| <TAIWAN | INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES> |
Key developments since May 2001: Polisario states that it has not used antipersonnel mines since the 1991 cease-fire, and has no stockpile of mines. Polisario accuses Morocco of continuing to use mines. There have been no humanitarian mine action programs since May 2000.
The sovereignty of the Western Sahara remains the subject of a dispute between the government of Morocco and the Polisario Front (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguía el Hamra and Río de Oro). The Polisario’s Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is not universally recognized and has no official representation in the UN. Polisario representatives continue to state that the Saharawi government would join the treaty, if eligible to do so, but at the same time, they speak of a possible need for the weapon.[1] In a detailed response to Landmine Monitor’s request for updated information, Polisario confirmed that there has been no change in policy toward the treaty in the past year.[2]
Polisario is not known to produce or export mines. In its response to Landmine Monitor, Polisario said it had not received mines from other countries in the past, but instead had acquired mines by lifting them from the Moroccan defensive walls (berms). It said Polisario forces would lift antipersonnel and antivehicle mines from Moroccan minefields and replant them to stop Royal Moroccan Army (RMA) troop movements.[3]
Polisario has said that it has no stockpile of mines. It keeps 1,606 disarmed antipersonnel mines on display in the Saharwi Liberation Army (ALPS) Military Museum, which is open for visitors. It claims all of its mines were taken from the Royal Moroccan Army.[4]
Both Polisario and Morocco used mines extensively in the past. Polisario and Moroccan forces fought intermittently from 1975 to 1991, when a cease-fire went into effect and the UN peacekeeping force, UN Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), was deployed to the region. Landmine Monitor could not confirm any new mine use during the reporting period by either Polisario or Polisario in Western Sahara.
Polisario said that APLS has not layed, maintained or refurbished “any kind of mines” since “a cease-fire went into effect,” in reference to the 1991 cease-fire.[5] Polisario claims that Royal Moroccan Army troops deployed in Western Sahara “refurbish and upgrade their minefields on a daily basis.”[6] (See Morocco country report for more detailed allegations by Polisario).[7]
Western Sahara is littered with mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result of years of conflict.[8] No in-depth landmine impact survey has been conducted. The 1991 cease-fire resulted in a territory that is divided between the Polisario and Morocco by defensive walls built by Morocco, known as berms (earthen walls of about three meters in height), which Morocco has fortified with antipersonnel and antivehicle mines.
A Polisario official expressed Polisario's concern for “the enormous number of landmines in Western Sahara and the many innocent victims they claim every year.”[9] Despite the landmine problem, approximately 10,000 Saharawi nomads live in mine-affected areas on both sides of the Moroccan berms.[10]
Under bilateral military agreements signed by Polisario and Morocco in early 1999, both parties have committed to cooperate with MINURSO in the exchange of mine-related information, marking of mined areas, and clearance and destruction of landmines and UXO in the presence of MINURSO observers. Polisario stated to Landmine Monitor that ALPS military regions have clear instructions from their Ministry of Defense to cooperate with MINURSO within the framework of this agreement and spare no effort to provide any available information, assistance in marking and destruction of mines and UXO. It also indicated that it provided MINURSO with all maps and necessary information in 1991.[11]
MINURSO does not have the personnel resources, equipment or funding necessary to conduct humanitarian mine clearance. Most clearance is done by the RMA and recent reports indicate a decreasing level of clearance. (See Morocco country report).
UNHCR has not produced an updated repatriation plan for the Saharawi refugees because of continued uncertainty regarding the political process.[12] One UNHCR official told Landmine Monitor, “It will be impossible to run a smooth repatriation without proper prior mine clearance.”[13] UNHCR also deems it necessary to open several more passages through the Moroccan berm and for logistical reasons, these heavily mine-affected areas would need to be surveyed and cleared well in advance.[14]
No NGOs are known to have any plans to establish mine clearance or mine risk education programs in Western Sahara. No large-scale mine risk education has been provided in Western Sahara since Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) conducted mine risk education in the five main Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf (Algeria) from March 1998 to May 2000.
