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Somalia
Mine Ban Policy
Mine ban policy overview
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Mine Ban Treaty status |
Not a State Party |
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Pro-mine ban UNGA voting record |
Voted in favor of Resolution 65/48 in December 2010 |
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Participation in Mine Ban Treaty meetings |
Did not attend the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2010 or the intersessional standing committee meetings in June 2011 |
Background
The Transitional Federal Government (TFG) of the Somali Republic was created under a 2004 charter and occupies Somalia’s seat at the UN.[1] It has subsequently been engaged in various levels of armed conflict. Since early 2007, al-Shabaab (the Youth) and other armed groups have carried out attacks against TFG forces and the African Union peacekeeping mission to Somalia (AMISOM) and engaged in intense fighting in Mogadishu in 2010 and 2011. In September 2011, a car bomb exploded in the UN compound in Mogadishu killing one and damaging the UN Mine Action Service office.
Policy
Somalia has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, but since 2004, government officials have expressed support for the treaty on several occasions.[2] Most recently, in a March 2010 interview, a representative of the President’s office confirmed the government’s intent to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]
Somalia did not attend the Tenth Meeting of States Parties in November 2010 or participate in intersessional meetings in June 2011.
Somalia voted in favor of UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution 65/48 on antipersonnel mines on 8 December 2010. It voted in favor of a similar annual resolution in 2007 and 2009, but was absent from the 2008 vote.
Somalia is a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Somalia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Several Somali factions previously renounced use of antipersonnel mines by signing the Deed of Commitment administered by Geneva Call.[4] Most of the signatories that are still active are allied to the TFG.[5]
Production and stockpiling
Somalia has never been known to manufacture antipersonnel mines, but mines have been widely available. There is no information about possible stockpiles of antipersonnel mines held by government forces. Most factions involved in armed conflict in Somalia are believed to possess mines.[6] Demobilizing militias have previously turned in mines.[7]
Some of the armed groups in Somalia that signed the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment have pledged to undertake stockpile destruction and provide information on their stockpiles. In 2009, Mohamed Omar Habeeb “Dheere” of the Jowhar Administration informed Geneva Call that they only possessed antivehicle mines.[8] In 2009, the Somali National Front (SNF) told Geneva Call that its stockpiles had been moved to Dolow, Gedo region, and that it needed technical and financial support for their destruction.[9] In early 2010, the SNF informed Geneva Call that their stockpile had been looted by al-Shabaab militants.[10]
Two groups have surrendered mines for destruction. In 2009, United Somali Congress/Somali National Alliance (USC/SNA) chair Hussein Mohamed Farah Aideed informed Geneva Call that its stockpile mines were handed over to AMISOM in Mogadishu in early 2007 and destroyed.[11]
In 2008, Puntland Mine Action Center, with technical support from Mines Advisory Group (MAG), destroyed 48 stockpiled PMP-71 antipersonnel mines near Garowe on behalf of the Puntland authorities.[12] In 2009, police with technical support from MAG destroyed 78 P4 antipersonnel mines in Galkayo.[13] In February 2011, MAG destroyed another 382 mines from unknown sources for Puntland authorities.[14]
The Juba Valley Alliance and Rahanweyn Resistance Army previously stated to Geneva Call that they possessed antipersonnel mines, but have not revealed the types or numbers or any action taken to destroy them.[15]
Transfer
Between 2002 and 2006, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia published a number of reports containing allegations of the transfer of antipersonnel and other mines from a number of countries, including States Parties Eritrea and Ethiopia, to various Somali combatants.[16] More recent reports have not contained new allegations.
Mines have been sold at arms markets in Somalia.[17] In June 2009, Reuters reported the continued sale of mines and other weapons at markets in Mogadishu.[18]
Use
There has been use of antipersonnel mines by various factions throughout much of the ongoing conflict in Somalia, but in recent years the Monitor has not identified any confirmed reports of new use of antipersonnel mines by government forces or any of the non-state armed groups (NSAGs) operating in the country.
NSAGs, however, continue to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in large numbers and media often refer to command-detonated IEDs and bombs as “landmines.”[19] Victim-activated mines and other explosive devices are prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty, but command-detonated mines and devices are not and Monitor analysis of media reports indicates that most, if not all, of the explosive attacks attributed to mines involve command-detonated devices.
In September 2011, the TFG in Mogadishu seized mines or IEDs off a donkey at a checkpoint.[20]
[1] See ICBL-CMC, “Country Profile: Somaliland,” www.the-monitor.org.
[2] In November–December 2004, then-Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Gedi attended the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Nairobi as an observer, where he stated the TFG’s intention to outlaw antipersonnel mines. See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 869. The only other time the government has attended a Mine Ban Treaty meeting was the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2005, when the then-Deputy Prime Minister asserted the government’s resolve to accede to the treaty.
