Key developments since May 2005: In 2005, the newly established International Mine Action Training Centre, a joint British-Kenyan project, trained and equipped deminers from Kenya, Nigeria, Somaliland and Uganda. In 2006, it provided training to deminers from Rwanda and Sudan. Handicap International started a two-year project to provide mine risk education to Sudanese refugees in Kakuma camp in Kenya. During 2005, 16 casualties were recorded in one landmine incident.
The Republic of Kenya signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 5 December 1997, ratified on 23 January 2001, and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 July 2001. Parliament approved the preparation of national implementation legislation on 9 December 2004.[1] The Attorney General’s office drafted the legislation and sent it to the Office of the President for approval on 6 June 2005. After approval, the Attorney General’s office will formally publish the bill and send it to parliament for debate.[2]
As of 1 June 2006, Kenya had not submitted its annual updated Article 7 transparency report due 30 April 2006. The UN posted a report, for which it lists a submission date of 26 April 2006, but this is Kenya’s report from the previous year; the report itself lists a submission date of 1 April 2005, and a reporting period of 1 May 2004 to 31 March 2005.[3]
Kenya attended the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005 and made statements in the General Exchange of Views and on universalization.
Kenya attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2005 and in May 2006. During the May 2006 meeting, it elaborated its views on the interpretation of Article 2. Kenya stated that, “any mine that functions or has the capacity to function as an antipersonnel mine, or can be modified to function as such, should be considered as an antipersonnel mine and is therefore banned within the meaning of a mine and within the letter and spirit of the Convention. We therefore consider mines with sensitive fuzes and all anti-vehicle mines with antihandling devices to be covered under Article 2 and therefore prohibited under the Convention. We lend our support to the interpretation provided by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and the International Committee of the Red Cross in this regard.”[4]
With respect to Article 1, Kenya’s draft implementation bill does not permit the military to participate in joint operations or drills where antipersonnel mines are being used.[5] Kenya has not expressed its position regarding Article 3 and the permissible number of mines retained for training.
Kenya has never produced or exported landmines. In August 2003, Kenya’s military destroyed its stockpile of 35,774 antipersonnel mines, far ahead of its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 July 2005.[6]
Kenya has retained 3,000 antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[7] The number has not changed from when Kenya first declared it in December 2001 through March 2005 (according to the most recent Article 7 report), indicating no mines had been consumed during training activities. Kenya has yet to provide details on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained mines―a step agreed by States Parties in the Nairobi Action Plan that emerged from the First Review Conference in December 2004.
However, an official at the International Mine Action Training Centre (IMATC) told Landmine Monitor in June 2006 that the IMATC used antipersonnel mines provided by the Kenyan Army for its training activities. They indicated that the mines were destroyed during the training courses. [8] Detailed information on this will presumably be included in Kenya’s future Article 7 reports.
In April 2005, media reported the arrests of 20 foreigners by Kenyan police following fighting that included the use of antipersonnel mines between the Somali Gare and Marehan clans for control of the Somali town of Bur Hache, approximately 10 kilometers from the Kenyan border.[9]
In October 2005, six people were killed and 10 others injured when a minibus traveling from Elwak in Kenya to Bur Hache in Somalia exploded as a result of a landmine less than five kilometers from the border. Police said initial reports indicated that Somali business people who felt Kenyans unfairly dominated the lucrative border business were responsible for the mine. The police closed the busy Elwak-Bur Hache road following unconfirmed reports of more mines buried in the earthen road.[10]
Kenya does not consider itself as having mined areas containing antipersonnel mines.[11] However, there have been occasional media reports of mines being found in previous years, and incidents involving the use of mines in April and October 2005, as noted above.[12]
Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Kenya must destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 July 2011.
