Mali
Mine Ban Policy
Mine Ban Policy
The Republic of Mali signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 2 June 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. National implementation measures were adopted in 2000, which include penal sanctions and fines.[1] Mali has not submitted an updated Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report since 2005.[2]
Mali attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011, but did not make any statements. Mali did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the treaty in Geneva in May 2012.
Mali has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In 1998, prior to becoming a State Party, Mali destroyed its stockpile of 7,127 antipersonnel mines, together with 5,131 antivehicle mines.[3] Mali reported in 2003 that it retained 600 antipersonnel and 300 antivehicle mines for training purposes.[4] It has not since reported on the number of retained mines or on the use of mines retained.
Mali is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines.
Use
Mali stated in 2001 that it had never used antipersonnel mines and that there had been no reports of use by government forces or rebels during the Tuareg rebellion.[5] However, there have been a number of allegations related to the use of mines in recent years that remain unconfirmed.
In a 2009 United States (US) diplomatic cable made public by Wikileaks in September 2011, the defense attaché at the US embassy in Bamako reported that sources available to it claimed that Malian soldiers operating in the area of Tin-Adema, approximately 180 kilometers west-southwest of Tessalit, “laid anti-personnel landmines around their positions as their only protection against ambush.”[6] This claim was not reported by media and the Monitor has not received any additional information to substantiate it.
In 2011 and the first half of 2012, there were also two allegations of new mine use by a non-state armed groups (NSAGs), but the Monitor has not been able to verify the claims.
Media reports published in June and October 2011 claimed that forces allied with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had laid an unspecified type of mine in the Wagadou forest near Mali’s border with Mauritania. According to one of the reports, AQIM posted information to a regional news agency on 4 October 2011 confirming the mine laying.[7] Subsequent investigations indicate that antivehicle mines may have been used, causing at least one civilian casualty; however, the Monitor is not aware of any evidence that antipersonnel mines were used.[8]
In July 2012, the NSAG Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) stated in a broadcast on local radio that they had laid antipersonnel mines near the city of Gao. Several media outlets repeated the claim.[9] A spokesperson for another opposition group called National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which at one point echoed the media reports, offered no information to substantiate the claims when contacted by Handicap International in July 2012.[10] Contradictory information provided to the Monitor by several sources in Mali indicates that this incident may be a hoax. One local source in Gao claimed that armed gangs were planting empty metal tomato paste cans in order to control movement in the town. Yet other sources suspect that NSAGs may have used command-activated devices.[11] The Monitor is unable to confirm the veracity of any of the claims or explanations it has received.
While it has acknowledged receipt of both verbal and written requests for information and expressions of concern from the ICBL, the government of Mali has not responded to numerous inquiries through its diplomatic mission in Geneva about these recent incidents.
[1] Two legal texts, an ordinance and a decree, prohibit the development, manufacturing, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, offer, import, export, transfer, and use of antipersonnel mines. Breach of the legislation is punishable with a maximum of life imprisonment and a fine of between CFA500,000 and CFA3 million (approximately US$1,150 to $6,900). Ordinance No. 049/P-RM on the Implementation of the Convention, adopted on 27 September 2000; and Decree No. 569/P-RM on the Application of the Ordinance, adopted on 15 November 2000. An inter-ministerial National Commission for a Total Ban on Landmines was established in June 2002 to take responsibility for the mine issue. See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 341.
[2] Mali submitted its initial Article 7 report, due 27 August 1999, on 17 May 2001, and additional reports on 31 July 2003, 15 September 2004, and 8 July 2005.
[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 17 May 2001.
[4] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 31 July 2003. Mali initially reported in 2001 that it retained 2,000 antipersonnel and 1,000 antivehicle mines for training purposes. In 2003, it reported having consumed 1,400 antipersonnel mines and 700 antivehicle mines during training activities.
[5] Statement of the Ministry of Defense, Seminar on the Universalization and Implementation of the Ottawa Convention in Africa, Bamako, 16 February 2001.
[6] “Running on Fumes: Mali’s Soldiers Exposed in the Desert,” US Department of State cable 09BAMAKO415 dated 25 June 2009, released by Wikileaks on 1 September 2011, www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=09BAMAKO415&q=landmines.
