Madagascar signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified on 16 September 1999. The treaty entered into force for Madagascar on 1 March 2000. Madagascar’s Article 7 transparency report is due by 28 August 2000. Madagascar has supported key pro-ban UN General Assembly resolutions, including Resolution 54/54 B in December 1999. Madagascar did not attend the First Meeting of States Parties in Maputo and has not participated in any meeting of the intersessional Standing Committees of Experts. Madagascar is not a party to CCW nor is it a member of the Conference on Disarmament.
Madagascar’s Minister of the Armed Forces confirmed in a letter to the UN that it had not imported any landmines since 1970.[1] The size and composition of Madagascar’s current stockpile of AP mines is not known. According to the U.S. Department of State, the only use of landmines in Madagascar was in 1991 as a deterrent to opposition marches in the immediate vicinity of the Presidential Palace.[2] Otherwise, Madagascar is not considered mine-affected.
| <LIBERIA | MALAWI> |
[1] Telephone interview with Mme Elena Rajaonarivelo, Madagascar Mission to the UN, New York, 31 March 1999.
[2] U.S. State Department, Hidden Killers, July 1993, p.121.