Contamination and Impact

Mines and explosive remnants of war

The Republic of Rwanda had a small residual problem with mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), the legacy of the 1990–1994 war against the government that committed the 1994 genocide, from the retreat of the army and Interahamwe militias to neighboring countries, and their subsequent attacks launched from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1996–1998 in the northwest of the country.[1]

At the Second Review Conference to the Mine Ban Treaty in November–December 2009, Rwanda declared it had fulfilled the clearance requirements of Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty. It stated that mine clearance had resulted in expanded commercial activity through safe access along hundreds of kilometers of roads and due to former tea plantations and farmland being again available for cultivation.[2]

The conflict in Rwanda resulted in a residual amount of ERW that may take years to clear,[3] as well as large amounts of small arms and ammunition. In 2009, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) destroyed more than 100 different types of small arms and over 70 tons of surplus munitions.[4] 

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The National Demining Office (NDO), set up in 1995, has managed and implemented demining operations under the Ministry of Defense.[5] Mines Awareness Trust (MAT) and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) supported demining in 2009 but have since left the country.

Land Release

In 2009, Rwanda completed its mine clearance operations with support from MAT (for quality management) and NPA (which provided a MineWolf machine to assist with the clearance effort). Since operations began in 2002, Rwanda cleared 52 mined and battle areas covering a total of 1,946,754m² and found and destroyed 660 antipersonnel mines, 29 antivehicle mines, and 2,034 pieces of unexploded ordnance.[6] 

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, Rwanda was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 December 2010.

At the Second Review Conference in November–December 2009, Rwanda declared it had fulfilled its Article 5 obligations and pledged to submit a full report to the States Parties. Rwanda said they would also inform States Parties if new mined areas were identified.

Quality management

In May 2008, MAT deployed three mine detection dog teams to Rwanda for quality management.[7] In October 2009, MAT completed quality control of all cleared mined areas, with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining verifying the work.[8]