Thirty-nine of the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. Four of the eight new States Parties in this reporting period were from this region, with accessions by Eritrea (27 August 2001), Nigeria (27 September 2001), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (2 May 2002), and ratification by Angola (5 July 2002). Angola, DR Congo, and Eritrea have all used antipersonnel mines extensively in recent years, but with the emergence of peace initiatives have decided to foreswear any future use. All member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) are now States Parties to the treaty, as are all sixteen members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Six African countries have signed but not yet ratified the treaty: Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, the Gambia, São Tomé e Príncipe, and Sudan. Just three countries in the region remain outside the treaty: Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros, and Somalia. Three of these nine non-States Parties—Cameroon, CAR, and the Gambia—have already completed the domestic process necessary to join the treaty, but have not yet formally submitted an instrument of ratification or accession to the United Nations.
During the reporting period, only Burkina Faso passed domestic legislation to implement the Mine Ban Treaty. Three other African States Parties have domestic implementation legislation in place: Mali, Mauritius and Zimbabwe. Nine countries have indicated that implementation legislation is in the process of being enacted or that domestic legislation is being considered, including: Botswana, Cote D’Ivoire, Mauritania, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Uganda, and Zambia. Lesotho and Namibia have deemed existing law as sufficient and do not consider new legislation necessary. Landmine Monitor is unaware of any steps underway to enact domestic implementation legislation in the remaining States Parties.
Compliance with the requirement to submit Article 7 transparency reports continues to improve. Nine States Parties submitted initial Article 7 Reports during the reporting period: Chad, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. However, as of 31 July 2002, 19 States Parties from the region were late in submitting their initial reports to the UN: Cape Verde, Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Niger, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Togo. Some of these initial reports were due in August 1999.
No country from the Africa voted against or abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in support of the Mine Ban Treaty on 29 November 2001. Non-signatory Comoros voted in favor of the resolution.
Twenty-four African governments attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Managua, Nicaragua in September 2001, including signatories Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Twenty-nine African governments attended the 2002 intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, including non-signatories CAR and Comoros and signatories Burundi, Cameroon, Ethiopia, and Sudan. In September 2001, Kenya was appointed co-rapporteur of the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Awareness and Related Technologies.
In June 2002, the First Conference of the SADC Demining Operators was held in Luanda, Angola. During the Conference, the seventh meeting of the SADC Mine Action Committee also took place, attended by: Angola, Namibia, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The ICRC organized the “Conference on Arms and International Humanitarian Law: the CCW and the Ottawa Treaty,” in Abuja, Nigeria from 10 to 11 October 2001, in collaboration with ECOWAS. Fourteen countries from the region attended. The ICRC, under the auspices of the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also held its second annual regional seminar on international humanitarian law in Pretoria from 21 to 23 May 2002, which included a workshop on domestic implementation legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty; 12 of the 14 SADC member states attended the seminar.
Use of antipersonnel mines by both the Angolan government and UNITA rebel forces continued in 2001, but there have been no reports of new mine use since the April 2002 peace agreement. Ethiopia and Eritrea stopped use with the end of their border conflict in June 2000, and Eritrea has acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. Landmine Monitor has not received any specific allegations of use by MDFC rebels in Senegal or the Lord’s Resistance Army (based in Uganda) in this reporting period, though concerns remain about possible use in the future by both. In Sudan, the accusations of new use by the government and by the SPLA/M were less frequent and the evidence less compelling. Antipersonnel mine use by various factions in Somalia is believed to have continued in this reporting period.
Since 1998, nearly all the forces fighting in the DR Congo have, at some point, been accused of using antipersonnel mines, but most have denied it. In March 2002, Landmine Monitor received an admission of on-going use of antipersonnel mines by the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), which cooperates closely with the Rwandan military. Landmine Monitor Report 2001 cited serious allegations that the armed forces of Uganda, a State Party, had used antipersonnel mines in the DR Congo in June 2000. Uganda has repeatedly denied these allegations and has also reported that it is conducting an investigation, in the spirit of openness and cooperation called for in the Mine Ban Treaty. Landmine Monitor continues to receive troubling accounts of ongoing use of antipersonnel mines inside Burundi by both rebel and government forces, and of ongoing use in the DR Congo by the Burundi Army. The government strongly denies these allegations, and Landmine Monitor has been unable to independently establish the facts.
No country in Sub-Saharan Africa is known to produce antipersonnel mines. Uganda reported that it invited foreign military attachés to inspect an alleged mine production facility, and that they concluded no production existed.
Past use and current allegations of use of antipersonnel mines in the region raises concerns about illicit cross-border transfers of mines, but Landmine Monitor has not been able to document specific cases.
