LM Report 2001

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WESTERN SAHARA

Key developments since May 2000: Polisario and Morocco traded accusations of new mine use. A mine awareness education program conducted by Norwegian People’s Aid ended in May 2000.

Mine Ban Policy

The sovereignty of the Western Sahara remains the subject of a dispute between the government of Morocco and the Polisario Front (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el Hamra and Rio de Oro). The Polisario’s Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic is not universally recognized and has no official representation in the UN, and is therefore currently unable to sign the Mine Ban Treaty. Polisario representatives continue to state that the Saharawi government would join the treaty, if eligible to do so, but at the same time, they speak of a possible need for the weapon. Polisario’s Coordinator to the UN Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), Emhamed Khadad, told Landmine Monitor, “Yes, if we were eligible to sign we will do it. But we have to recall that the cause of the huge number of mines in the territory is Morocco.”^[1]

Production, Transfer and Stockpiling

Polisario is not known to produce or export mines. It has imported mines from Algeria and perhaps other nations and has also acquired mines by lifting them from the Moroccan defensive walls. Polisario admits to holding stocks of antipersonnel mines, but has not provided information on the numbers and types of mines.^[2] Neither Morocco nor the Polisario are required to declare mine stockpiles to MINURSO.^[3] MINURSO maintains a stock of 40 antipersonnel and 13 antitank mines for mine awareness and Explosive Ordnance Disposal training purposes only.^[4]

Use

Both Polisario and Morocco used mines extensively in the past. Polisario and Moroccan forces fought intermittently from 1975 to 1991, when a ceasefire went into effect and the UN peacekeeping force, MINURSO, was deployed to the region.

Landmine Monitor could not confirm any new mine use in Western Sahara, but Polisario and Morocco have accused each other of recent deployment of mines.^[5] The accusations came as tensions ran high in late 2000 and early 2001. On 22 December 2000, following what it claims were provocations from Morocco,^[6] Polisario told the UN that the passage of the Paris-Dakar rally through the Territory of Western Sahara would constitute a violation of the ceasefire; Polisario stated that it would no longer consider itself bound by the ceasefire and would resume its military activities, in self-defense, on the day the rally entered the Territory.^[7] According to an April 2001 report by the UN Secretary-General, “tensions remained high and the integrity of the ceasefire was called into question,” but “there have since been positive moves towards restoration of the status quo.”^[8]

On 6 December 2000, the President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Polisario’s Secretary-General Mohamed Abdelaziz, made a formal complaint to the UN Secretary General that Morocco had violated the ceasefire by laying mines. In his letter he claimed that “in the last few weeks, all Moroccan defensive units deployed in Western Sahara have laid a significant number of anti-personnel mines around their positions.”^[9] On 5 December 2000 the commander of Polisario’s Second Region, Brahim Ahmed Sahmud, reported that Moroccan forces had laid mines in the area of Haonza, Farsia, along the defensive wall.^[10]

A MINURSO investigation into the allegation was inconclusive and suggested that the Polisario sighting could have been of Moroccan construction and maintenance work on the berm, in the Baggary sub-sector.^[11] This work was authorized by MINURSO to commence on 8 December 2000, which is three days after Polisario’s alleged sighting. The construction and maintenance work was not monitored by MINURSO, which has very limited resources to monitor an area of some 266,000 square kilometers.

A Moroccan representative referred Landmine Monitor to an article published in a British newspaper in February 2001, which they claimed provided “evidence of the new dissemination of mines” by Polisario because, the officials said, the article reported that “new mines have been put here and there in order to halt any enemy counter attack.”^[12] However, the original article states that “fresh mines would be laid against enemy counter attacks”(emphasis added). The journalist, Rory Carroll, told Landmine Monitor that Morocco had misquoted his article; he stated that he saw no mines being laid.^[13]

Landmine Problem

After years of conflict, mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) litter Western Sahara.^[14] The 1991 ceasefire resulted in a territory that is divided between the Polisario and Morocco by defensive walls, known as berms (earthen walls of about three meters in height). Both sides have fortified these walls with mines. The last berm to be built is estimated to be between 2,000 and 2,500 kilometers in length and it extends north into Morocco following the Algerian border. Morocco controls territory west of the berm (approximately 80% of the territory of Western Sahara), while Polisario control territory east of the berm. As much as 1,600 to 2,000 kilometers of this berm is thought to be mined with minefields 100 to 500 meter deep, consisting of antipersonnel and antitank mines.^[15]

