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Key developments since May 2001: Djibouti is the only State Party with a 1 March 2003 stockpile destruction deadline that has not begun destruction and has not submitted an Article 7 Report or otherwise revealed information about its stockpile or destruction program. A National Commission for Demining, responsible for all aspects of treaty implementation, is reportedly being established. After May 2001, the National Army started mine clearance and marking operations in the northern districts. In September, the deminers conducted a level one survey in the same area.
Djibouti signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 18 May 1998. The treaty entered into force for Djibouti on 1 March 1999.[1] Djibouti has not put in place any domestic implementation measures, as required by Article 9 of the treaty. At the May 2002 Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings, a government official told Landmine Monitor that a National Commission for Demining was being established to advise the government on matters pertaining to the Mine Ban Treaty. He said, “The document has been drafted and is awaiting cabinet approval.”[2]
He said the draft document would then require Presidential approval before taking effect. “After that process is completed we shall then move forward with implementation requirements of the Treaty.”[3] He said it would be an interministerial commission, with participation by local and international non-governmental organizations, associations dealing with people with disabilities, as well as trade unions. “This is a priority issue and as soon as we get back to Djibouti, we shall report on the urgency of this process.”[4]
Djibouti did not attend the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Managua, Nicaragua, in September 2001. While Djibouti participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2002, it did not attend the meetings in January 2002.[5]
Djibouti has not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report, which was due on 27 August 1999. In May 2002, an official told Landmine Monitor that the process of gathering information as required under Article 7 “has been delayed due to lack of a national body designated to handle that portfolio,” a need the National Commission for Demining should fill.[6]
Djibouti voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in support of the Mine Ban Treaty on 29 November 2001.
Djibouti is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its original Protocol II, but has not ratified amended Protocol II. Djibouti did not participate in the third annual meeting of State Parties to Amended Protocol II or the Second CCW Review Conference, both of which were held in Geneva in December 2001.
Djibouti has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Landmine Monitor Report 2001 reported that Djibouti has a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, but the numbers and types of mines are not known.[7] In January 2002, personnel at Djibouti’s National Mine Action Center acknowledged that the Center has a stockpile of antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[8]
In May 2002, a Djibouti official told Landmine Monitor, “Information regarding stockpiles is held by the military. They are holding the key since they are the technical advisors [to the government].”[9]
Djibouti is not known to have carried out any destruction of stockpiled antipersonnel mines; it has not made any public comments on the matter.
Under Article 7 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Djibouti is required to report details of its antipersonnel mine stockpile, including mines retained for training purposes, and to report progress in stockpile destruction. Under Article 4 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Djibouti is required to complete the destruction of all stockpiled antipersonnel mines before 1 March 2003, except those retained for training or development purposes. Djibouti is the only State Party with a 1 March 2003 stockpile destruction deadline that has not begun destruction and has not submitted an Article 7 Report or otherwise revealed information about its stockpile or destruction program.
Djibouti has a small landmine problem as a result of the 1991-1994 internal conflict between the Front for the Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) and the Djibouti military. Djibouti’s northern plateau contains most of the suspected minefields or mined routes, particularly in the districts of Obok and Tadjourah, north of Djibouti city. Mines were laid in towns and their immediate surroundings, as well as main roads and small paths.[10] A small unexploded ordnance (UXO) threat also exists. Mine clearance operations by the national army in 1998 were not successful due to lack of maps showing where mines were laid.[11]
In its fiscal year 2001, the United States provided $1.18 million to fund a US military train-the-trainer program for Djiboutian military personnel, and for mine clearance supplies and equipment.[12] The US has allocated $290,000 for mine action in Djibouti for fiscal year 2002.[13]
The National Mine Action Center was inaugurated on 15 February 2001. Thirty-five National Army deminers were trained by the US between 17 February 2001 and 7 May 2001. Shortly thereafter, the deminers started clearance and marking operations in the northern districts. Deminers also conducted a level one survey in the Obok and Tadjourah districts in September 2001 to determine the extent of the landmine and UXO problem.[14]
Since the demining operations started, a total of 1,623 and 4,253 square meters of land have been cleared in Obok and Tadjourah regions respectively.[15] In 2001 and 2002, in Obock district, 418 antipersonnel mines (Chinese type) were destroyed.[16] In Tadjourah district, 26 antipersonnel mines and 80 UXO were also destroyed in the same period.
In mid-April 2002, a series of mine risk education activities was organized by a local non-governmental organization, Association de Soutien aux Victimes de Mines (ASSOVIM), in collaboration with the National Mine Action Center, in two primary schools located in the northern communities of Andol and Alitou Dada regions.[17]
In 2001, there were no confirmed reports of landmine casualties in Djibouti.[18] According to the US State Department, between 1997 and 2000, 31 people have been killed and 90 injured in landmine incidents, including seven casualties in 2000.[19]
Public health services in Djibouti have remained heavily impaired since the end of the civil conflict, and facilities for mine survivors are inadequate. In response to the problems faced by people with disabilities, the government initiated several actions, notably the renovation of a rehabilitation center, which has a physiotherapy unit, and an orthopedic workshop. The ICRC runs a small program that funds the travel and costs of 22 amputees to the Prosthetic/Orthotic Center in Addis Ababa every two years for the replacement of their prosthesis; the next trip is scheduled for 2003.[20] The center is supervised by a local organization, Assistance to the Handicapped. Beneficiaries of the program are mainly former soldiers. No vocational training or psychological support facilities are known to exist in the country. The action plan proposed by the Ministry of Health in November 2000 has not been implemented due to a lack of funds.[21]
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[1] Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 72; Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 51.
[2] Interview with Djibril Djama Elabe, Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geneva, 29 May 2002.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] A Djibouti delegate at the Standing Committee meetings in May 2002 said that Djibouti failed to attend the meeting because of lack of funds and that the country was not aware of the sponsorship program.
[6] Interview with Djibril Djama Elabe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geneva, 29 May 2002.
[7] Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 72.
[8] Interview with National Mine Action Center, January 2002.
[9] Interview with Djibril Djama Elabe, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geneva, 29 May 2002.
[10] US Department of State, “To Walk the Earth in Safety,” November 2001, p. 4; US State Department, “Humanitarian Demining Country Plan for Djibouti,” presented at the inauguration of the Mine Action Center, 15 February 2001.
[11] Interview with National Mine Action Center, April 2002.
[12] US Department of State, “To Walk the Earth in Safety,” November 2001, p. 4.
[13] US Department of State Fact Sheet, “The US Humanitarian Demining Program and NADR Funding,” 5 April 2002.
[14] US Department of State, “To Walk the Earth in Safety,” November 2001, p. 4.
[15] Telephone interview with Colonel Youssouf Kayad, 11 April 2002.
[16] Data from the National Mine Action Center, updated in April 2002.
[17] Interview with ASSOVIM and National Mine Action Center, 22 April 2002.
[18] US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2001: Djibouti, March 2002.
[19] US Department of State, “To Walk the Earth in Safety,” November 2001, p. 4.
[20] ICRC Special Report, Mine Action 2001, Geneva, July 2002, p. 18.
[21] Interview with the President de l’Association Aide aux Handicapés Phisiques et aux Populations Défavorisées, 11 April 2002; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 74; and Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 53-54.