As reported in Landmine Monitor in 2005, some parts of Kenya are contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO): in the pastoral north where annual military training by Kenyan and foreign military forces is carried out around Archer’s Post and Dol Dol areas of Samburu district, and where the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion was intense. In March 2005, several items of UXO were found in Samburu and disposed of by the Kenyan Army.[13]
British regiments train in Kenya for several months each year at Archer’s Post training grounds. Nearby communities have persistently complained that the live firing ranges are within their grazing zones and as a result, they and their animals are exposed to injuries, mental anguish and material losses.[14] A case lodged in 2001 against the UK Ministry of Defence for damage to the affected population allegedly caused by UXO left over from training exercises was settled out of court in July 2002.[15] The UK sends a company of Royal Engineers each year to the Archer’s Post area to clear UXO from the training ranges.[16]
The International Mine Action Training Centre, a joint British-Kenyan project, was inaugurated on 17 February 2005 in Embakasi, close to Nairobi’s international airport.[17] With a permanent staff of 118, including 78 Kenyan military personnel, IMATC specializes in training and equipping up to 120 people at a time in mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) through six to eight-week courses. Trainees include military personnel, military and civilian police and civilians. Equipment provided to each group of trainees includes mine detectors, personal protective equipment, demining tools and simple survey equipment. The cost of each course is about US$300,000.[18]
An introduction to survey is included in the standard demining course but the Centre prefers to train only experienced deminers in technical survey. Suggested standing operating procedures for demining are drafted by IMATC on the basis of each country’s circumstances.[19]
The IMATC has established itself as an important training institution for support to mine action in the region. In 2005, training was provided to deminers from Nigeria,[20] Somaliland, Sudan and Uganda,[21] as well as to senior mine action officials from Sub-Saharan Africa.[22] Notable achievements in early 2006 included re-activating the Rwanda demining program and building capacity for demining and EOD in Uganda.[23]
In 2005, IMATC established the capability to include a mechanical ground preparation component in its training. In May, Croatia loaned a mini-flail and in November, Slovakia provided another mini-flail to the centre, using an overseas development grant.[24] The machines are used to train personnel in ground preparation using mechanical demining assets.[25]
In February 2006, a mine/explosives detection dog component was established with expertise from a British-based organization, Mines Awareness Trust, and dogs from Securatec, a German company. The first major task may be to train Kenyan handlers who would then deploy to Eritrea as part of the UN peacekeeping mission with dogs leased from the centre. It was hoped that mine detection dogs and trained Kenyan handlers could also be provided to Rwanda and Uganda.[26]
In late May 2006, IMATC initiated its most ambitious project to date―the training and equipping of a joint demining unit made up of former soldiers from the Sudan Armed Forces (64) and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (70). A further 19 Sudanese civilians were included in the eight-week course. This is the first time a joint body has been created in accordance with the terms of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement.[27] There was concern that the group’s backgrounds could be a challenge, but IMATC believes that could be put aside. Lt. Gen. Julius Karangi, vice chief of general staff of the Kenyan military, told reporters after addressing the trainees that, “Once they leave this place they’re not supposed to go and behave like northerners and southerners. They are supposed to go there and create an integrated humanitarian demining team.”[28] UNDP secured $1.4 million to support the deployment of the deminers.