The berm, the minefields and other restrictions make movement within and between the Moroccan and Polisario controlled areas very difficult and dangerous, especially for civilians. In its response to Landmine Monitor, Polisario stated, “The use of mines endangers the lives of civilians, and affects very much the economy of many families. Many of their animals were killed or were lost in the mined areas. It also prevents access to otherwise scarce wells and water sources.”^[16]

Survey and Assessment

No landmine survey has been conducted in Western Sahara. In 1999 Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) and Medico International submitted a joint proposal to donors for implementation of a Landmine Impact Survey. Norway and Germany indicated interest but stated they could consider providing funding only when the political situation between Morocco and Polisario is resolved. Western Sahara is on the Survey Action Center’s list of worst landmine affected countries requiring an impact survey, but the SAC is considering removing it from the list due to the continued political problems.^[17]

The UN recognizes the need for an impact survey to be conducted, but is not in a position to support such an activity until both Morocco and Polisario are supportive.^[18] Polisario does not have the necessary equipment or technology to conduct an impact survey, but has indicated it would welcome such outside assistance.^[19] Morocco made no specific comments on its ability or capacity to conduct an impact survey or its willingness to accept outside assistance.

Mine Clearance

MINURSO currently does not have personnel resources, equipment or funding to conduct mine clearance. Its Force Commander, General Claude Buze, told Landmine Monitor that MINURSO would be interested in support from outside mine action agencies when and if the political situation would allow it.^[20]

In March and April 1999, Polisario and Morocco signed bilateral military agreements (No. 2 & 3) with MINURSO, committing both parties to cooperate with MINURSO in the exchange of mine-related information, marking of mined areas, and clearance and destruction of landmines and UXO. In accordance with the agreements, disposal and destruction of mines and UXO is always carried out in the presence of MINURSO observers.

According to a series of United Nations reports:

• From 12 July 2000 – 25 October 2000, the Royal Moroccan Army and the Polisario military forces conducted six clearance operations and marked 28 sites of mines and UXO;^[21]
• As of 31 December 2000, Polisario and Morocco had destroyed 328 mines and marked 803 sites;^[22]
• In the reporting period leading up to February 2001, the Royal Moroccan Army and the Polisario military forces conducted a total of 13 clearance operations and marked 28 sites of mines and UXO;^[23]
• From 7 - 22 May 2001, MINURSO military observers confirmed the destruction, by the Royal Moroccan Army, of about 3,000 antitank mines, 37,000 antipersonnel mines and 27,000 detonators and munitions in the Ankesh area, 20 kilometers from Smara;^[24]

Clearance and marking activities were suspended for an unknown period of time beginning in late December due to the rising tensions between Polisario and Morocco. It is not clear if Polisario have resumed work.

Polisario states, “We have done a great effort in clearing all the part of the territory we are controlling,” but acknowledges that it does not have the necessary equipment and technology to carry out humanitarian mine clearance. Polisario has indicated a willingness to accept any mine action assistance.^[25]

Mine Awareness

No large-scale mine awareness has been provided in Western Sahara since Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) conducted mine awareness in the five main Saharawi refugee camps near Tindouf (Algeria) from March 1998 to May 2000, with funding provided by Norway.^[26] Polisario still maintains the vehicles and equipment donated by NPA, but lacks funding to continue the project alone and states that it welcomes any assistance to reestablish the mine awareness project or initiate any mine action initiatives.^[27] Currently no NGOs are known to have any plans to establish mine awareness programs in Western Sahara.

The Saharawi Campaign Against Landmines, established in early 2000, reportedly provides limited mine awareness in the Saharawi refugee camps and schools.^[28] A Moroccan government official told Landmine Monitor that the population of the affected areas already knows about the dangers of landmines.^[29] MINURSO currently provides mine awareness training for UN personnel only.^[30] According to the UN Peace Plan, UNHCR will be responsible for providing mine awareness prior to the planned repatriation of Saharawi refugees.

