Contamination and Impact

Mine and explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination in the Republic of Uganda, located in the north, northeast, West Nile, and the Rwenzori subregions in western Uganda, was the result of armed conflict and civil strife, especially over the past two decades with regards to the Lord’s Resistance Army, a non-state armed group.[1]

Mines

Mined areas were identified in the border areas with South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Luwero Triangle in the center of the country, the West Nile region, and the Rwenzori Mountains.[2] In 2008–2010, Uganda confirmed 12 minefields in Agoro and Ngomoromo (in the Kitgum and Lamwo districts, respectively) in northern Uganda bordering South Sudan. During non-technical survey in 2011, an additional 34 mined areas were identified in the districts of Kasese, Bundibugyo, and Maracha (in western Uganda) and the Lamwo and Amuru districts (in the north of the country) for a total of 46 mined areas covering 1.6km2.[3] Uganda completed mine clearance operations in November 2012 and, at the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in December 2012, declared it had met its Article 5 Mine Ban Treaty obligations.[4]

Cluster munition remnants

All known cluster munition remnants are reported to have been cleared in Uganda.[5]

Other explosive remnants of war

Uganda has ERW and unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination. Uganda anticipated that explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) capacity is needed at least until the end of 2015 and planned to seek international funding to support the EOD teams.[6]

The remaining ERW problem in Uganda is said to exist in areas where internal conflicts were fought over the past 20 years, including the West Nile region in the north of the country and the Rwenzori subregion (the Kasese and Bundibugyo districts) in western Uganda near the border with DRC.[7]

In January 2012, two men were injured by a grenade while digging a pit latrine at a family health clinic next to the Uganda Red Cross office in Bundibugyo district in Kasese. The grenade was found three feet underground. According to the district police commander, the accident occurred in the same area where the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group, had constructed a base camp in the late 1990s.[8]

Since 2006, EOD teams have destroyed over 50,000 items of UXO and ERW.[9]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

Uganda’s mine action program has been nationally owned from its inception in 2006. The national authority is its National Mine Action Steering Committee (NMASC), located within the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala.[10] Mine action is integrated in the government of Uganda’s Peace, Recovery, and Development Plan, one of the aims of which is to facilitate the return and resettlement of internally displaced persons.[11]

The Office of the Prime Minister, through UMAC, is responsible for the management and coordination of mine action in the country, with the exception of victim assistance, which falls under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development and the Ministry of Health. UMAC, established in Kampala in 2006, is responsible for quality management of demining operations, risk education, and accreditation of mine action operators. A regional mine action office was established in Gulu in 2008.[12] The Uganda People’s Defense Force (UPDF) and the Uganda Police Force (UPF) provided all demining personnel to UMAC.

Danish Demining Group (DDG) provided technical assistance to UMAC from 2008 until November 2012, when Uganda completed clearance operations in all 46 known mined areas.[13]

Land Release

Mine clearance in 2012

Although Uganda took seven years to clear 46 mined areas, 70% of the work was accomplished over 11 months in 2012. Non-technical and technical surveys completed in late 2011 added 34 mined areas and 834,000m2 to be cleared, increasing the number of mined areas from 12 to 46. By 1 August 2012, Uganda’s Article 5 deadline, Uganda had cleared or discredited 40 of 46 minefields covering 1,666,160m2 and still had 103,655m2 in six mined areas in Agoro to clear.[14] Left with no other choice than to request an extension to the end of November, Uganda cited the additional mined areas identified in the surveys as the primary reason they were unable to finish on time and required an extension of the deadline. The four-fold increase in the workload so late in the program presented a major challenge for UMAC; however, DDG, which acts as the technical advisor to UMAC, cited UMAC’s low rate of clearance productivity until early 2012 (in addition to a demining accident involving a UPDF deminer in November 2011 that required re-clearance of two previously-cleared mined areas) as a major reason why Uganda was unable to complete clearance by August. Clearance operations were also slowed by delays in releasing personnel from the UPDF and from the UPF to attend manual demining training courses.[15]

