Contamination and Impact

Mines

Algeria is contaminated with mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) from World War II, the conflict to end French colonial occupation, and the insurgency of the 1990s. The precise extent of residual contamination is not known, although in June 2011 Algeria reported that known mined areas totaled some 13.56km² in the east and west of the country.[1]

Algeria has estimated that a total of 3,064,180 mines laid by the French colonial army in the late 1950s along Algeria’s eastern border with Tunisia and the western border with Morocco remained to be cleared.[2] Total contamination was estimated at some 10.88 million mines.[3] In a first clearance phase between 1963 and 1988, the army cleared 1,482km of mined areas along a total length of 2,531km, destroying in the process more than 7.8 million mines.[4] In November 2010, Algeria reported that since November 2004 and through the end of October 2010, it had destroyed 508,554 mines at an average rate of some 7,200 per month.[5] Algeria subsequently reported that as of June 2011, 43 mined areas remained to be cleared in Algeria: 31 in the east totaling 6.2km², and 12 in the west totaling some 7.36km².[6] At the end of 2009, mined areas along an estimated 133.6km of the eastern border and 879km of the western border remained to be addressed.[7]

The north of the country has been contaminated by an unknown number of homemade mines and explosive items laid by insurgent groups and a reported 15,709 antipersonnel mines laid by the Algerian Army around installations, particularly high-tension power lines.[8] As of April 2010, a total of 4,813 mines still remained to be cleared from the total laid by the army in the north. But after previously reporting that it had “deferred” clearance from its plan to complete operations in 2007 as a result of the continuing threat from terrorist groups,[9] in its initial and revised extension requests of March and August 2011, respectively, Algeria reported that all of the mines laid by the army had now been cleared.[10] Clearance of the last of the 15 minefields and 15,709 antipersonnel mines laid was completed on 28 April 2011.[11]

Mines continue to be found outside known mined areas. In its revised Article 5 deadline extension request, Algeria reported that 67 “isolated” antipersonnel mines had been reported or found in 2010 and 184 in 2011 as of 15 July.[12] In 2010, Algeria noted that 86 “isolated” antipersonnel mines had been encountered and destroyed in 2009, 132 in 2008, and 227 in 2007.[13]

Two major surveys of contamination and impact have been conducted in recent years. In 2007, Handicap International (HI) undertook a study on risk education (RE) needs.[14] The study recommended that a mine/ERW RE initiative be launched, although it noted that the impact of contamination on the border regions was low.[15] In 2009, a survey of the socio-economic impact of mines/ERW was carried out by the National Research Center in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Centre National de Recherche en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle, CRASC), on behalf of the government and UNDP.[16] A press report in February 2010 suggested that the provinces of Naama, Souk-Ahras, and Tebessa were the most affected.[17]

In August 2011 Algeria noted that, in addition to the huge human suffering (see the Casualties and Victim Assistance section of the Algeria profile), mines have slowed the development of the contaminated regions, rendering broad swathes of agricultural and grazing land unusable; have overburdened the health system; have increased poverty as a result of disabilities caused by mine injuries; and have destroyed flora and fauna as a result of poaching using mines recovered from the minefields. Damage has also been inflicted on certain protected heritage sites, such as the El Kala park (which is included in the Ramsar Convention list[18]), the Tiout oasis, and the Moghrar oasis; this includes a particular threat to protected animals such as wild deer in El Tarf and Souk Ahras and wild geese in Nâama.[19]

Cluster munition remnants and other explosive remnants of war

It is not known to what extent Algeria is contaminated with ERW. It has not reported publicly on its destruction of ERW during demining operations. There is no evidence that Algeria is affected by cluster munition remnants.

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

The Interministerial Committee on the Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, set up in 2003 by presidential decree, was made responsible for implementing a joint mine action project with UNDP. In addition, a steering committee was established to oversee the project, chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The project, which was established at the end of 2006 with UNDP assistance, struggled to recover from the December 2007 bombing of the UN building in Algiers, which killed three UNDP mine action personnel, including the chief technical advisor. One of the outputs of the UNDP project was to be a strategic mine action plan, but this had not been drafted as of late July 2009.[20] Subsequently, UNDP support was nominally extended until the end of 2010.[21] In November 2010, Algeria reported that an Action Plan 2010–2012 had been adopted.[22] Algeria has funded all of its mine clearance operations from its own resources.

Recent program evaluations

Apparently, no evaluation of UNDP support to mine action in Algeria has been conducted.

Land Release

All demining in Algeria is carried out by the army using manual clearance methods and their own standing operating procedures. As of mid-2011, army deminers were working in the east in 10 communes in El Tarf, nine in Souk Ahras, three in Guelma, and nine in Tébessa; in the west, clearance operations were being undertaken in Tlemcen and Nâama.[23]

Mine clearance in 2011

Algeria has reported that in the second half of 2011 it cleared 39km² of mined areas, destroying in the process 37,882 antipersonnel mines.[24] A further 307 antipersonnel mines were destroyed in spot tasks in the course of 2011.[25]

As previously noted in its Article 7 report submitted in April 2009, Algeria was maintaining two mined areas in the Challe minefields, one in the east and one in the west of the country, as a “historical site.” The size of both areas in Tébessa and Bechar provinces is small, totaling 3,000m² and 2,000m², respectively, and Algeria had declared that the areas are “duly protected and marked” as a legacy of the War of National Liberation.[26] The mined area in Tébessa was demined in October 2011 with the clearance of 927 antipersonnel mines and the second area in Bechar was expected to be cleared during 2012.[27]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the five-year extension granted in 2011), Algeria is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 April 2017.

In May 2009, Algeria had stated it would make all efforts to meet its 2012 deadline, although it noted that the context was “complex.”[28] In March 2011, however, Algeria submitted a request for a five-year extension to its Article 5 deadline.[29]

In June 2011, at the intersessional Standing Committee meetings Algeria cited the main factors necessitating the request for an extension: the delay in initiating clearance operations (which were begun in November 2004), the choice of purely manual demining, and climatic conditions.[30] In August 2011, Algeria submitted a revised extension request, in which data on the problem and clearance to date was presented more clearly, although the extension period sought remained the same.[31] The request also noted the extent of contamination as a major factor in the need for an extension.[32]

Algeria has calculated that the three demining companies in the east can together release 168km of linear minefields per year, which means it would take six years from 2011 to complete the 887km of linear minefields remaining by the extended deadline of April 2017. It cautioned, however, that occasionally the deminers are called away for urgent mine clearance operations elsewhere in the country, which could impact on the ability to complete clearance in time.[33] It also notes that three mined areas in the northwest are particularly challenging to demine, one at Moghrar oasis, a second at Tiout, and the third close to the town of Ain Sefra along a length of 6km.[34]

The ICRC has expressed its concern that mined areas are not marked in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 2 of the Mine Ban Treaty. Algeria has said that this is “because marked mined areas, which cannot be monitored by the army, could become a place where terrorists or others would come to search for explosive materials. We [the ICRC] shared our concerns with Algeria and we understand that until an area is about to be cleared, there is no marking or warning which would keep the civilian population away from these minefields. Furthermore, in some instances, populated areas are nearby and accidents have happened. Algeria believes that if these areas were to be marked, risks would be too high that explosives could be stolen. It is indeed a difficult balancing exercise but we believe that the analyzing group should ask Algeria for further clarification on this issue.”[35] In August 2011, in its revised extension request, Algeria stated that: “In certain cases, the security situation has made it impossible to mark mined areas in a timely fashion. Algeria will mark these areas as soon as security conditions allow it.”[36]