Congo, Republic of

Last Updated: 02 November 2011

Mine Ban Policy

Policy

The Republic of the Congo (Congo) acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 May 2001, becoming a State Party on 1 November 2001. It indicated as early as September 2002 that legislation had been drafted to implement the treaty domestically, but this still had not occurred as of mid-2009.[1] In a meeting with the Monitor in June 2011, Congo reiterated that national implementation legislation was underway, and will be separate from the legislation that Congo plans to implement for the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2]

The last year that Congo submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report was in 2009 for calendar year 2008. As of October 2011, Congo had not submitted a report covering calendar year 2010.

Congo attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2011, but did not attend the Tenth Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Geneva in November–December 2010.

Congo is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, stockpiling, and retention

Congo is not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In September 2003, Congo reported the destruction of its stockpile of 5,136 antipersonnel mines.[3] In its Article 7 report submitted in 2009, Congo reported that it had discovered 4,000 antipersonnel mines (2,500 PPM-2 and 1,500 PMN) in an abandoned warehouse and destroyed them on 3 April 2009 in Mongo-Tandou. Congo reported that an additional 508 POMZ-2 mines were awaiting destruction.[4] Mines Advisory Group (MAG) oversaw the destruction of the 4,000 mines along with a local explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team. It said that the mines came from the Pointe-Noire regional stockpile and that the destruction was witnessed by the Minister of Defense, 100 international representatives, and members of the press. MAG stated that a further 509 POMZ mines would be destroyed in the coming days at the Pointe-Noire Foundry.[5]

In its Article 7 report submitted in 2009, Congo stated that it retained 322 antipersonnel mines for training purposes, after it used 50 mines (30 PPM-2 and 20 POMZ-2) in the April 2009 destruction of the newly discovered stockpile.[6] Previously, in November 2007, Congo had cited a figure of 372 mines retained.[7] It has not provided details on the intended purposes of its remaining retained mines.

Use

No mine use has been reported in Congo since 1997, when mines were used during its civil war.[8]

 



[1] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form A, 12 September 2002. In November 2007, Congo stated that it required assistance from the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) in order to draft national legislation. In August 2008, GICHD reported that support had been provided. No further progress on national legislation has been reported, including in Congo’s Article 7 report submitted in 2009. Congo has not submitted an Article 7 report since 2009.

[2] Interview with Col. Lucien Nkoua, Focal Point of National MINEX, Ministry of Defense, in Geneva, 23 June 2011.

[3] Statement by Col. Léonce Nkabi, Project Coordinator, Ministry of Defense, Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Bangkok, 19 September 2003. Copies of the destruction records were attached to the statement. The details of types and numbers of mines destroyed were not reported in Congo’s subsequent Article 7 report. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 357. At the Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Congo reported destroying 4,718 stockpiled mines. Statement of Congo, Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Dead Sea, 18 November 2007.

[4] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2008), Form G. See also Statement of Congo, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 28 May 2009.

[5] MAG, “4,000 anti-personnel landmines destroyed,” 6 April 2009, www.alertnet.org. MAG said the explosive charges from the POMZ mines were used as priming charges to destroy the 4,000 mines, and that the bodies of the POMZs would be melted at the foundry.

[6] Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2008), Form D. The mines are: 66 German PPM-2, 50 Soviet PMN-58, 156 Soviet POMZ-2, and 50 Soviet PMD-6.

[7]Statement of Congo, Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Mine Ban Treaty, Dead Sea, 18 November 2007.

[8] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 188.