With higher productivity of the demining teams, UMAC moved the two EOD teams to clear mines to ensure another request after November would not be needed. By the end of November, Uganda had completed clearing all 46 mined areas.[16]

Mine clearance in 2006–2012

Overall, Uganda released 46 mined areas covering 1.6km2 through technical and non-technical survey and clearance. During clearance operations 4,314 antipersonnel mines, 42 air bombs and 15 UXO were found and destroyed. EOD teams in separate operations found and destroyed 9,273 UXO and 20 antivehicle mines.[17]

Two teams from Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) South Sudan with two MineWolf machines seconded to DDG mechanically cleared approximately 70% of all contaminated area at a cost of US$400,000. Mechanical breakdowns delayed completion, even though the average daily output of the MineWolf machines exceeded the planned output by 1,000m2 per day.[18]

Mine clearance in 2006–2012[19]

Kasese district proved challenging to UMAC. Much time was wasted looking for UXO sites that had been identified in a non-technical survey in 2008 but did not exist.[20] Similarly, in Kasese district, operators found 19 of the 22 confirmed hazardous areas (CHA) did not contain either landmines or UXO and cleared only 8,571m2 containing five antipersonnel landmines.[21]

Final statistics by district on mine clearance 2006-2012[22]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, and in accordance with the three-year extension to its deadline granted by the Second Review Conference in 2009,[23] Uganda was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 August 2012.

Uganda became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty in 1999, but it was not until 2008, with UNDP support, that mine clearance and survey commenced (although little was accomplished). In the middle of August 2009, Uganda applied for a three-year extension of its deadline noting it had vastly underestimated the time needed to clear the known mined areas. The extension request was approved at the Second Review Conference, four months after Uganda’s Article 5 deadline had already expired.

From 2009, under the technical supervision of DDG, Uganda began to make progress in clearing mines while facing numerous challenges over the next three years. One challenge was inadequate survey information on the locations of mined areas, necessitating a new survey. Thick vegetation and difficult terrain in mined areas, especially in the Agoro Mountains, as well as lengthy and bureaucratic procurement procedures also delayed clearance operations. The lack of national mechanical capacity delayed operations until funding could be obtained to secure the equipment, which ultimately came from NPA’s mine action program in South Sudan. In May 2012, clearance was not finished; at the Intersessional Standing Committee Meeting on Mine Clearance, Uganda said it “remained committed” to meeting its 1 August 2012 deadline.[24] However, as described above, it missed the August deadline and did not complete its commitment until November 2012.[25] At the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in December, Uganda declared it had met its Article 5 Mine Ban Treaty obligations.[26]

At a weapons contamination conference sponsored by the ICRC and the African Union in Addis Ababa in March 2013, Uganda reflected on its experience clearing landmines and shared a number of lessons learned with other African mine-affected states.[27] They include:

·         National surveys are essential to determining the extent of mine contamination;

·         Assess the need for mechanical assets;

·         If engaged with partners, ensure roles are clearly understood through written agreements;

·         Community liaison and the handover of cleared land are critical to earning community confidence; and

·         A solid mine action structure that includes national management, training, and access to international technical assistance should be developed.

Explosive ordnance disposal

Since 2006, EOD teams have found almost 50,000 UXO and ERW. UMAC also reported that 97 antipersonnel mines and 20 antivehicle mines were found during EOD operations, indicating that not all landmines were found in defined minefields.[28] Uganda acknowledges that even though EOD teams have cleared thousands of UXO since 2006, UXO will continue to be found in the north, northeastern, northwestern and Rwenzori subregions of the country. UMAC plans to employ four EOD teams with 60 personnel from 2013 to 2015 to conduct EOD operations as needed.[29]

Quality management

National Mine Action Standards were passed and approved in December 2008.[30] A five-person quality assessment (QA) team within UMAC conducts internal quality control (QC) as well as QA.[31] DDG conducted external QA/QC.[32]