Mine ban policy overview

Policy

Libya has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, but officials expressed support for the ban during 2011 and the first half of 2012.

In February 2012, the Mine Ban Treaty’s Special Envoy, Prince Mired Raad Al Hussein of Jordan, visited Libya as part of a delegation from Jordan and discussed Libya’s Mine Ban Treaty accession with the interim prime minister, who Mired described as “extremely forthcoming and interested” in the matter.[1]

In October 2011, two Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials informed the ICBL that there is support for joining the Mine Ban Treaty, but the matter must wait until the new government is established and for the legislative body to consider accession.[2] The officials made a commitment to review Libya’s voting record on the Mine Ban Treaty, considering that it has abstained from voting on every pro-ban resolution since 1998. On 2 December 2011, Libya abstained from the vote on Resolution 66/29 supporting universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.

Previously, on 28 April 2011, the National Transitional Council (NTC), then the opposition authority in Libya, issued a statement formally pledging that “no forces under the command and control of the [NTC] will use antipersonnel or anti-vehicle landmines.”[3] The NTC committed to “destroy all landmines in their possession” and to “cooperate in the provision of mine clearance, risk education, and victim assistance.” The communiqué also stated that “any future Libyan government should relinquish landmines and join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.”[4]

Prior to being removed from office in 2011, the government of Muammar Gaddafi showed interest in the Mine Ban Treaty, but made no effort to join it; Libyan officials often criticized the treaty and called for it to be revised.[5]

Libya did not attend the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011 or intersessional Standing Committee meetings held in Geneva in May 2012.

Libya is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, trade, and stockpiling

Prior to 2011, Libya consistently stated that it had never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, and that it no longer stockpiled the weapon.[6] Yet abundant evidence has emerged showing how, under Gaddafi’s leadership, Libya accumulated a stockpile of hundreds of thousands of antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, and used tens of thousands of mines during the 2011 conflict. Antipersonnel mines manufactured by Belgium and Brazil have been identified in Libya.[7]

As the Gaddafi government progressively lost control of the country in 2011, massive weapon and munitions depots containing mines were abandoned by government forces and left unsecured.[8] Local and international mine action organizations have worked with Libyan authorities and the UN since mid-2011 to collect and destroy abandoned ordnance, but it is unclear how many landmines were removed by anti-government rebels, civilians and others. Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other organizations have urged the Libyan government to emphasize to all militias and local authorities the importance of handing over their landmines for destruction.[9]

In mid-February 2012, the post-Gaddafi government in Libya began to destroy the stockpile with the destruction of nearly 20,000 landmines.[10]

Use

The first reports of pro-Gaddafi forces using mines emerged in late March 2011 in the east of the country, then in the Nafusa mountain range in the northwest, and finally around Tripoli and coastal towns in the west. In 2011, HRW confirmed the use of five types of mines in six separate locations and reported that three types of mines had been found abandoned at three other locations. In late 2011, Colin King (a British expert on explosive ordnance) provided information on two additional types of antivehicle mines found in storage in Benghazi: Yugoslav TMA-5 and the Czech PT Mi-Ba-III, both minimum-metal antivehicle mines. The Belgian NR413 antipersonnel mine has also been found in Libya.[11]

Mine Types identified in Libya during the 2011 conflict

The Brazilian T-AB-1 personnel mine is another frequently-used antipersonnel mine favored by pro-Gaddafi forces during the 2011 conflict. Its low metal content makes the mine particularly challenging for detection and clearance efforts.[12] In December 2011, Brazil condemned the new landmine use in 2011 and said it intends to make a financial contribution to Libya’s mine action program and provide technical cooperation.[13]

There were multiple instances of T-AB-1 antipersonnel mines laid together with Chinese Type-72 antivehicle mines.[14] One report stated that antivehicle mines were being buried under antipersonnel mines “to make them easier to trip and to ‘double the bang.’”[15]

Remotely delivered “parachute mines” were delivered by surface-fired 122mm Grad rockets into the port area of the city of Misrata by Gaddafi forces on 5 May 2011. The Chinese-produced Type-84 scatterable antivehicle mines had markings indicating a 2009 manufacture date.[16] In March 2012, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Libya reported that senior Gaddafi military officers interviewed by the commission had “confirmed that there were several attempts, some of them successful, to mine the Misrata port.”[17]

The commission also reported that the exhumation of a mass grave could not be completed until 30 landmines were removed from the site (located in the Al-Mela’b forest on the edge of Al Qalaa in western Libya, near Yafran in the Nafusa Mountains).[18]

Prior to the NTC’s no-use pledge, there was one recorded instance of antivehicle mine use by opposition rebel fighters. In April 2011, a BBC news report showed rebel fighters removing Belgian-produced PRB-M3 mines from their vehicles and then planting them on the side of the main road into Ajdabiya.[19]

Several Mine Ban Treaty States Parties condemned or expressed grave concern about the Libyan government’s use of antipersonnel mines in 2011.[20]

Prior to 2011, Libya last used antipersonnel mines during its 1980–1987 war with Chad. Libya is contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance from World War II, as well as from wars with Egypt (1977) and Chad (1980–1987). Minefields are said to exist in desert, port, and urban areas; however, no nationwide survey has ever been conducted. Some facilities are protected by minefields, such as an ammunition storage area outside of Ajdabiya that HRW confirms is partially surrounded by a minefield marked solely by a deteriorating fence.