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Key developments since May 2001: Argentina told Landmine Monitor that of the 13,025 mines it had officially declared as retained for training purposes, 12,025 will be emptied of their explosive content to make inert “exercise mines.” Argentina also reported for the first time that the Army will keep 1,160 FMK-1 antipersonnel mines to use as fuzes for antivehicle mines, apparently for training purposes. The total number of reported stockpiled mines has increased by 7,343. Stockpile destruction plans have been developed. A documentary film appears to have established that mines are present on both the Argentine and Chilean side of the border.
Argentina signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, ratified it on 14 September 1999, and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 2000. Argentina has not enacted national implementation legislation to implement the treaty, but is investigating how to incorporate penal sanctions into existing Argentine legislation.[1] An order prohibiting the use of antipersonnel mines by the armed forces was published in Public Journal of the Army Number 4745/01.[2]
Since the political and economic crises began in Argentina in December 2001, there have been several changes of government. A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told Landmine Monitor that the new Foreign Affairs Minister, Carlos Ruckauf, is committed to full compliance with the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]
Argentina attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Nicaragua in September 2001 and participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in January and May 2002. Argentina cosponsored and voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M on 29 November 2001, promoting the Mine Ban Treaty.
Argentina submitted transparency measures reports as required by Article 7 on 31 August 2000, 28 May 2001, and 23 July 2002.[4]
Argentina is a State Party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and participated in the third annual meeting of State Parties to Amended Protocol II in December 2001, but did not submit its Article 13 annual report. Argentina also participated in the Second CCW Review Conference in December 2001.
Argentina is a former producer and exporter of antipersonnel mines.[5] Production took place at the General Directorate of Military Industries (Dirección General de Fabricaciones Militares) of the Ministry of Defense. The only model Argentina claims to have produced at the “Fray Luis Beltrán” factory is the low metal content FMK-1 antipersonnel mine. A total of 18,970 FMK-1 antipersonnel mines were produced between 1976 and 1990. The production equipment for the mines is apparently now used to make reinforced fuzes, detonators for grenades, and “estopines” (initiators).[6]
Argentina initially declared a stockpile of 89,170 antipersonnel landmines, but has increased this number by 7,343 mines in its Article 7 Report submitted in July 2002.[7]
In its July 2002 Article 7 Report, Argentina reported on two previously undisclosed stockpile destruction events. In November 1998, the Air Force destroyed 1,160 FMK-1 mines, which constituted all of the antipersonnel mines in the Air Force stockpile. Between November 1999 and March 2000, the military factory “Fray Luis Beltrán” destroyed 1,000 FMK-1 mines and their fuzes stored at this facility. Argentina also reported on the destruction of 200 P-4-B antipersonnel mines in November 2000 during the regional seminar on stockpile destruction in Buenos Aries.[9]
The treaty-mandated deadline for completion of stockpile destruction in Argentina is 1 March 2004. Argentina told Landmine Monitor that it has developed a stockpile destruction plan, which is being executed; the first stage involves collection and transfer of landmines from different combat units to the logistics units responsible for stockpile destruction.[10] The Army intends to destroy stockpiled mines by open-air detonation at nine different locations, in order to minimize environmental harm. Argentina has indicated that external financial support for stockpile destruction is not needed.[11]
The Navy plans to destroy its mines at a weapons stockpile station in the “Puerto Belgrano” Naval Base. The detonators will be destroyed by open-air detonation, while the casings will be destroyed by mechanical means and the remaining explosive material will be stored in the stocks of the Navy.[12]
Argentina originally declared that it would retain 13,025 mines for training purposes.[13] In April 2002, Argentina told Landmine Monitor that of these, 12,025 (92%) are considered “exercise mines,” as Argentina plans to empty them of their explosive content to make them inert.[14] The government now believes that these mines should be considered as “destroyed.”[15] This information was subsequently reflected in Argentina’s July 2002 Article 7 Report. The remaining 1,000 mines (860 SB-33 and 140 FMK-1) will be retained by the Navy and will be used for training until 1 April 2010.[16]
In addition to the 140 FMK-1 antipersonnel mines noted above Argentina has declared it is retaining for training purposes, it has declared that the Army will keep 1,160 FMK-1 antipersonnel mines as fuzes (initiators) for antivehicle mines, with a “cápsula adaptadora.”[17] These antivehicle mines with FMK-1 antipersonnel mines as fuzes will apparently be used for training purposes. Argentina states that “the FMK-1 mines will be destroyed (consumed) as the antitank mines are destroyed (consumed).”[18] Argentina should clarify that these antivehicle mines with FMK-1 mines as fuzes are only being used for training purposes, and not for operational purposes.
Argentina has repeatedly stated that the only mine-affected part of its territory is the Malvinas/Falkland Islands (see separate Landmine Monitor report). According to Argentina’s May 2001 Article 7 report, 20,000 EXPAL P-4-B, and FMK-1 antipersonnel mines were laid during the 1982 conflict. The Article 7 Report of 23 July 2002 added SB-33 antipersonnel mine to this list.[19] As it has done in the past, Argentina included in its Article 7 report an interpretative statement on its claims of sovereignty over the Islands. Argentina and the United Kingdom are still engaged in negotiations over mine clearance of the islands.