[7] Jemal Oumar, “Al-Qaeda lays landmines in Wagadou Forest,” Magharebia, 13 October 2011, www.magharebia.com. The article also claims the AQIM, in “an October 4th statement posted on mauripress.info, said it planted the mines to prevent people from ‘approaching mujahideens’ centres’ in the area.” Jemal Oumar and Mohamed Yahya Ould Abdel Wedoud, “La Mauritanie frappe une base d’AQMI” (“Mauritania strikes AQIM base”), Magharebia, 27 June 2011. The article claims that Mauritanian forces, in an operation carried out jointly with Mali, encountered mines laid by AQIM in the forest and seized antipersonnel mines.
[8] “Avec une patrouille de l'armée malienne,” (« On patrol with the Mali military ») RFI, 18 July 2011, www.rfi.fr/afrique/20110718-base-malienne-aqmi-foret-wagadou-desertee. Belgian-made PRB M3 antivehicle mines are believed to have been used in the Wagadou forest, but it is unclear who laid them. UNICEF recorded two incidents in the Wagadou forest in 2011 involving an antivehicle mine and a booby-trap device. In September 2012, a Mauritanian mine action official informed the ICBL that no antipersonnel mines were discovered during clearance operations at Wagadou forest. ICBL interview with Alioune ould Mohamed El Hacen, Coordinator, National Humanitarian Demining Programme for Development of Mauritania, Oslo, September 2012.
[9] “Residents in Gao, Northern Mali Claim Islamists Fighters are Planting Landmines Around the Town,” Africa Press Agency, 4 July 2012, http://www.netnewspublisher.com/residents-in-gao-northern-mali-claim-islamists-fighters-are-planting-landmines-around-the-town/. ‘“Mines planted’ around Mali town,” BBC published online by MyJoy.com, 4 August 2012, http://world.myjoyonline.com/pages/africa/201207/89489.php.
[10] Handicap International meeting with Moussa Ag Assarid, MNLA- Member of the Transitory Council of Azawad, in charge of information and communication/President of the European Cell, Paris, 17 July 2012.
[11] Given the life-threatening security situation in Gao, the Monitor is withholding the identities of its sources there.
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions
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Convention on Cluster Munitions status |
State Party |
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Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings |
Attended Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 and regional conference in Accra, Ghana in May 2012 |
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Key developments |
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Policy
The Republic of Mali signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 30 June 2010. The convention entered into force for Mali on 1 December 2010.
In May 2012, a government official informed a regional conference on cluster munitions that Mali has begun to incorporate the ban convention into domestic law.[1] Previously, in June 2011, Mali said that it had started the process of integrating the convention into national law.[2]
As of 1 June 2012, Mali had yet to submit its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency measures report, originally due by 30 May 2011.
Mali participated actively in the Oslo Process that created the convention and advocated for a total ban on cluster munitions without exception and with immediate effect.[3] Mali continued to demonstrate strong interest in the convention in 2011 and the first half of 2012. At the Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011 Mali reaffirmed its commitment to promote universalization of the convention and called for the use of cluster munitions to be made a war crime and a crime against humanity.[4]
Mali attended the Accra Regional Conference on the Universalisation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Ghana in May 2012, where it made a statement and endorsed the Accra Universalization Action Plan.
Mali did not attend the intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2012.
Mali has not made known its views on certain important issues regarding the interpretation and implementation of the convention, such as the prohibition on foreign stockpiling or transit of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in cluster munition production, or the retention of cluster munitions for research or training purposes. On the issue of the prohibition on assistance with acts prohibited under the convention during joint military operations with states not party (interoperability), during the negotiations Mali argued against the inclusion of provisions on interoperability, cautioning that they must not undermine the very purpose of the convention.[5]
Mali is a party to the Mine Ban Treaty.
Convention on Conventional Weapons
Mali is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and it actively engaged in the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in November 2011, expressing strong concern at the draft protocol on cluster munitions under negotiation.[6]
During the conference, Mali criticized the “weak” draft CCW protocol as “a step backwards” and encouraged all states to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions as quickly as possible.[7] Mali was one of 50 countries that endorsed a joint statement on the final day of the Review Conference stating that there was no consensus for adopting a proposed CCW protocol that would have permitted continued use of cluster munitions.[8]
The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In November 2010, a government representative said, “We have no cluster munitions in Mali.”[9] Mali is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.[10]
[1] Statement of Mali, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalisation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012. Notes by AOAV.