[3] Telephone interview with Abdulkarim Hassan Jama, Chief of Cabinet for the President’s Office, 16 March 2010.
[4] Between 2002 and 2005, Geneva Call received signatures from 17 factions. See Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 1,064. In August 2009, Geneva Call informed the Monitor that eight signatories were no longer active. Email from Nicolas Florquin, Program Officer, Geneva Call, 26 August 2009.
[5] Geneva Call, “Non-State Actor Mine Action and Compliance to the Deed of Commitment Banning Anti-Personnel Landmines, January 2008 – June 2010,” 24 June 2010, p. 4.
[6] The former TFG Deputy Prime Minister told the Monitor in 2005 that he believed militias in Mogadishu alone held at least 10,000 antipersonnel mines. Interview with Hussein Mohamed Aideed, Deputy Prime Minister, in Geneva, 15 June 2005.
[7] Photographs of the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration program available on the AMISOM website in July 2009 showed mines and improvised explosive devices. See AMISOM, “Pictures of some collected/surrendered Weapons and Ammunitions to AMISOM,” undated, www.africa-union.org.
[8] Email from Anne-Kathrin Glatz, Program Officer, Geneva Call, 27 July 2009.
[9] Ibid. Previously, in 2008, Geneva Call said that the SNF had reportedly completed an inventory of its stockpile and had approached UNDP in Baidoa to request technical assistance for stockpile destruction. Email from Pascal Bongard, Program Director, Geneva Call, 8 August 2008; and email from Katherine Kramer, Asia Programme Director, Geneva Call, 5 September 2008.
[10] Geneva Call, “Non-State Actor Mine Action and Compliance to the Deed of Commitment Banning Anti-Personnel Landmines, January 2008 – June 2010,” 24 June 2010, p. 4.
[11] Email from Anne-Kathrin Glatz, Geneva Call, 27 July 2009. The USC/SNA had previously stated it had 1,800 antipersonnel landmines in its stockpile. See Landmine Monitor Report 2007, p. 977.
[12] Geneva Call, “Somalia: Puntland authorities destroy anti-personnel mines,” Press release, 24 July 2008.
[13] MAG, “Somalia: Munitions stockpile clearance in Puntland,” 1 May 2009, www.maginternational.org.
[14] MAG, “Somalia: Largest haul of mines destroyed,” 17 February 2011, www.maginternational.org.
[15] Geneva Call, “Engaging Armed Non-State Actors in a Landmine Ban: The Geneva Call Progress Report (2000–2007),” November 2007, pp. 16–17. It is unclear if the stockpiled mines declared by the Juba Valley Alliance are antipersonnel or antivehicle. Email from Katherine Kramer, Geneva Call, 5 September 2008.
[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, pp. 1,004–1,005; Landmine Monitor Report 2007, pp. 978–979; Landmine Monitor Report 2006, pp. 1,065–1,066; Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 870–871; and Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1,112. In response to the claims by the UN Monitoring Group, the Presidents of the Seventh and Eighth Meetings of States Parties wrote to the chair of the group for clarification and further information, but did not receive responses.
[17] See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, pp. 1,003–1,005, for details, including sellers and markets identified by the UN Monitoring Group.
[18] One arms dealer claimed to sell mines (type unspecified, but likely antivehicle) for approximately US$100 apiece. “Arms Trade-Dealers revel in Somali war business,” Reuters (Mogadishu), 9 June 2009, af.reuters.com.
[19] According to a June 2011 UN Monitoring Group report, “Improvised explosive device technology in Somalia is relatively low-tech compared with other conflict arenas. The most common explosives used in attacks are TNT and RDX, which can be extracted from mortars and other high explosive artillery shells. More rudimentary improvised explosive devices include anti-tank mines and medium-to-high-caliber ammunition that can be altered for remote detonation. As for fragmentation improvised explosive devices, bomb makers lay 3-10 cm pieces of rebar, nuts and bolts, and ball bearings cast in resin on top of the explosive.” UN, Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea pursuant to Security Council resolution 1916 (2010), S/2011/433 18 July 2011, p. 45, para. 138. The UN Monitoring Group found that antivehicle mines were modified for remote detonation and deployed as IEDs in Somalia, sometimes with additional metal objects (bolts, metal filings) welded to the casing to enhance the fragmentation effect. UN, “Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1853 (2008),” S/2010/91, 10 March 2010, p. 50, para. 174. Also see, Abdulkadir Abdirahman, “Al-Shabaabs improvised explosive devices (IED),” demotix.com, 21 September 2011. Mogadishu-based photo-journalist images of various al-Shabaab-made IEDs, www.demotix.com
[20] “Somalia: More Landmines seized in Mogadishu security crackdown,” Mareeg Online, 21 September 2011, www.mareeg.com
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