In addition, since IMATC opened, four rotations of Kenyan soldiers have followed five to seven-week training programs; they are then deployed as demining contingents in UN peacekeeping missions. Training of a fifth group was planned for October 2006.[29]
IMATC was established on land donated by Kenya and receives significant technical and financial assistance from the UK, which is committed to the project until at least 2009.[30] The Kenyan Army provided explosives and shells for use in the training, and the majority of the centre’s human resources.[31]
Plans for the remainder of 2006 includes the training of more deminers from Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda, as well as, potentially, a joint Senegalese and Gambian demining contingent for demining operations on the border between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.[32]
Mine Risk Education: Handicap International (HI) started a two-year project in May 2005 to provide mine risk education (MRE) to Sudanese refugees in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, prior to their return to southern Sudan. HI uses a community-based approach to ensure that all community leaders and representatives have a thorough understanding of MRE and are able to address their communities’ safety concerns during and after their return. Initially, 16 MRE trainers were oriented for five days by the MRE advisor; they then provided three-day trainings for 30 house-to-house educators, 39 community chairpersons and 675 zonal, group, youth and girl support group leaders. The house-to-house educators in 2005 reached 17,502 people (5,030 men, 4,493 women, 4,199 boys and 3,780 girls). The HI project also provided landmine safety briefings to humanitarian workers assisting in the repatriation program (37 trained in 2005).[33]
In October 2005, six people were killed and 10 were injured when their minibus hit a landmine. The incident took place less than five kilometers from the Somali border, on the road from Elwak town in Kenya to Bur Hache in Somalia.[34] In 2004, the Landmine Monitor identified no casualties from mine incidents.[35]
The total number of mine/UXO casualties in Kenya is not known. Between 1999 and 2005, at least 22 people were killed and 51 injured in mine/UXO incidents. More than 500 people may have been killed or injured since 1945.[36]
Public health facilities in Kenya are believed to be adequate to provide first aid and advanced medical care to mine/UXO casualties.[37]
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) supported Lopiding surgical hospital in Lokichokio in northern Kenya, where it treats mine survivors and other people with disabilities, mainly from southern Sudan. Assistance consists of in-hospital training programs for medical personnel, technical and material support, and referrals for medical emergencies, including landmine casualties; ICRC also provided transport from southern Sudan. Lopiding hospital performed 3,276 operations (including 20 mine/UXO casualties) in 2005, and 311 operations (three on mine/UXO casualties) from January to April 2006. The orthopedic center at Lopiding hospital fitted 455 prostheses and orthoses (53 for mine/UXO survivors) in 2005; 110 people received prosthetic devices (including four mine/UXO survivors) in the first quarter of 2006. ICRC admitted its last patient in February 2006 and was scheduled to end its support in June 2006. Lopiding hospital will become a 150-bed sub-district hospital under the Kenyan Ministry of Health.[38]
In 2005, the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD) assisted three centers in Kenya with raw materials, components and technical support: Kangemi Rehabilitation Centre (70 prostheses and 32 orthoses), Kikuyu Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation Centre (233 prostheses and 363 orthoses), and Kenya Medical Training College (78 prostheses and 284 orthoses). It sponsored three technicians to participate in a one-month training course in lower-limb orthoses and prostheses manufacturing in the regional SFD center in Addis Ababa. Four instructors received training courses in Addis Ababa. ICRC organized a workshop on polypropylene prostheses manufacturing for 29 students and instructors.[39]
The Nairobi-based Jaipur Foot Project manufactures orthopedic devices for disabled.[40]
Kenya has legislation protecting the rights of the disabled. The Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services is responsible for issues relating to people with disabilities, including mine/UXO survivors. There is a Minister of State for Elderly and Disabilities. In April 2006, the National Council for Persons with Disabilities launched a Strategic Plan (2005-2008). The National Council advocates for a barrier-free and disabled-friendly environment. Plans for 2006 included registration of people with disabilities as well as disabled peoples’ organizations.[41]
[1] Letter to Kenya Coalition Against Landmines from Linda Murila, Principal Parliamentary Counsel, Attorney General Chambers, REF No: AG/CONF/19/77 Vol. III, 25 May 2005.
[2] Email from Linda Murila, Attorney General Chambers, 16 September 2005.
[3] In September 2005, a Ministry of Defense official told Landmine Monitor that the report was submitted to the UN on 29 March 2005. Kenya submitted three previous Article 7 reports on 31 March 2004, 4 June 2002 and 27 December 2001. Kenya has said it submitted another report on 7 February 2003, but it has never been officially received and posted by the UN.
[4] Statement by Amb. Philip R. O. Owade, Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN in Geneva, Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 12 May 2006. Kenya has made similar statements in the past. See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 398-399.
