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The Kingdom of Swaziland signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, ratified on 23 December 1998, and the treaty entered into force for Swaziland on 1 June 1999. In its first Article 7 transparency report, submitted on 16 February 2000, Swaziland reported that full implementation “[l]egislation is presently being drawn up.”[1] No progress on this has been reported. Swaziland has not submitted its annual updated Article 7 Reports, due 30 April 2001 and 30 April 2002.
Swaziland did not attend the Third Meeting of States Parties in Managua, Nicaragua, in September 2001 or the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January and May 2002 "due to a shortage of funds."[2] Swaziland voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001, calling for full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.
In its Article 7 Report, Swaziland confirmed that it does not and has never possessed antipersonnel landmines for any purpose.[3]
Swaziland has a small mined area just east of the Lomahasha Customs point near the town of Mananga on the border with Mozambique.[4] In June 2000 an Army Spokesperson told Landmine Monitor that Swaziland intended to clear the area.[5] In January 2002 the Swaziland government stated its intention to investigate the extent of landmine spillover along the whole of the Swaziland-Mozambique border as soon as possible.[6] There have been no reports of injuries or deaths caused by landmines for about ten years.[7]
The Umbutfo Swaziland Defense Force is responsible for mine action activities. Forty demining instructors of the Umbutfo Defense Force were trained by American soldiers from August to October 1999. Swaziland reports, “At the end of that course they went to a suspected mine area to mark it, warning members of the public about the danger zone.”[8]
In January 2002, the U.S. Embassy in Swaziland confirmed that no demining had taken place and stated that no further progress had been made in arranging for the area to be cleared.[9]
The U.S. government had set aside $289,000 for mine action in Swaziland, undertaken by the Swaziland forces trained by the U.S. military personnel.[10] As of January 2002, Swaziland had not submitted a request to use these funds, resulting in the funds no longer being available.[11]
Landmine Monitor was told in late June 2002 that Swaziland has requested financial support from the US to re-train its deminers, and that the Umbutfo Swaziland Defense Force is waiting for Cabinet approval to establish a base in the mined area, from which to coordinate mine clearance operations.[12]
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[1] Swaziland Article 7 Report, Form A, 16 February 2000; interview with Major Moses M. Fakudze, Umbutfo Defense Force, 17 April 2001.
[2] Interview with Mr. Bernard Gumede, Under Secretary (Political Affairs), Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, 17 January 2002.
[3] Swaziland Article 7 Report, Forms B and G, 16 February 2000.
[4] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 153, and Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 110, for more details.
[5] Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 110.
[6] Interview with Mr. Bernard Gumede, Under Secretary (Political Affairs), Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade, 17 January 2002.
[7] Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 154.
[8] Swaziland Article 7 Report, Form I, 16 February 2000.
[9] Landmine Monitor interview with a spokesperson for Mr. Thomas Jung, Second Secretary, U.S. Embassy, 17 January 2002.
[10] Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 153-154.
[11] Interview with Thomas T. Jung, Second Secretary, U.S. Embassy, 17 January 2002.
[12] Email to Landmine Monitor, 29 June 2002.
