Congo, Republic of
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 October 2012.[1] In meetings in November and December 2011, a Congolese official informed the Monitor that the draft national law, with amendments by the ICRC, had been sent to the government secretariat and would be discussed within the Ministerial Council. Following this, the legislation would need to be passed through the Commission of External Affairs and on to parliament for approval.[2]
The last year that Congo submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report was in 2009 for calendar year 2008. As of October 2012, Congo had not submitted a report covering calendar year 2011.
Congo attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in November–December 2011, where it presented a request for an extension of its Article 5 deadline for clearance of mine contaminated areas. Congo did not attend the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in May 2012.
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 a large group including 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] Meeting with Col. Lucien Nkoua, National Focal Point, CIMAP/CASM, Phnom Penh, 28 November and 1 December 2011.
[3] Statement by Col. Léonce Nkabi, Project Coordinator, Ministry of Defense, Mine Ban Treaty Fifth Meeting of States Parties, 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. Congo reported, in November 2007, destroying 4,718 stockpiled mines. Statement of Congo, Mine Ban Treaty, Dead Sea Eighth Meeting of States Parties, 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, Mine Ban Treaty Eighth Meeting of States Parties, Dead Sea, 18 November 2007.
[8] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 188.