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Mali

Last Updated: 11 October 2012

Mine Ban Policy

Mine Ban Policy

The Republic of Mali signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 2 June 1998, becoming a State Party on 1 March 1999. National implementation measures were adopted in 2000, which include penal sanctions and fines.[1] Mali has not submitted an updated Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report since 2005.[2]

Mali attended the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011, but did not make any statements. Mali did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings of the treaty in Geneva in May 2012.  

Mali has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines. In 1998, prior to becoming a State Party, Mali destroyed its stockpile of 7,127 antipersonnel mines, together with 5,131 antivehicle mines.[3] Mali reported in 2003 that it retained 600 antipersonnel and 300 antivehicle mines for training purposes.[4] It has not since reported on the number of retained mines or on the use of mines retained.

Mali is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons and its Amended Protocol II on landmines.

Use

Mali stated in 2001 that it had never used antipersonnel mines and that there had been no reports of use by government forces or rebels during the Tuareg rebellion.[5] However, there have been a number of allegations related to the use of mines in recent years that remain unconfirmed.

In a 2009 United States (US) diplomatic cable made public by Wikileaks in September 2011, the defense attaché at the US embassy in Bamako reported that sources available to it claimed that Malian soldiers operating in the area of Tin-Adema, approximately 180 kilometers west-southwest of Tessalit, “laid anti-personnel landmines around their positions as their only protection against ambush.”[6] This claim was not reported by media and the Monitor has not received any additional information to substantiate it.

In 2011 and the first half of 2012, there were also two allegations of new mine use by a non-state armed groups (NSAGs), but the Monitor has not been able to verify the claims.

Media reports published in June and October 2011 claimed that forces allied with Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) had laid an unspecified type of mine in the Wagadou forest near Mali’s border with Mauritania. According to one of the reports, AQIM posted information to a regional news agency on 4 October 2011 confirming the mine laying.[7] Subsequent investigations indicate that antivehicle mines may have been used, causing at least one civilian casualty; however, the Monitor is not aware of any evidence that antipersonnel mines were used.[8]

In July 2012, the NSAG Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO) stated in a broadcast on local radio that they had laid antipersonnel mines near the city of Gao. Several media outlets repeated the claim.[9] A spokesperson for another opposition group called National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which at one point echoed the media reports, offered no information to substantiate the claims when contacted by Handicap International in July 2012.[10] Contradictory information provided to the Monitor by several sources in Mali indicates that this incident may be a hoax. One local source in Gao claimed that armed gangs were planting empty metal tomato paste cans in order to control movement in the town. Yet other sources suspect that NSAGs may have used command-activated devices.[11] The Monitor is unable to confirm the veracity of any of the claims or explanations it has received.

While it has acknowledged receipt of both verbal and written requests for information and expressions of concern from the ICBL, the government of Mali has not responded to numerous inquiries through its diplomatic mission in Geneva about these recent incidents.

 



[1] Two legal texts, an ordinance and a decree, prohibit the development, manufacturing, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, offer, import, export, transfer, and use of antipersonnel mines. Breach of the legislation is punishable with a maximum of life imprisonment and a fine of between CFA500,000 and CFA3 million (approximately US$1,150 to $6,900). Ordinance No. 049/P-RM on the Implementation of the Convention, adopted on 27 September 2000; and Decree No. 569/P-RM on the Application of the Ordinance, adopted on 15 November 2000. An inter-ministerial National Commission for a Total Ban on Landmines was established in June 2002 to take responsibility for the mine issue. See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 341.

[2] Mali submitted its initial Article 7 report, due 27 August 1999, on 17 May 2001, and additional reports on 31 July 2003, 15 September 2004, and 8 July 2005.

[3] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form B, 17 May 2001.

[4] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report, Form D, 31 July 2003. Mali initially reported in 2001 that it retained 2,000 antipersonnel and 1,000 antivehicle mines for training purposes. In 2003, it reported having consumed 1,400 antipersonnel mines and 700 antivehicle mines during training activities.

[5] Statement of the Ministry of Defense, Seminar on the Universalization and Implementation of the Ottawa Convention in Africa, Bamako, 16 February 2001.

[6] “Running on Fumes: Mali’s Soldiers Exposed in the Desert,” US Department of State cable 09BAMAKO415 dated 25 June 2009, released by Wikileaks on 1 September 2011, www.cablegatesearch.net/cable.php?id=09BAMAKO415&q=landmines.

[7] Jemal Oumar, “Al-Qaeda lays landmines in Wagadou Forest,” Magharebia, 13 October 2011, www.magharebia.com. The article also claims the AQIM, in “an October 4th statement posted on mauripress.info, said it planted the mines to prevent people from ‘approaching mujahideens’ centres’ in the area.” Jemal Oumar and Mohamed Yahya Ould Abdel Wedoud, “La Mauritanie frappe une base d’AQMI” (“Mauritania strikes AQIM base”), Magharebia, 27 June 2011. The article claims that Mauritanian forces, in an operation carried out jointly with Mali, encountered mines laid by AQIM in the forest and seized antipersonnel mines.

[8] “Avec une patrouille de l'armée malienne,” (« On patrol with the Mali military ») RFI, 18 July 2011, www.rfi.fr/afrique/20110718-base-malienne-aqmi-foret-wagadou-desertee. Belgian-made PRB M3 antivehicle mines are believed to have been used in the Wagadou forest, but it is unclear who laid them. UNICEF recorded two incidents in the Wagadou forest in 2011 involving an antivehicle mine and a booby-trap device. In September 2012, a Mauritanian mine action official informed the ICBL that no antipersonnel mines were discovered during clearance operations at Wagadou forest. ICBL interview with Alioune ould Mohamed El Hacen, Coordinator, National Humanitarian Demining Programme for Development of Mauritania, Oslo, September 2012.

[9] “Residents in Gao, Northern Mali Claim Islamists Fighters are Planting Landmines Around the Town,” Africa Press Agency, 4 July 2012, http://www.netnewspublisher.com/residents-in-gao-northern-mali-claim-islamists-fighters-are-planting-landmines-around-the-town/. ‘“Mines planted’ around Mali town,” BBC published online by MyJoy.com, 4 August 2012, http://world.myjoyonline.com/pages/africa/201207/89489.php.

[10] Handicap International meeting with Moussa Ag Assarid, MNLA- Member of the Transitory Council of Azawad, in charge of information and communication/President of the European Cell, Paris, 17 July 2012.

[11] Given the life-threatening security situation in Gao, the Monitor is withholding the identities of its sources there.