Last Updated: 18 August 2011

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Convention on Cluster Munitions status

Signatory

Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings

Attended First Meeting of States Parties in Vientiane,  Lao PDR in November 2010 and intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2011

Key developments

Ratification process underway

Policy

The Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

In June 2011, a Congolese official informed the CMC that a bill authorizing the ratification of the convention was sent to the Supreme Court for an advisory opinion in August 2010. After receiving a positive opinion, the bill was sent in March 2011 for consideration at the executive level by Council. After this, the bill will be sent to Parliament for review and adoption, which could occur in 2011.[1]

After ratification is completed, Congo intends to enact national implementation legislation for the Convention on Cluster Munitions separate from its implementation legislation for the Mine Ban Treaty.[2]

Congo attended several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the convention, and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008.[3] Since 2008, Congo has shown strong interest in the convention. It participated in the convention’s First Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Vientiane, Lao PDR in November 2010, where it made a statement on its destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions and requested assistance to identify existing munitions and receive training in stockpile destruction.[4] Congo attended intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in June 2011. It also participated in a UN Special Event on the convention held during the UN General Assembly First Committee on Disarmament and International Security in New York on 19 October 2010.

The Congolese Campaign to Ban Landmines (CCIM) has undertaken activities in Kinshasa to promote the convention in both Congo-Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including a workshop (28 May) and a roundtable (30 October).[5]

Congo is party to the Mine Ban Treaty, but is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling

Congo is not believed to have used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions.

Congo has reported having stockpiles of Soviet cluster munitions that were supplied for use with MIG-21 fighter aircraft, but had not provided detailed information on the types or quantities of these munitions.

In July 2010, a Ministry of Defense official said that weapons depots containing cluster munitions were destroyed during the country’s 1997–1998 civil war, and stocks were also destroyed in the year 2000 as part of a project to collect and destroy damaged weapons and ammunition stockpiles.[6]

Cluster munitions were also apparently part of weapons stockpiles destroyed in 2008–2010 with the assistance of United Kingdom-based humanitarian demining organization Mines Advisory Group (MAG).[7] At the First Meeting of States Parties in November 2010, Congo stated that about 200 cluster munition projectiles had been destroyed in the project since 2008 through a project funded by the European Union, managed by the International Organization for Migration, and implemented by MAG.[8]

In March 2011, a military official informed the Monitor that there were no cluster munitions stockpiled in the Republic of Congo and no new stockpiles had been discovered.[9]

Cluster munition remnants

The explosive threat in Congo has included cluster munition remnants,[10] but the extent of any residual contamination is not known.[11] Between December 2007 and May 2008, MAG destroyed 18 cluster munitions containing submunitions during stockpile destruction activities.[12] In July 2010, the Ministry of National Defense informed the Monitor that some of its stockpiles of Russian cluster munitions exploded during the 1997–1998 civil conflict. In addition, a member of the armed forces was killed in 2009 after he detonated a submunition at an ammunition storage area in Maya-Maya.[13] In February 2011, MAG reestablished its program in Congo and was preparing to clear the Maya-Maya site of unexploded ordnance and ammunition.[14]

 



[1] Meeting with Col. Lucien Nkoua, National Focal Point of the Struggle Against Mines, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meeting, Geneva, 23 June 2011. This confirms information received in response to Monitor questionnaire from Commandant Kissambou Makanga, Brazzaville, 30 March 2010.

[2] Meeting with Col. Lucien Nkoua, National Focal Point of the Struggle Against Mines, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meeting, Geneva, 23 June 2011.

[3] For details on cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 61–62.

[4] Statement of the Republic of Congo, First Meeting of States Parties, Convention on Cluster Munitions, Vientiane, 11 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[5] Email from Francky Miantuala, Coordinator, CCIM, 2 May 2011; and CMC newsletter, November 2010.

[6] Email from Lt.-Col. André Pampile Serge Oyobe, Head of Information Division, Ministry of Defense, 13 July 2010.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Statement of the Republic of Congo, First Meeting of States Parties, Convention on Cluster Munitions, Vientiane, 11 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.

[9] Response to Monitor questionnaire from Commandant Kissambou Makanga, Brazzaville, 30 March 2010.

[10] MAG, “Where we work: MAG ROC in depth,” November 2009, www.maginternational.org.

[11] Email from Frédéric Martin, MAG, 1 February 2010.

[12] Email from Anna Kilkenny, MAG, 27 June 2008.