[2] Statement of Mali, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meeting, Session on Victim Assistance, Geneva, 28 June 2011. Notes by the CMC.
[3] For details on Mali’s cluster munition policy and practice through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 115–116.
[4] Statement of Mali, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011, http://www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_mali.pdf.
[5] Statement of Mali, Committee of the Whole on Article 1, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, 27 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.
[6] Mali criticized the draft protocol text for failing to take into account humanitarian concerns and said that while the document took into account the views of the major military producers and users of cluster munitions, the weapons were used elsewhere. “We are the victims of the effects of these weapons in Africa,” Mali said, and called for the views of victim countries to be taken into account in the protocol text. Statement of Mali, CCW Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 17 November 2011. Notes by AOAV.
[7] Statement of Mali, CCW Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 15 November 2011. Notes by AOAV.
[8] Joint Statement read by Costa Rica, on behalf of Afghanistan, Angola, Austria, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Chile, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Iceland, Lao PDR, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Senegal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe. CCW Fourth Review Conference, Geneva, 25 November 2011. List confirmed in email from Bantan Nugroho, Head of the CCW Implementation Support Unit, UN Department for Disarmament Affairs, 1 June 2012.
[9] Statement of Mali, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[10] Email from Amadou Maiga, West African Journalists for Security and Development Network, 19 July 2010.
Mine Action
Contamination and Impact
Mines
Mali has a problem with antivehicle mines in the north of the country.[1] The precise extent of the threat is not known, although in September 2009 Mali reported 80 mined areas in the regions of Tombouctou and Kidal, particularly along the roads between Tinza and Abubaza.[2] Mali repeated this information in September 2010, suggesting limited progress in demining.[3] In 2008, Mali had suggested, implausibly, that the extent of contamination was approximately 2,000km2.[4]
There have been unconfirmed reports suggesting possible use of antipersonnel mines by Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in an area towards the border between Mali and Mauritania.[5] On 28 June 2011, three civilians were said to have been killed in a mine explosion in western Mali where Mauritanian and Malian troops were conducting joint operations against AQIM.[6] Subsequent investigations indicate that antivehicle mines may have been used, causing at least one civilian casualty; however, the Monitor is not aware of any evidence that antipersonnel mines were used.[7] Mali has not submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report since 2005, in which it declared that there were no mined areas containing antipersonnel mines on its territory.[8]
Cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war
It is not known to what extent Mali is contaminated with explosive remnants of war (ERW). It has not reported publicly on its destruction of ERW during demining operations, although its initial report in accordance with Article 10 of Protocol V of the Convention on Conventional Weapons was due on 22 April 2010. There has been no evidence of any cluster munition remnants in Mali.
Mine Action Program
Key institutions and operators
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Body |
Situation on 1 January 2012 |
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National Mine Action Authority |
CNITMA |
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Mine action center |
None |
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International demining operators |
None |
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National demining operators |
Malian Armed Forces |
The National Commission for the Total Ban of Antipersonnel Mines (Commission Nationale pour l’Interdiction Totale des Mines Antipersonnel, CNITMA), which was created in June 2002, is nominally the national mine action authority in Mali.[9] It is not known if it has been functioning.
Mali has previously noted a number of obstacles to clearance, including the lack of experience of its demining personnel; difficult climatic conditions in the affected areas (heat and movement of sand); the lack of mine maps; and the insufficiency of resources (personnel and equipment).[10]
Land Release
Demining in Mali has been carried out by the army’s two engineering teams using manual clearance methods and their own standing operating procedures. It has not reported in any detail on clearance in recent years.
Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty
Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Mali was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2009. Mali has never declared a problem with antipersonnel mines and did not request an extension to its Article 5 deadline.
[1] Email from Seidina Dicko, Deputy Director, Army Engineer Corps, 30 March 2009; also see, for example, Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), “Mali: Synthèse d’informations de l’action contre les mines et les restes explosifs de guerre (dont sous-munitions)” (“Mali: Overview of information on mine action and ERW including submunitions”), Second African Francophone Seminar on Mine and ERW Action, Dakar, Senegal, 2–4 November 2009.
