ICBL calls upon the OAU to act for a mine free world
(10 July) On the eve of the Summit of the Heads of State of the Organization of African Unity, to be held in Togo from the 10th to the 12th of July, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) calls on the Secretary General of the OAU and member States for renewed commitment for the universalization and implementation of the 1997 Convention on the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of antipersonnel mines and on their destruction (Mine Ban Treaty).
During the last Summit, which took place in Algeria in July 1999, a few months after the entry into force of the Treaty, OAU members adopted a declaration urging all African countries to sign and ratify the Convention. Since the 1st of March 2000, 7 countries have ratified the Treaty. 6 of them are African and OAU members (Botswana, Togo, Seychelles, Rwanda, Ivory Coast and Ghana). This is the result of the strong mobilization of African States against landmines. However, 9 OAU members have yet to accede to the Mine Ban Convention (Saudi Arabia, Comoros, Egypt, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Central Africa, RDC and Somalia) and 16 have yet to ratify it (Algeria, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Mauritania, Sao Tome et Principe, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia). The 27 State Parties are urged to take concrete measures to fully satisfy the obligations of the Treaty, notably the adoption of national legislation, Article 7 reporting, stockpile destruction, mine clearance and victim assistance.
Africa is the continent most affected by antipersonnel mines. Of the 60-70 million landmines still in the ground, more than a third are planted in African soil. At the time when the 1997 Treaty is fast becoming an international norm, as 137 countries have signed it and 99 have ratified it, antipersonnel landmines continue to be used in some African countries. Recently two children were killed and three others injured 7 June when one of them stepped on a landmine on the outskirts of Alitena in Ethiopia.
The universalization and the implementation of the Treaty is crucial in Africa and OAU member States are encouraged to do so, particularly on the eve of the Second Meeting of the States Parties to the Treaty which will take place in Geneva from the 11th to the 15th of September. The inclusion of the landmine issue in the Final Declaration of the Summit of the Heads of State of the OAU, as the ICBL urged, will constitute a step in this direction. It will clearly show the determined engagement of the OAU toward a total ban on landmines, and remind Heads of African States of their decision adopted during the First Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines held in Kempton Park (South Africa) in May 1997 to create a mine-free zone in Africa.
Contact
Mereso Agina, Kenyan Campaign to ban landmines,
Tel: +254 2 223307, fax:: +254 2 245549, e-mail: kenia-at-icbl-org
Noël Stott, South African Campaign to ban landmines,
Tel : +27 11 472 2380, fax : +27 11 472 2380, e-mail : sacbl-at-sn-apc-org
The Secretary-General
Organisation of Africa Unity (OAU)
Your Excellency
As you are aware, the Second Meeting of States Parties to the 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Mine Ban Treaty) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland 11 - 15 September 2000. We note that the 36th Ordinary Session of the OAU will be meeting next week in Lome, Togo. We encourage you to use this opportunity to ensure that all OAU member States ratify this historic treaty before the Second Meeting of States Parties and to invite them to attend as a full participant as a States Party.
African governments have signed and ratified this Treaty more quickly than any other of its kind in history - and we in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines congratulate all those who have been part of this historic movement to eradicate this indiscriminate weapon-yet our work is far from over. Until there is full universalisation and implementation of the treaty and zero victims, we cannot rest.
The OAU and many individual Member States have been among the leaders in the ban effort. In fact, out of the last seven countries to ratify, six have been from AFRICA. They are: #93 Botswana (1 March); #94 Togo (9 March); #95 Seychelles (2 June); #96 Rwanda (8 June); #97 Cote d'ivoire (30 June); #99 Ghana (30 June).
This follows the tradition started during the Oslo negotiations when Africa played a crucial role in ensuring that the Treaty was not only adopted but is also one of the strongest Conventions existing.
Signing the Mine Ban Treaty is obviously an important step-but ratification by all signatory states is critical. We ask that you encourage countries that have not yet ratified to undertake the necessary domestic steps to ensure the letter as well as the spirit of the treaty is respected. By undertaking their full legal obligations, African countries will help to solidify the international norm against any possession or use of antipersonnel mines, and will leave no doubts about our commitment to abolishing antipersonnel mines urgently and as a top priority. The true test of success of the Mine Ban Treaty in Africa will be when it is universalized and makes a difference for those affected by landmines in Africa, and when survivors are assisted and land safely restored to the people who depend on it - in Africa. This can only happen when each African country takes responsibility for full and effective implementation of the treaty.
We hope that all African countries will participate fully and meaningfully in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the treaty. In addition, we encourage you to highlight the importance of the Mine Ban Treaty and the efforts to rid the world of this scourge during your address to the OAU Summit in July and to the Millennium Assembly of the United Nations in September 2000.
We look forward to our continuing co-operation in the common struggle to eradicate antipersonnel mines forever.
We attach for your information, a Ratification Fact Sheet that may be useful in your important work.
Yours sincerely,
South African Campaign to Ban Landmines
Ban Landmine Working Group (Mauritius)
DION – The Development Indian Ocean Network
Zambian Campaign to Ban Landmines
Uganda Campaign to Ban Landmines
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