The Gambia signed the
Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997. The Gambia’s National Assembly passed
ratification legislation on 2 November
1999.[1] On 20 July 2000, an
official from the Ministry of Defense told Landmine Monitor, “The
President of the Republic of The Gambia has endorsed the Instrument of
Ratification.”[2] All that
remains is for the instrument of ratification to be officially deposited at the
United Nations.[3]
The Gambia did not attend the First Meeting of States Parties in Maputo in
May 1999, and it has not participated in any of the intersessional meetings of
the Mine Ban Treaty. The Gambia was absent from the December 1999 vote on UN
General Assembly Resolution 54/54B supporting the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not a
party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, and is not a member of the
Conference on Disarmament.
The Ministry of Defense informed Landmine Monitor that it does not
manufacture or “retain any stockpiles of landmines.” It further
stated, “There are no instances where our Armed Forces utilized
landmines.” With respect to trade in mines, the response was,
“There [is] no evidence of antipersonnel landmines being transferred from
The Gambia. However, this could be possible, but not to the knowledge of the
Gambian Government.”[4]
The Gambia’s security situation has almost certainly been occasionally
compromised by its proximity to Senegal’s southern province of Casamance,
where conflict between separatists and the Senegalese armed forces has involved
use of landmines (see Landmine Monitor Report
2000-Senegal).[5] Senegalese
diplomats suspected that Gambian territory was being used as a rearbase by rebel
elements in 1992, shortly before landmines made their appearance in Casamance.
However, more recently, Gambian mediation efforts to end the Casamance conflict
have been welcomed by Senegalese
representatives.[6]
[1] Information provided by Mines Action Team
in Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada, June
2000. [2] Letter from Habib T. B. Jarra
for the Permanent Secretary, Department of State for Defense, Office of the
President, FA 174/02/(114), 20 July
2000. [3] On 28 July 2000, a government
official said that the instrument of ratification “will soon be
deposited.” Letter from A. Drammeh for the Permanent Secretary, Department
of State for Defense, Office of the President, to Elisabeth Bernstein, ICBL
Coordinator, dated 28 July 2000. [4]
Letter from Habib T.B. Jarra, 20 July
2000. [5] Alex Vines and Barbarcar Diagne,
“Senegal: old mines, new wars,” African Topics, no. 22,
January-March 1998, p.13; Andrew Manley, “Guinea Bissau/Senegal: war,
civil war and the Casamance question,” Writenet/Office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees, pp. 14-16. [6]
“Senegal: Gambia to mediate?,” West Africa (London), no. 4180, 12-18
January 1999, p. 7.