A Polisario representative stressed the “urgent need for greater support for mine action for the Saharawi people, particularly in the fields of victim assistance and better survey, research and documentation of the present landmine situation.”[15]
Polisario provided Landmine Monitor with a list of seven mine incidents from June 2001 to April 2002. Five involved antipersonnel mines, killing one person in 2001, and injuring one person and killing eight camels in 2002. Two involved antivehicle mines, injuring two people in 2001, and killing one person and injuring at least two others in 2002. The incidents took place in Smara (two), Farsia (three), Oum Draiga, and Mehairis.[16]
MINURSO recorded 39 mine incidents from 1992-2000.[17] A Moroccan organization named the Forum for Truth and Justice-Sahara Section has gathered information on landmine casualties in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western Sahara. It states that there were a number of new landmine casualties during the reporting period, particularly among nomads in the southern part of Western Sahara.[18]
NPA conducted a mine victim assessment mission in the Saharawi refugee camps in April 2000, which identified 320 landmine amputees and another 300 disabled due to polio, and other reasons. A number of landmine survivors live in Western Sahara, on both sides of the berm, but no figures were available. Access to emergency services, especially in remote areas, is limited to military medical facilities. No NGO is actively working with landmine survivor assistance in the refugee camps or in Western Sahara.[19]
NPA prepared a proposal to establish a prosthesis workshop project in the camps and secured funding, but due to Algerian restrictions on visas to enter the region, the project was cancelled in early 2001. While the visa problems were solved in late 2001, neither NPA nor any other organization has gone ahead with the project yet.
The ICRC is developing contacts with representatives of the Polisario Front in order to sign an agreement regarding the fitting of lower-limb prostheses for Sahrawi refugees who are amputees at their center in Algiers.[20]
| <TAIWAN | INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES> |
[1] Interview with SADR Minister for Europe, Mr. Mohamed Sidati, Oslo, 20 March 2002.
[2] “Landmine Monitor Report 2002: F Polisario answers to Western Sahara Questionnaire,” received by Landmine Monitor by email from Emhamed Khadad, Polisario coordinator to MINURSO, 27 June 2002. Hereafter, Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[3] Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[4] Ibid.. There are five mine types in the museum, from Brazil, France, Italy and the United States.
[5] Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[6] Telephone interview with Emhamed Khadad, Polisario Coordinator to MINURSO, 23 January 2002.
[7] Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[8] For a more detailed description of the landmine problem, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 921-924.
[9] Interview with Mohamed Sidati, SADR Minister for Europe, Oslo 20 March 2002.
[10] Interview with Major M. Morrow, Mine Information Officer, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January 2001.
[11] Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[12] According to the UN Peace Plan, UNHCR will be responsible for providing mine awareness for 120,000 refugees in Algeria and 26,000 refugees in Mauritania prior to the planned repatriation of Saharawi refugees. The UNHCR does not, however, have any concrete plans for such activities due to the delays in the peace plan and lack of funds.
[13] Interview with Mr. Mohamed Hantosh, UNHCR Senior Desk Officer, North Africa and Western Sahara Operation, Geneva, 9 April 2002.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Interview with Mohamed Sidati, SADR Minister for Europe, Oslo 20 March 2002.
[16] Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[17] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 1063, for more detail. MINURSO has no full time mine action staff person responsible for maintaining and updating the landmine/UXO incident records. This responsibility lies with the MINURSO Force Training Officer, who is also the Mine Information Officer.
[18] Interview with Brahim Noumria, Forum Verité et Justice- Section Sahara, Geneva, 8 April 2002.
[19] See also Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 1064-1065.
[20] ICRC (Geneva), Special Report, Mine Action 2001, July 2002, p. 37.
