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LM Report 2001

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	Table of Contents
	Select a chapter ... About LM 2001 Introduction Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Europe/Central Asia Middle East/North Africa ICBL Appendices Exec. Summary Maps
	Select a country ... -STATES PARTIES- Jordan Qatar Tunisia Yemen -SIGNATORIES- Algeria -NON-SIGNATORIES- Bahrain Egypt Iran Iraq Israel Kuwait Lebanon Libya Morocco Oman Saudi Arabia Syria United Arab Emirates -OTHER- Golan Heights Northern Iraq (Kurdistan) Palestine Western Sahara

SAUDI ARABIA

Key developments since May 2000: In May 2001, Saudi Arabia announced it would provide $3 million for mine action in Yemen, Saudi Arabia’s first mine action funding contribution since 1999. Saudi Arabia has confirmed that it has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines.

Saudi Arabia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In a letter to the UN Secretary General, the Saudi government expressed its support for the humanitarian spirit and purpose of the Mine Ban Treaty. However, a long land border with unstable neighbors in the region is cited by Saudi Arabia as justification for retaining landmines.^[1]

Officers from the Military Engineering Department attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000 and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. Saudi Arabia was absent during the November 2000 vote on UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V in support of the Mine Ban Treaty. It was also absent during the vote on similar pro-ban resolutions in 1999 and 1998, but voted in favor of pro-ban resolutions in 1997 and 1996. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Saudi Arabia has confirmed that it has never used, produced, or exported antipersonnel landmines.^[2] While it imported 88,286 antipersonnel mines from the US between 1974 and 1975, the current size and composition of its antipersonnel mine stockpile is not known.^[3] The United States stockpiles 49,610 Gator antipersonnel mines in Saudi Arabia.^[4]

Saudi Arabia does not appear to be mine-affected, but some areas are contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO). The military conducted an investigation after an explosion of a suspected artillery shell killed a British man and woman on 8 September 2000 in the Elhagaz desert, near the town of Bahrah, outside of Jeddah. The couple apparently strayed into an area formerly used for military training.^[5]

In May 2001, Saudi Arabia made its first mine action funding contribution since 1999. Yemen’s Minister of State, Khaled Abdulwahab Al-Shareef, told media that Saudi Arabia would provide $3 million over three years to Yemen’s National Demining Program.^[6]

Saudi Arabia maintains a high level of medical and health services compared to other countries in the region but there are no specific mine/UXO victim assistance programs.

^[1] Interview with Saudi representative to the intersessional Standing Committee meetings, Geneva, 7-11 May 2001. He summarized the contents of the letter to the Secretary General.
^[2] Ibid.
^[3] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 910.
^[4] Ibid, p. 333. The antipersonnel mines are contained in 2,255 aerially-delivered “mixed mine” systems with antivehicle mines.
^[5] “British Couple Die in Desert,” BBC, 10 September 2000.
^[6] Abdulaziz Oudha, “US $ 3m. For De-mining,” Yemen Observer (online edition), Issue 108 – 19, May 2001, http://www.yobserver.com/headline.html viewed on 24 May 2001.