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Equatorial Guinea acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 16 September 1998, and the treaty entered into force on 1 March 1999. It has not enacted implementing legislation; in 2001 a government official told Landmine Monitor that assistance was needed in this respect.[1] Equatorial Guinea has not yet submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report, which was due on 28 August 1999.
The last landmine-related meeting that government representatives participated in was in Bamako, Mali in February 2001. Equatorial Guinea was absent from the vote on UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M, calling for full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
An online media agency reported that the exiled ethnic political opposition party, the Movement for the Autonomy of the Island of Bioko (El Movimiento para la Autodeterminación de la Isla de Bioko, MAIB) issued a statement on 21 January 2002 from Madrid, Spain, denouncing the government for ordering the deployment of antipersonnel mines in the forest on the island of Bioko:
The data we have access to confirm that there are anti-personnel mines in the forests of Rebola, Baney, the Moka Valley and the coastal zone of Malabo [the national capital], more exactly from kilometre five east of Malabo.... In addition to the anti-personnel mines, whose numbers are unknown, there have also been deployed explosives working on remote control all along the road to Rebola and Baney, towards kilometre 20, east of Malabo. We know for sure that the explosives were unloaded in the port of Malabo the day before, by soldiers on night shift.[2]
Landmine Monitor sought a response to these allegations from the government, but had not received one as of 31 July 2002.
In February 2001, a government representative told Landmine Monitor that Equatorial Guinea has never used, produced, or imported antipersonnel mines, and does not maintain a stockpile of landmines, even for training purposes. [3] He also said that Equatorial Guinea is not mine-affected and has no mine victims. If Equatorial Guinea has a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, it is required by Article 4 of the Mine Ban Treaty to destroy them by 1 March 2003.
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[1] Interview with Ambassador Pedro Edjang Mba Medja, Bamako, 15 February 2001.
[2] “Equatoguinean govt accused of deploying mines,” Afrol News, 24 January 2002
http://www.afrol.com/News2002/eqg001_landmines.htm.
[3] Interview with Ambassador Pedro Edjang Mba Medja, Bamako, 15 February 2001.