[13] Email from Lt.-Col. André Pamphile Serge Oyobe, Ministry of National Defense, 13 July 2010.

[14] Email from Rebecca Letven, Desk Officer for Republic of Congo, MAG, 21 February 2011.


Last Updated: 14 September 2011

Mine Action

Contamination and Impact

Mines

It is not known whether the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville) is contaminated with mines. Congo has previously reported a possible mine threat left over from the conflict in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda. According to its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report covering April 2003 to April 2004, “the border zone with Angola in the southwest of the country is mine suspected.”[1] Its latest Article 7 report, covering calendar year 2008, indicated “no change” in the situation.[2] The area concerned is approximately 2,250km2 in size.[3]

In February 2008, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) carried out a survey in Kimongo district along the border with Cabinda, an area suspected to be contaminated. The findings of the survey “did not confirm a current mine threat on the Republic of Congo side of the border,” but MAG hoped to carry out additional spot verification to validate the results. This did not subsequently occur.[4]

In May 2009, Congo informed the Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies that surveys had not identified any new mine victims since the 1970s, although the indigenous populations had claimed, “without much evidence,” that mines were present.[5] In 2006, it was reported that civilians in the suspected areas were reluctant to return to their communities to carry out forestry and farming, as “they have not received any guarantees for their security from the authorities.”[6] Given the uncertainty, in June 2011, Congo declared that it would seek an extension to its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline to enable it to conduct the necessary surveys of the suspected region.[7]

Cluster munition remnants

The explosive threat has included cluster munition remnants,[8] although the extent of any residual contamination is not known.[9] Between December 2007 and May 2008, MAG destroyed 18 cluster munitions, containing submunitions, during stockpile destruction activities.[10] In July 2010, the Ministry of National Defense informed the Monitor that some of its stockpiles of Russian cluster munitions exploded during the 1997–1998 civil conflict. In addition, at an ammunition storage area (ASA) in Maya-Maya a member of the armed forces was killed in 2009 after detonating a submunition.[11] In February 2011, MAG re-established its program in Congo and was preparing to clear the Maya-Maya site of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and ammunition.[12]

Other explosive remnants of war

Congo is significantly contaminated with explosive remnants of war (ERW), both abandoned explosive ordnance and UXO. The problem results from civil conflict in 1993–1999.[13] There are many areas of ERW contamination, and in 2008 even the capital, Brazzaville, was reported to have an area of 260,000m2 still contaminated with UXO. In December 2009, MAG reported that in the two years it had been operating in Congo it had destroyed 771,162 ERW.[14]

MAG, the only international demining operator in Congo, has conducted surveys in Brazzaville and Dolisie on sites where civilian incidents have occurred as a result of ERW. Preliminary findings indicated that incidents continued to occur due to the encroachment of communities onto contaminated land for housing, agriculture, and other livelihood activities.

At the Maya-Maya site, items of UXO, including unexploded submunitions, were scattered on open ground being cultivated.[15] Unsafe explosive ordnance storage conditions also increase the likelihood of fires or explosions at ASAs; these have already occurred several times.[16] Indeed, MAG has noted that unsafe storage conditions “were partly responsible for the explosion at the Maya-Maya ammunition depot that scattered explosive material on 26 hectares of land adjacent to the Brazzaville International Airport, contaminated land that will need clearance.”[17]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

Body

Situation on 1 January 2011

National Mine Action Authority

None

Mine action center

None

International demining operators

MAG returned on 1 February 2011

National demining operators

Congolese armed forces

There is no national mine action authority or mine action center, although a colonel within the Ministry of National Defense has served as the national mine action focal point.

MAG is the only international clearance operator in Congo. It has been conducting capacity building for Congolese armed forces personnel.[18]

Land Release

No land release occurred in 2010. At the Second Review Conference in Cartagena, Congo reported that as a consequence of the insecurity in the enclave of Cabinda, it had not been possible to carry out either a detailed assessment or technical survey of the suspected mined areas. Congo had requested the assistance of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), but a mission planned for October 2009 had been postponed until the first quarter of 2010.[19] This had not occurred as of June 2011.

