The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In November 2004, Saudi Arabia told Mine Ban Treaty State Parties that it “has always supported” the treaty and “observes and respects the spirit” of the treaty.[1] But officials have also stated that Saudi Arabia does not want to close its option to use antipersonnel mines in very specific circumstances.[2] In November 2005, a Saudi military official told Landmine Monitor that this position had not changed.[3]
Saudi Arabia sent an observer delegation to the Sixth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005. It attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2006 but did not make any statements. Saudi Arabia did not attend the intersessional meetings in June 2005, but had attended all previous intersessional meetings since December 2000. Saudi Arabia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons or its Amended Protocol II on landmines, but attended the annual conference of States Parties to the protocol on 23 November 2005. It was absent from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 60/80 promoting universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty on 8 December 2005, as in previous years.
Saudi Arabia has never produced, exported, or used antipersonnel mines, but it imported a small number in the past which it retains.[4]
Mines do not affect Saudi Arabia, although some parts are affected by the presence of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Every region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a unit in the engineering corps of the Saudi Army for clearance of UXO upon request. Before and during the 1991 Gulf War, these units cleared training areas and camps used by allied forces.[5]
Three journalists from Saudi newspapers (al-Riyadh, al-Watan and al-Hayat) participated in the training workshop on the Mine Ban Treaty that was organized in Bahrain by the NGO Protection in April 2005.
In 2005, Saudi Arabia provided demining equipment worth US$570,000 to mine action in Lebanon.[6] Over a three-year period until the end of 2005, Saudi Arabia has contributed $3 million ($1 million each year) to Yemen’s national demining program.[7]
In 2006, Saudi Arabia contributed funding to mine action in Azerbaijan for the first time, providing $50,000 for clearance of mines and UXO from residential buildings and adjacent areas in the TerTer and Aghstafa districts. During the funding handover ceremony on 1 February 2006 at the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action, Ambassador Hassan Jaafar is reported to have expressed Saudi Arabia’s intention to continue support of demining activities in Azerbaijan. He also pledged that Saudi Arabia would continue providing assistance to Azerbaijan in the humanitarian, economic and social fields.[8]
In previous years, Saudi Arabia provided technical and financial support to other mine-affected countries such as Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.[9] A Saudi contribution of $3 million in 2002 to Yemen’s mine action program used in part to fund survivor assistance activities was not extended in 2006.[10] Landmine Monitor identified no other victim assistance donations by Saudi Arabia in 2005.
[1] Statement by Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Bin Mohammed Al Arifi, Ministry of Defense, First Review Conference, Nairobi, 3 December 2004.
[2] Amb. Satnam Jit Singh, UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) consultant, “Mission Report-Saudi Arabia/Kuwait, 22-28 October 2004,” (undated). The officials said mines might be needed to protect oil installations or isolated defense posts.
[3] Interview with Maj. Nawaf bin Talaq Al-Otaibi, Ministry of Defense, Zagreb, 29 November 2005.
[4] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 1107-1108. Saudi officials told UNMAS in October 2004 that it has never used antipersonnel mines on its borders, does not produce or import antipersonnel mines, and has only a small stockpile. Amb. Satnam Jit Singh, “Mission Report-Saudi Arabia/Kuwait, 22-28 October 2004,” (undated).
[5] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1108.
[6] National Demining Office, Lebanon Mine Action Program, “Annual Report 2005,” Annex A.
[7] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 885; Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1108.
[8] “The government of Saudi Arabia donates US$50,000 to support mine action in Azerbaijan,” Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, 21 January 2006, www.reliefweb.int, accessed 20 March 2006; “Saudi Arabia allots $50,000 for Demining Programs in Azerbaijan,” Turan Information Agency (Azerbaijan), 30 January 2006.
[9] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 865; Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1108.
[10] Email from Faiz Mohammad, Operations and Training Officer, UNDP, Sana’a, Yemen, 16 August 2005; extract from YEMAC database provided in email from Faiz Mohammad, Chief Technical Advisor, UNDP, Sana’a, Yemen, 27 March 2006.