Argentina has stated that areas mined by Chile in the 1970s are on the Chilean side of the border, and not the Argentine side.[20] However, on 31 October 2001, Channel 13 (Buenos Aires) screened a Telenoche Investiga documentary on the landmine threat in San Antonio de los Cobres in Salta province on the border with Chile.[21] The film crew was warned by their guide and Chilean Carabineros (Chilean police) that there were mines on the Socompa path on the Argentine side of the border. In the documentary, the director of International Security of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Juan José Arcuri, said, “There are no landmines planted by Argentina in the continental territory of the country.” But, the president of the Defense Committee of the National Congress, Waldo Mora, told Telenoche Investiga that there were mines on the Argentine side of the border, and that Chile had maps of the minefields.
The crew filmed two unmarked minefields in Paso del Riel, Punta Negra and Alto del Inca, in Chile, where the remnants of a small truck destroyed by a landmine could be clearly seen. The crew interviewed an Argentine mine survivor and learned of a second injured peasant.
As a result of the documentary, the Office for Humanitarian Demining of the Joint Chiefs of Staff indicated that they might travel to the concerned area to carry out a field study to accurately assess the risks posed by mines on the Argentine side of the border.[22]
While mine clearance has been a topic in official discussions between Argentina and Chile, no progress has been made during the reporting period. In September 2001 Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Soledad Alvear, stated that Chile sought agreements, including on mine clearance, with Argentina and Perú as part of a process to strengthen trust in defense affairs.[23]
Argentina did not provide any financial assistance to mine action in 2001 or 2002, but an Argentine Army company of engineers continued to carry out demining operations and explosive ordnance disposal in Kuwait as part of the UNIKOM (Iraq-Kuwait) peacekeeping mission.[24]
The Army Center for Training in Humanitarian Demining (CED) continued to train Argentine Army personnel in humanitarian mine clearance personnel in 2001 and 2002. Argentine Navy personnel received training in humanitarian demining through an annual course for engineers at the Naval base in Puerto Belgrano.[25]
From late August until 11 September 2001, military personnel from the US and eight other countries of the region participated in “Cabañas 2001” military exercises in Salta, Argentina.[26] According to media reports, the exercises included recovery of a soldier who had strayed into a minefield, and procedures to identify and mark mined areas.
No landmine casualties were recorded during 2001 or the first quarter of 2002.
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[1] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 4 April 2002; also noted in Article 7 Report, Form A, 23 July 2002.
[2] Article 7 Report, Form A, 23 July 2002.
[3] Interview with Minister Juan José Arcuri, International, Nuclear and Space Affairs division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Buenos Aires, January 2002.
[4] The initial report submitted on 31 August 2002 covers the period from 14 March 2000 to 21 August 2000; the report submitted 28 May 2001 covers the period from 22 August 2000 to 11 May 2001; the report submitted on 23 July 2002 covers the period from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2001.
[5] According to the U.S. Department of Defense, Argentina is reported to have manufactured three types of antipersonnel mines: the FMK-1 plastic blast mine, the MAPG pressure or tripwire mine, and the MAPPG bounding mine.
[6] Article 7 Report, Form E, 23 July 2002.
[7] Article 7 Reports, Form B, 30 August 2000, 28 May 2001, 23 July 2002.
[8] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 272-273, for details on these mines.
[9] Article 7 Report, Form G, 23 July 2002.
[10] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 4 April 2002.
[11] Ibid. The response stated that as soon as the dates of stockpile destruction events are officially known, the Joint Chief of Staff intends to invite foreign military attaches and propose to the Ministry of Defense that it extends invitations to the representatives of the Argentine Red Cross, UNPD and the ICBL as civilian observers.
[12] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 4 April 2002.
[13] Article 7 Report, Form D, 28 May 2001.
[14] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 4 April 2002; Response by Captain Carlos Nielsen, Director, Office of Humanitarian Demining, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (EMCFFAA), 2 April 2002.
[15] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 4 April 2002.
[16] Article 7 Report, Form D, 23 July 2002.
[17] Ibid. This modification will presumably insure that the antivehicle mine does not function at the 50 kilogram threshold necessary to initiate the FMK-1 antipersonnel mine.
[18] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 4 April 2002; Response by Captain Carlos Nielsen, Director, Office of Humanitarian Demining, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (EMCFFAA), 2 April 2002.
[19] Article 7 Report, Form C, 23 July 2002.
[20] Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 222.
[21] “Frontera explosiva: las secuelas de una guerra que no fue,” Telenoche Investiga, Channel 13(Buenos Aires), 31 October 2001. See www.telenocheinvestiga.com (programa 04, ciclo 2001). Landmine Monitor has a copy of the documentary.
[22] These remarks were made to a member of Telenoche Investiga when he met with the Office for Humanitarian Demining and the Argentine Gendarmería (Frontier Corps) to clarify doubts on the location of the minefields. Notes taken by “Telenoche Investiga” crew member, Buenos Aires, 5 April 2002.
[23] Statement by Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Soledad Alvear, “Destrucción de Minas Antipersonal: Un Acto a Favor de la Paz”, Quebrada de Santa Cruz, Chile, 13 September 2001. See http://www.defensa.cl/paginas/public/noticias/2001/13.09.2001destrucc-minas-antipers.htm.
[24] For more details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 274.
[25] Response from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 4 April 2002.
[26] Graciela Eslanoa, “Civiles recorrieron las sendas del operativo militar Cabañas 2001,” El Tribuno (Salta), 30 August 2001; “El Ejército por dentro,” El Tribuno (Salta), 12 September 2001.