[5] Draft legislation, “The Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines Bill 2004.” The government stated this position in interventions on Article 1 at the February 2004 Standing Committee meeting on General Status and Operation of the Convention. Notes taken by Landmine Monitor, Geneva, 9 February 2004.
[6] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 322, for details of the types of mines, which were obtained from Belgium, Israel and the United Kingdom.
[7] Article 7 Report, Form D, 1 April 2005. The 3,000 mines include: 700 each of No. 4, No. 12 and No. 409 mines; 500 No. 6 mines; and 400 NR 413 mines.
[8] Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, Commandant, IMATC, Nairobi, 6 June 2006. Another IMATC official also provided this information to Landmine Monitor in July 2005.
[9] Issa Hussein and Hussein Abdulahi, “20 Netted in Operation to Rid Town of Foreigners,” Nation, 19 April 2005.
[10] “Six traders killed by landmine,” Daily Nation Kenya, 15 October 2005.
[11] Article 7 Report, Form C, 26 April 2006 (report dated 1 April 2005, for 1 May 2004-31 March 2005).
[12] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 399; Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 529.
[13] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 399.
[14] UN, “Country profile: Kenya,” www.mineaction.org, accessed 27 April 2006.
[15] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 399.
[16] Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 6 June 2006.
[17] As of late May 2006, a memorandum of understanding between the UK and Kenya regarding IMATC was still being discussed. Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May 2006.
[18] Interviews with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May and 6 June 2006.
[19] Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May 2006.
[20] It is intended that the Nigerian deminers will be deployed on UN peacekeeping missions. Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May 2006.
[21] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 400.
[22] The UN Development Programme (UNDP) organized a regional workshop at the IMATC, facilitated by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, on Socio-Economic Approaches to Planning and Management of Mine Action. Participants were senior officials from mine action programs in Angola, Burundi, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda. See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 400.
[23] See reports on Rwanda and Uganda in this edition of Landmine Monitor.
[24] Interviews with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May and 6 June 2006. See also Fred Mukinda, “Kenya: Local Soldiers Defuse Africa’s Landmine Crisis,” The Nation (English-language daily newspaper), 13 March 2006.
[25] Interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May 2006.
[26] Interviews with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May and 6 June 2006; interview with Ben Remfrey, Global Operations Director, Mines Awareness Trust, Nairobi, 6 June 2006.
[27] George Obulutsa, “Sudan soldiers in Kenya on demining course,” Reuters, Nairobi, 23 May 2006; interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May 2006.
[28] George Obulutsa, “Sudan soldiers in Kenya on demining course,” Reuters, Nairobi, 23 May 2006.
[29] Interviews with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May and 6 June 2006.
[30] The UK does not detail its support to the IMATC in its Article 7 report for 2005. UK Article 7 Report, 12 April 2006.
[31] Interviews with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, IMATC, Nairobi, 24 May and 6 June 2006.
[32] Ibid.
[33] HI, “MRE Project in Kakuma Refugee Camp: Return Safely! Situation Report,” March 2006, provided to Landmine Monitor by Sylvie Bouko, MRE Technical Advisor, Kakuma, Kenya.
[34] “Six traders killed by landmine,” Daily Nation Kenya (Nairobi), 15 October 2005.
[35] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 400.
[36] Ibid.
[37] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 400.
[38] Email from Pierre Gratzl, Rehabilitation Department, ICRC, Khartoum, 18 May 2006.
[39] ICRC, “Special Report Mine Action 2005,” Geneva, May 2006, p. 26; ICRC “Special Fund for the Disabled Annual Report 2005,” Geneva, 10 March 2006, p. 15.
[40] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 401.
[41] UNDP, “Launch of Strategic Plan of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities,” Nairobi, www.ke.undp.org, accessed on 29 April 2006. The Strategic Plan was drafted with support of the UNDP Democratic Governance Unit.