[2] GICHD, “Mali: Overview of information on mine action and ERW including submunitions,” Second African Francophone Seminar on Mine and ERW Action, Dakar, Senegal, 2–4 November 2009.
[3] GICHD, “Mali: Overview of information on mine action and ERW including submunitions,” Third African Francophone Seminar on Mine and ERW Action, Nouakchott, Mauritania, 27–30 September 2010.
[4] GICHD, “Synthèse d’informations: Mali” (“Information Overview: Mali”), Seminar of African Francophone Actors of Mine and ERW Action, Benin, 20–22 October 2008, www.gichd.org.
[5] See, for example, “AQIM accused of laying mines in Mali-Mauritania border,” 24 June 2011, Ennahar Online, www.ennaharonline.com; and Jemal Oumar, “Al-Qaeda lays landmines in Wagadou Forest,” Magharebia, 13 October 2011, www.magharebia.com.
[6] “Three killed in Mali mine explosion,” Radio Netherlands Worldwide Africa, www.rnw.nl.
[7] “Avec une patrouille de l'armée malienne” (“On patrol with the Mali army”), RFI, 18 July 2011.
[8] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for the period 1 May 2004 to 1 May 2005), Form C.
[9] Presentation of Mali, Seminar of African Francophone Actors of Mine and ERW Action, Benin, 20–22 October 2008, www.bibliomines.org.
[10] Ibid.
Casualties and Victim Assistance
Casualties
Five new mine casualties were identified in Mali in 2011. In June, two young men were killed in the Wagadou forest when their car hit an antivehicle mine.[1] In September, in the same area, one Mauritanian man was killed and two Malian men injured by a victim-activated improvised explosive device.[2] Previous to that, in 2009, six explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties were identified in two incidents.[3]
From March to June 2012, UNICEF recorded a sharp increase in incidents in Mali: 27 incidents involving ERW resulted in 42 casualties, including 21 children.[4] A majority of these incidents occurred in the region of Gao, followed by Kidal, Timbuktu and Douentza. These incidents are caused by new contamination resulting from the recent fighting between government forces and Tuareg rebels, which started in January 2012.
The Monitor identified a total of 33 mine/ERW casualties in Mali from 1999 to 2011, all of which occurred after 2006, including 24 people killed and nine injured.[5]
[1] “Forêt de Wagadou: Encore un mort et des blessés” (“Wagadou Forest: one more fatality and some injured”), Maliweb.net, 1 October 2011, http://www.maliweb.net/news/insecurite/2011/10/01/article,29483.html, accessed on 22 August 2012.
[2] “Mali: Al-Qaeda Lays Landmines In Wagadou Forest,” Eurasia Review, 14 October 2011, http://www.eurasiareview.com/14102011-mali-al-qaeda-lays-landmines-in-wagadou-forest/, accessed on 22 August 2012; and email from Teresa Tavares, Child Protection-Mine Risk Education Specialist, UNICEF Mali, 28 August 2012.
[3] “Attaque à la grenade contre l’élite touarègue de Gao: 2 morts et 2 blessés graves” (“Grenade attack against Touareg elite in Gao: 2 killed and 2 seriously injured”), Malijet, 5 January 2009, www.malijet.com; “Escalade de violence sur fond de tension ethnique à Gao: Les grenades continuent de pétiller dans les rues” (“Escalation of violence in the background of ethnic tension in Gao: grenades continue to explode on the streets”), Maliweb, 8 January 2009; “Situation dans la région de Gao: Un 4x4 de la SNV enlevé à Gao” (“Situation in Gao Region: an SNV 4x4 stolen in Gao”), L’Indépendent, 8 January 2009, www.malijet.com; “Dans la foulée de la terreur des grenades…: Arrestations massives de marcheurs contre l’insécurité à Gao” (“In the wake of the grenade terror…: Massive arrest of demonstrators against security in Gao”), Malijet, 12 January 2009, www.malijet.com; and email from Amadou Maiga, President, Réseau des Journalistes pour la Sécurité en Afrique de l'Ouest, 7 March 2009.
[4] Email from Teresa Tavares, UNICEF Mali, 28 August 2012.
[5] Casualties were reported in 2007 (14), 2008 (8), 2009 (6) and 2011 (5). See previous Landmine Monitor reports on Mali, www.the-monitor.org.