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Congo is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 November 2011. At the Second Review Conference in Cartagena, Congo stated that the planned mission by GICHD in the first quarter of 2010 would assist it to determine the necessary actions to comply with Article 5. It further declared that “before the expiry of the treaty deadline, with the assistance of the GICHD, Congo will fulfill all the obligations of the Mine Ban Treaty, in particular the obligation under Article 5.”[20]

In November 2010 at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties, however, the President of the Second Review Conference stated that: “The Republic of Congo has an Article 5 deadline on 1 November 2011. It has not yet indicated that it will be able to comply by its deadline. If it now believes that it will not be able to meet its deadline, it will be non-compliant with the Convention as of 1 November 2011.”[21] Congo did not participate in the Tenth Meeting of States Parties.

In June 2011, at the Standing Committee meetings, Congo declared that it would seek an extension of one-year to its Article 5 deadline to enable it to conduct the necessary surveys of the suspected region.[22] As of the beginning of August 2011, however, no extension request had yet been submitted.

 



[1] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form C, 4 May 2004.

[2] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2008), Form C.

[3] GICHD, “Republique du Congo: Synthese d’informations de l’action contre les mines et les restes explosifs de guerre (dont sous-munitions)” (“Republic of the Congo: Overview of information on mine action and ERW [including submunitions]”), Second African Francophone Seminar on Mine Action and ERW, Dakar, Senegal, 2–4 November 2009.

[4] Email from Anna Kilkenny, Programme Manager, MAG, 7 April 2008.

[5] Statement of Congo, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 27 May 2009.

[6] Statement of Congo, Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 10 May 2006.

[7] Statement of Congo, Standing Committee on Mine Action, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011. The actual statement as delivered concerned the intention to seek a four-month extension, but the formal statement in writing declared that Congo would seek a 12-month extension. The written statement also suggested that this would extend Congo’s deadline to 1 November 2013, but this is believed to be a typographical error as the correct date, if the extension is granted by the States Parties at the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, will be 1 November 2012.

[8] MAG, “Where we work: MAG ROC in depth,” November 2009, www.maginternational.org.

[9] Email from Frédéric Martin, MAG, 1 February 2010.

[10] Email from Anna Kilkenny, MAG, 27 June 2008.

[11] Email from Lt.-Col. André Pamphile Serge Oyobe, Head of Information Division, Ministry of National Defense, 13 July 2010.

[12] Email from Rebecca Letven, Desk Officer for Republic of Congo, MAG, 21 February 2011.

[13] “Congo: Arms collection and destruction underway,” IRIN (Brazzaville), 26 February 2008, www.irinnews.org.

[14] MAG, “R.O. CONGO: 750,000 dangerous items demolished in two years,” 11 December 2009, www.maginternational.org.

[15] MAG, “Where we work: MAG ROC in depth,” November 2009, www.maginternational.org.

[16] MAG, “Where we work: Republic of Congo,” April 2010, www.maginternational.org.

[17] Ibid.

[18] MAG, “R.O. CONGO: 750,000 dangerous items demolished in two years,” 11 December 2009, www.maginternational.org.

[19] Statement of Congo, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 3 December 2009.

[20] Ibid.

[21] “Report on the consideration of requests for extensions to Article 5 deadlines 2009–2010, Submitted by the President of the Second Review Conference,” doc. APLC/MSP.10/2010/WP.16, 1 December 2010.

[22] Statement of Congo, Standing Committee on Mine Action, Mine Risk Education and Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 21 June 2011. The actual statement as delivered concerned the intention to seek a four-month extension, but the formal statement in writing declared that Congo would seek a 12-month extension. The written statement also suggested that this would extend Congo’s deadline to 1 November 2013, but this is believed to be a typographical error as the correct date, if the extension is granted by the States Parties at the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, will be 1 November 2012.