A representatives of the International Youth and Student Movement for the UN accused Morocco of denying access to the Moroccan controlled territories, thus making any mine awareness campaign impossible.^[31]

Landmine Casualties

From May 2000 to January 2001, MINURSO recorded six mine casualty incidents.^[32] The incidents took place in both the Moroccan and Polisario controlled areas of Western Sahara. Two incidents involved military victims and four involved civilians. Three incidents were the result of antivehicle mines; the other three are unknown. One of the recorded incidents took place on 8 January 2001, when a Portuguese support car driver participating in the Paris-Dakar car rally lost his left foot after driving over an antivehicle mine in Mauritania, near the border with Western Sahara.^[33]

MINURSO has recorded 39 mine incidents since 1992, when it started keeping a record of mine and UXO incidents.^[34] The incidents include 27 injuries and seven deaths. A total of 30 of the 39 recorded incidents took place in Moroccan controlled territory, of which 17 involved civilians, eight involved military, two involved UN personnel, two were unknown and one involved a camel. Four of the incidents were the result of antipersonnel mines, 17 were antivehicle mines, 16 were uncertain, and two were unexploded cluster bombs.

MINURSO’s mine casualty records are hard copy paper files containing substantial information but difficult to access. There is no full time mine action staff person responsible for maintaining and updating the landmine/UXO accident and incident records. This responsibility currently lies with the MINURSO Force Training Officer, who is also the Mine Information Officer. The post rotates at four-month intervals.

Polisario told Landmine Monitor, “Many accidents have been registered in terms of loss of human lives, as well as animals in the area under Polisario control.” It provided several examples of recent landmine incidents, which resulted in a total of five deaths and three serious injuries. In one incident, on 5 March 2000, a family traveling by jeep drove over a mine in the Oumediggin region in southern Western Sahara; the father, mother, and one of their sons were killed and another son lost one of his arms.^[35] Polisario does not have system in place for collection of statistics on mine casualties, including maintenance of a list of mine casualties.

Morocco reports that between March 2000 and March 2001, there were 51 casualties caused by antivehicle mines and UXO in the Western Sahara. Of these, seven were killed, nineteen were seriously injured and twenty-five received minor injuries.^[36] A human rights organization, Forum for Truth and Justice (FVJ-section Sahara), has gathered information on landmine victims in the Moroccan controlled parts of Western Sahara. In a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva on 19 April 2001, it called on Morocco to “protect the Saharawi civilians against antipersonnel landmines and compensate the victims.”^[37]

These reported landmine incidents may not reflect the true extent of the mine problem in Western Sahara because of the lack of systematized and standardized record-keeping. Should the referendum for the self-determination of Western Sahara go ahead, UNHCR will be responsible for repatriation of approximately 120,000 refugees, and the planned repatriation route would go through known mined areas.^[38] Repatriation could be marked by a dramatic increase in landmine incidents, as was seen in Afghanistan and Mozambique, with tragic results.

Survivor Assistance

NPA conducted a mine victim assessment mission in the Saharawi refugee camps in April 2000, which identified 320 landmine amputees and another 300 disabled due to polio, and other reasons.^[39] A number of landmine survivors live in Western Sahara, on both sides of the berm, but no figures were available.

Mine victim access to emergency services, especially in remote areas, is limited to military medical facilities. The Minister for Cooperation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Salek Baba Hasena, told Landmine Monitor that three new hospitals are being built in Polisario controlled parts of Western Sahara (Tifariti, Mehriz and Agüenit), in preparation for the repatriation.^[40] If the hospitals are able to receive and treat landmine victims, it would considerably shorten the time needed for providing adequate medical treatment. Currently landmine victims in the south of Western Sahara can face a two to three day drive to the national hospital in Rabouni, near Tindouf, Algeria. Even this hospital has very limited facilities and few qualified professional surgeons available. No NGO is actively working with landmine survivor assistance in the refugee camps or in Western Sahara.

NPA noted that orthopaedic services available to disabled people living in the Saharawi refugee camps are not available to all disabled and of poor quality.^[41] It prepared a proposal to establish a prosthesis workshop project in the camps and secured funding but due to Algerian restrictions on visas to enter the region, the project was cancelled in early 2001.