Only five African States Parties have reported completion of stockpile destruction: Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. No African country completed stockpile destruction in this reporting period. While Rwanda declared no stockpile in its initial transparency report of September 2001, there is a clear record that Rwanda has received antipersonnel mines in the past; it is not known when destruction took place.
Eight States Parties in Africa have officially declared never having a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, except for training purposes: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Lesotho, Madagascar, Niger, Senegal, Swaziland, and Zambia. Zambia stated that it is retaining its entire stock of 6,691 antipersonnel mines for training purposes. Niger also reported for the first time that it does not have a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, contrary to previous information.
Ten African States Parties have not officially declared the presence or absence of stockpiles: Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, and Togo.
Only three States Parties in Africa are reported to be in the process of destroying their stockpiles: Chad, Mozambique, and Uganda. Eleven States Parties have not begun the destruction process: Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, as well as more recent States Parties that have yet to declare the amount of stockpiles possessed and announce destruction plans including Angola, DR Congo, Eritrea, and Nigeria. Djibouti’s treaty-mandated deadline for completion of stockpile destruction is fast approaching, on 1 March 2003.
Twelve States Parties from Africa have exercised the option to retain antipersonnel mines for training and development purposes under Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty: Zambia (6,691 mines), Mauritania (5,728), South Africa (4,455), Kenya (3,000), Uganda (2,400), Mali (2,000), Zimbabwe (700), Republic of Congo (400), Mauritius (93), Guinea-Bissau (50), and Botswana and Chad (both unknown). South Africa was the only State Party that reported the number of antipersonnel mines used (50) in its annual update. Zambia is the first State Party globally that has chosen to retain an entire stockpile of such magnitude under Article 3.
Eleven States Parties from Africa have chosen not to retain any antipersonnel mines: Benin, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Ghana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, and Swaziland.
Of the three non-signatories, CAR said for the first time that it has a very limited quantity of antipersonnel mines in stockpile, kept for training purposes only; Comoros has declared that it has no stockpile; and various factions in Somalia are likely to have sizeable stocks of antipersonnel mines.
Of the six signatories, Burundi declared, in August 2001, a stockpile of just 1,200 antipersonnel mines; Cameroon confirmed its previous statement indicating 500 mines for training purposes; Gambia again stated it has no stockpile; São Tomé e Príncipe has stated in the past that it has no stockpile; Sudan again stated that it has no stockpile, though such statements are at odds with the allegations and evidence of past use of antipersonnel mines by Sudan reported in previous annual Landmine Monitor reports. Ethiopia is likely to have a substantial stockpile of antipersonnel mines, but has not revealed any information.
Mine action programs in Africa in 2001 were primarily funded by: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, US, and the European Commission.
According to the information available to Landmine Monitor, the largest cumulative mine action funding recipients in Africa are Mozambique ($160 million) and Angola ($71 million). In 2001, Mozambique received an estimated $15.1 million, but there may have been additional contributions not recorded by Landmine Monitor. While it was especially difficult to get adequate information on funding in Angola, Landmine Monitor identified $15 million allocated to mine action in 2001; some mine action programs in Angola suffered serious funding problems in 2001.
Ten donors contributed approximately $8.4 million to mine action in Eritrea in 2001. About $4.3 million was provided for mine action in Somalia/Somaliland in 2001. Five donors provided $2 million for mine action in Ethiopia in 2001. In 2001, $1.62 million was provided for mine action in Guinea-Bissau, and $1.3 million for mine action in Chad. In its fiscal year 2001, the US contributed $700,000 to Zambia, $594,910 to Zimbabwe, $400,000 each to Djibouti, Mauritania, and Rwanda, and $40,000 to Namibia.
In the region, twenty-five countries, plus Somaliland, are mine-affected: Angola, Burundi, Chad, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Angola and Mozambique are regarded as heavily mine-affected. Tanzania was not listed, as evidence indicated that the mine problem is limited to the Burundi side of its border.
Landmine Impact Surveys (LIS) were completed in Chad (in May 2001) and in Mozambique (in August 2001). The Chad LIS identified 417 mine- and UXO- contaminated areas covering a total of 1,801 million square meters of land, and affecting an estimated 284,435 people in 249 communities. The Mozambique LIS found that 123 out of 128 districts in all ten provinces are affected by 1,374 suspected mined areas.
The Survey Action Center and its contracted implementing partners are currently engaged in or planning for LIS in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia (Somaliland). An advance survey mission for an LIS is scheduled to visit Angola in September 2002. UNMAS has conducted assessments in Mauritania and Sudan since May 2001.
Landmine Monitor did not record any survey or in-depth assessment of the mine problem in the Republic of Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, or Zambia.
