with Angola and the DRC, the report says. 

RWANDA
- Rwanda ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 13 June 2000. There have been allegations of Rwandan use of mines in the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially in the June 2000 battle for Kisangani. Rwanda denies any use.
- From 1995 to February 2000, 16,983 mines and UXO were cleared in Rwanda, and about 5,000 hectares of land. Three prefectures that were the most affected are now 90% cleared. In April 2000, the National Demining Office reported that clearance operations had been postponed since December 1999 due to lack of explosives. The U.S. military completed its demining training program in February 2000. In 1999 and 2000, there have been twelve mine casualties. 
- Rebels and former soldiers who fled to the DRC (Zaire) in 1994 used landmines in Rwanda during the 1994 war and since. Isolated incidents in the northwestern region in the Rwerere, Rubavo, and Nyamyumba communes were reported in 1996 and 1997.
- Prior to 1990, there was no landmine problem in Rwanda. The current problem is the result of conflict over the past decade between the majority Hutu ethnic group and the minority Tutsi. The most mine-affected areas are in the northeast (Umutara and Kigali), in the city of Kigali and in the northwest (Ruhengeri and Gisenyi). A recent report from the National Demining Office (NDO) stated that there were about 50,000 mines in the country.

SENEGAL
- Senegal signed the Mine Ban Treaty (MBT) on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 24 September 1998. 
- It appears that new mines have been laid by MFDC rebels in the Casamance Province in 1999 and 2000. Senegal denied use of antipersonnel mines by its troops in Guinea-Bissau in 1998, as reported in Landmine Monitor Report 1999. In the Banjul Declaration of 26 December 1999, the Senegalese government and MFDC committed to no use of antipersonnel landmines in the future, but the government claims that rebel use continued at least into February 2000. In August 1999 a National Commission was created to oversee implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. A military mine clearance pilot project was launched on 1 July 2000. There were some fifty-nine victims of AP mines registered in 1999, a huge decline from 195 in 1998. 
- Landmines were used in the fighting in Casamance Province throughout the 1990s. It appears that new mines have been laid by MFDC rebels in the province in 1999 and 2000. According to government officials, the mined areas are on the Cap Skirring - Ziguinchor - Kolda road and on the border between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. 
- The use of landmines is one of the issues being tackled in the current negotiations for peace in Casamance. The MFDC would participate in the work of the National Commission created to oversee the application of the Mine Ban Treaty.
The MFDC claims that the Senegalese military has mined several sectors in Casamance. The Senegalese authorities have always categorically rejected these accusations. 
- The Senegalese government is not currently funding humanitarian mine action programs. Senegal has limited resources in relation to the need. Senegal has received no bilateral funds or in-kind contributions for mine action. 

UGANDA
- The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Uganda on 1 August 1999. There have been allegations of Ugandan use of mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly in the June 2000 battle for Kisangani. Uganda denies any use. There is evidence of use of antipersonnel mines in 1999 and early 2000 by Lord's Resistance Army rebels entering Uganda from Sudan. There is no organized mine clearance underway in Uganda, but mine awareness activities are better coordinated and expanding. Mine casualties dropped significantly in 1999. 
- A Ugandan official has stated to Landmine Monitor that the UPDF is not using AP mines against the various rebel groups that operate out of Sudan (Lord's Resistance Army-LRA, Uganda National Rescue Front-UNRF, West Nile Bank Front-WNBF) or the Allied Democratic Front (ADF), which operates from the Democratic Republic of Congo. There has been no credible evidence that the government has used mines inside Uganda.
- Landmine Monitor obtained eyewitness accounts of the use of AP mines by the LRA and ADF rebels during 1999 and in January-February 2000. Landmine Monitor research in Gulu District suggests that the LRA were using AP mines to avenge attacks on their families and relatives. Local media also reported new use of mines by rebels infiltrating Gulu and Kitgum Districts in December 1999 and February 2000. In one incident, four people were injured by AP mines in Ngotoo Park, Kitgum District, as they were returning to the Lacekot Camp for IDPs after collecting food.

On Monday, 11 September, the ICBL will present the Landmine Monitor Report 2000 to diplomats attending the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva, Switzerland. A 65-page Executive Summary is also available. A total of 115 Landmine Monitor researchers from 95 countries contributed to the report. 

Source: Based on Human Rights Watch

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