^[1] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario Coordinator to the UN Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), 12 March 2001; Interview with Emhamed Khadad, Oslo, 4 April 2001.
^[2] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001.
^[3] See UN cease-fire military agreement No.1.
^[4] Interview with Major M. Morrow, Mine Information Officer, MINURSO, Laayoune (Western Sahara), 7 January 2001.
^[5] Based on a review by Landmine Monitor researchers of records kept at MINURSO Headquarters, Laayoune, January 2001.
^[6] Morocco gave permission for the Paris-Dakar rally to go through disputed areas of Western Sahara and through the berm into Mauritania, but neither Morocco nor the French organizers of the rally consulted or informed Polisario of the plans.
^[7] UN Security Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara,” S/2001/148, 20 February 2001, p. 1. On 3 January 2001, Polisario military units deployed outside their agreed confinement locations in breach of the ceasefire agreement No. 1.
^[8] UN Security Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara,” S/2001/398, 24 April 2001.
^[9] The letter from the President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic to the UN Secretary General, sent 6 December 2000, was reported in “Saharan president sends letter to UN chief on Moroccan ‘violation’ of cease-fire,” BBC Monitoring, 7 December 2000.
^[10] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001; Interview with Emhamed Khadad, Oslo, 4 April 2001.
^[11] MINURSO Memorandum “POLISARIO 1MR Allegation of Mine Laying by RMA,” 20 December 2000.
^[12] Morocco Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Response to Landmine Monitor Questionnaire, 9 March 2001; Rory Carroll, The Guardian, 7 February 2001.
^[13] Telephone interview with Guardian journalist Rory Carroll, 27 April 2001.
^[14] For a more detailed description of the landmine problem, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 921-924.
^[15] Interview with Major M. Morrow, Mine Information Officer, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January 2001.
^[16] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001.
^[17] Interview with Bob Eaton, Survey Action Center, Washington, DC, March 2001.
^[18] Interview with General Claude Buze, Force Commander, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January 2001.
^[19] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001.
^[20] Interview with General Claude Buze, Force Commander, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January 2001.
^[21] UN Security Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara,” S/2000/1029, 25 October 2000.
^[22] Information provided by MINURSO. It is unclear if this covers a period since the beginning of MINURSO’s deployment in September 1991 or since the signing of the military agreements in March and April 1999. MINURSO has kept detailed files on marking and destruction only since 1 February 2000.
^[23] UN Security Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara,” S/2002/148, 20 February 2001, p. 3. It is not clear what the reporting period is, and this data may overlap with the six operations/28 sites reported in October 2000.
^[24] UN Security Council, “Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara,” S/2002/613, 20 June 2001, p. 3. In June 2000, MINURSO told Landmine Monitor it has monitored the destruction of 39,000 mines recently. Email to Landmine Monitor from General Claude Buze, MINURSO Force Commander, 15 June 2001.
^[25] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001; Interview with Emhamed Khadad, Oslo, 4 April 2001.
^[26] At its peak, the NPA project consisted of five mine awareness teams, one theatre group and a staff of fifty Saharawi refugees. The project provided mine awareness education to over 90,000 Saharawi refugees.
^[27] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001; Interview with Emhamed Khadad, Oslo, 4 April 2001.
^[28] Ibid.
^[29] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Ambassador Benjelloun-Touimi, Morocco’s Permanent Representative to Geneva, 14 March 2001 (translated by Landmine Monitor).
^[30] Interview with MINURSO Mine Information Officer, Major M. Morrow, Laayoune, Western Sahara, 7 January 2001.
^[31] Statement by to the UN Commission on Human Rights by Fatimetou Mofdh, International Youth and Student Movement for the UN, 5 April 2001.
^[32] The incidents occurred in May, July, October, November, December 2000 and January 2001. “Landmine Accidents Jan 99 to Dec 00,” MINURSO document provided to Landmine Monitor on 8 January 2001.
^[33] “Dakar Driver loses Foot in Explosion,” Associated Press, Rabat, 8 January 2001.
^[34] The data available is not comprehensive but it is likely that these incident figures reflect the fact that the former areas of conflict are mostly located in Moroccan controlled territory. In addition, the population in the Polisario controlled areas is smaller. “Landmine Accidents Jan 99 to Dec 00,” MINURSO document provided to Landmine Monitor on 8 January 2001.
^[35] Statement provided to Landmine Monitor by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001; Interview with Emhamed Khadad, Oslo, 4 April 2001.
^[36] Morocco Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Response to Landmine Monitor Questionnaire, 9 March 2001.
^[37] Oral statement delivered on FVJ’s behalf by Severino Maurutto, UN Human Right Commission, Geneva, 19 April 2001.
^[38] UNHCR Road Reconnaissance Report, dated 5 July 1998.
^[39] Rune Nilsen, Norwegian People’s Aid, “Mine victims support assessment mission to Tindouf 15-26 April 2000.”
^[40] Interview with Salek Baba Hasena, Minister for Cooperation of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Borzée, Belgium, 26 November 2000.
^[41] Rune Nilsen, Norwegian People’s Aid, “Mine victims support assessment mission to Tindouf 15-26 April 2000.”

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