Eleven of the 25 mine-affected countries in Africa have a Mine Action Center (MAC) or some other type of national body for mine action coordination: Angola, Chad, DR Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In the DR Congo, a MAC was established in 2002 with support from UNOPS. In Angola, a new National Intersectoral Commission on Demining and Humanitarian Assistance was established on 28 July 2001. In Guinea-Bissau, a National Commission for Humanitarian Demining (CNDH) was established on 10 September 2001.
National mine action plans exist in Angola, Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. In DR Congo and Eritrea, the UN MACs have some limited clearance plans. In Mozambique, the National Demining Institute produced its first Five-Year National Mine Action Plan (2002-2006). In Somaliland, the UNDP and the Somaliland Mine Action Center adopted a mine action strategy. None of the non-States Parties reported a mine action plan in 2001.
During 2001 and the first half of 2002, Landmine Monitor noted some type of mine clearance in 17 countries in Africa: Angola, Chad, DR Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as in Somaliland.
A new humanitarian mine clearance program was initiated in 2001 by Handicap International Belgium in the DR Congo. In some countries, such as Djibouti, Kenya, and Senegal, the only mine clearance recorded involved the military and other entities, such as explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) units of national police, responding to emergencies necessitating the clearance of landmines or UXO. International or national NGOs were operating humanitarian mine clearance programs in six countries in Africa—Angola, Chad, DR Congo, Eritrea, Mozambique, and Sudan—as well as Somaliland.
In Chad, 645,663 square meters of land was cleared of antipersonnel mines. A total of 9,712 square meters was cleared in Rwanda. According to the mine action NGOs operating in Angola, 6.7 million square meters of land was cleared during 2001. Contradictory information from Mozambique indicated that anywhere from 4 to 12 million square meters of land was cleared in 2001.
No mine clearance of any type was recorded in seven mine-affected countries in Africa: Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Swaziland, and Uganda.
No MRE was reported in Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, or Somalia, despite the landmine and UXO problem affecting these countries. MRE programs were conducted in at least sixteen countries—Angola, DR Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Somaliland, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—while basic MRE activities were conducted in Burundi, Chad, and Mauritania. An urgent need for more mine risk education was reported in Angola, Burundi, Chad, and Somalia.
An increasing number of African governments, NGOs, and Red Cross societies operated MRE programs. In Angola, MRE was formally accepted into the national curriculum by the Ministry of Education. In Eritrea, a comprehensive MRE education program for schoolteachers began in the high-risk Gash Barka and Debub regions in late 2001. In Ethiopia, the local NGO RaDO extended its MRE program to the mostly rural community of the regional state of Afar in April 2001, while in eastern Ethiopia, HI ended its program for Somali refugees in June 2001. In Mozambique, the National Demining Institute took over MRE activities that HI had developed over the past decade. In Somalia, planned MRE activities were not possible due to continued conflict.
In 2001, new mine/UXO casualties were reported in 18 of the 25 mine-affected countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region: Angola, Burundi, Chad, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. New casualties were also reported in Somaliland. It is possible that mine incidents occurred in the other mine-affected countries in the region; however, there was a lack of tangible evidence to indicate new casualties. It should be noted that, although Tanzania has recorded no new casualties in 2000-2001, the country does provide assistance to mine and UXO survivors from Burundi and DR Congo.
Countries reporting new mine/UXO casualties in 2001, though admittedly incomplete, include Angola where 660 casualties were reported, 135 in DR Congo, 49 in Eritrea, 71 in the Tigray and Afar regions of Ethiopia, 80 in Mozambique, 50 in Namibia, 23 in Rwanda, 54 in Senegal, 224 in Somalia, and 32 in Uganda. In Chad, 339 casualties were recorded between January 1998 and May 2001. In Sudan, 123 casualties were reported in the first six months of 2001.
In many of the mine-affected countries in the region, medical facilities and rehabilitation services are generally in poor condition, mostly due to a lack of resources, and sometimes lack of medicine, equipment, and skilled personnel. Consequently, in many instances the assistance available to landmine survivors is inadequate. In Chad, according to the Landmine Impact Survey, of 217 recent survivors none reported receiving physical rehabilitation or vocational training after their injury. However, there were some encouraging developments in the region. In Angola, in July 2001, a new Victim Assistance Sub-commission of the National Intersectoral Commission for Demining and Humanitarian Assistance was established. In Eritrea, the ICRC and the Eritrean authorities signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a physical rehabilitation program for persons with disabilities in the country. In Mozambique, the National Demining Institute has developed a draft policy for Survivor and Victim Assistance which attempts to define the role of the IND concerning mine survivor assistance. In Namibia, on 24 September 2001, the Disability Advisory Office, within the Prime Minister’s office, began operations. In Uganda, in September 2001 a new integrated mine awareness and survivor assistance program began in northern Uganda.
