LM Report 2001

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BULGARIA

Key developments since May 2000: Bulgaria reported that it completed the destruction of its stockpile of 885,872 antipersonnel mines in December 2000. Bulgaria decided to reduce the number of mines it retains for training purposes from 10,446 to 4,000.

Mine Ban Policy

The Republic of Bulgaria signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified it on 4 September 1998, and became a State Party on 1 March 1999. Implementation legislation has been enacted, and sanctions for violations of the Mine Ban Treaty are included in the Penal Code.^[1]

At the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000, the Bulgarian delegation included members of the Bulgarian Permanent Mission to the United Nations, the ministries of defense and foreign affairs, and representatives of Dunarit Enterprise, a former mine producer that now specializes in stockpile destruction. A member of the Permanent Mission to the UN attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and May 2001. One of the ideas put forward by Bulgaria in the intersessional meetings has been regional cooperation on stockpile destruction.^[2] Bulgaria voted in favor of the November 2000 UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33V in support of the Mine Ban Treaty.

Bulgaria has submitted three transparency reports to the UN, as required by Article 7 of the Mine Ban Treaty.^[3] The Article 7 reports of 5 April 2000 and 1 March 2001 report completion of clearance of all mined areas and destruction of Bulgaria’s stockpile of 885,872 antipersonnel mines, respectively. No external financial assistance was provided for these activities, but in-kind assistance was rendered by Canada and Norway.^[4]

Bulgaria is a party to Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), and attended the Second Annual Conference of States Parties to the protocol in Geneva in December 2000. The delegation delivered a statement encouraging regional cooperation on measures to eliminate mines and reported progress on implementing the Mine Ban Treaty commitments, including completion of antipersonnel mine stockpile destruction in December 2000.^[5] Bulgaria co-sponsored the proposal by the Netherlands to consider amending the CCW in order to deal with “explosive remnants of war.” The delegation also distributed copies of the publication, “National Program for the Implementation of the Ottawa Convention.” Bulgaria’s annual report under Article 13 of the CCW Amended Protocol II was submitted on 6 November 2000, giving full information on legislation, mine clearance and international cooperation.^[6]

In January 2001, Bulgaria re-stated its previous support for the reappointment of a coordinator for mine-related issues in the Conference on Disarmament “to complement efforts to achieve elimination of antipersonnel landmines worldwide.”^[7]

Bulgaria has participated in regional landmine conferences and Working Table III (Security Issues) of the Stability Pact of South Eastern Europe.

Production, Transfer and Stockpiling

Bulgaria’s production of antipersonnel mines ceased in 1998 and export ceased in 1996.^[8] Yet, in June 2000 at the HEMOS 2000 arms exhibition in Sofia, a sales brochure was distributed that included five types of Bulgarian antipersonnel mines: the PMD-1 (described as “Antipersonnel blast mine for remote minelaying”); the POMD-1 (described as “Antipersonnel fragmentation mine for remote minelaying”); and, in a list headed “Engineering Ammunition/Engineering Mines,” the PM-79, PSM-1 and MON-50, all of which are described as antipersonnel mines.^[9] The sales brochure was undated. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that this was “an old advertising brochure...which had been printed earlier—before the ratification of the Ottawa Convention by Bulgaria.... The APLs shown in the brochure...in fact have not been presented at the Hemos 2000 exhibition. They have been put down in the brochure just to illustrate that these types of APLs as well as anti-tank mines could be installed in the advertised Cargo-carrying Rocket Projectile. Neither advertising nor presentation of APLs have been executed at that exhibition.”^[10]

The first Article 7 report submitted on 27 August 1999 detailed the total stockpile of 885,872 antipersonnel mines, comprising the types PMN, OZM, PM-79, SHR-II, PSM-1, PFM-1C, and Mon-50. The second report submitted on 5 April 2000 recorded the destruction of 107,417 antipersonnel mines during the reporting period leaving a stockpile of 778,455. The third report submitted 1 March 2001 recorded the completion of stockpile destruction, with the exception of 4,000 mines retained for purposes permitted by Article 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty.^[11] The scheduled date for completion of destruction was 20 December 2000,^[12] which a press conference in January 2001 announced had been achieved.^[13]

Stockpile destruction was carried out by the Terem and Dunarit companies, by methods described only as discharge and explosion, to environmental and safety standards which are detailed in each Article 7 report. Representatives of Dunarit attended the Seminar on the Destruction of the PFM-1 Mine, held in Budapest, on 1-2 February 2000, where they outlined the open detonation method used to destroy 12,480 of the 12,792 PFM-1S mines held by Bulgaria.^[14]

Decommissioning of the Dunarit former mine production facility reported to be “in process” on 27 August 1999 remained in process on 1 March 2001.^[15]

The number of antipersonnel mines retained was reduced from 10,446 (reported on 27 August 1999) to 4,000 (including all types originally stockpiled) on 5 April 2001. A breakdown of the purposes for which this quantity is retained has been given. A possible further reduction is no longer under consideration.^[16]

In November 2000 Bulgaria re-stated its readiness to provide its expertise and specialized facilities for the destruction of other countries’ mine stockpiles,^[17] but no developments in this respect have been reported.

Landmine Problem and Mine Clearance

The Article 7 report of 5 April 2000 reported completion of destruction of all antipersonnel mines in mined areas by 31 October 1999.^[18] Sixty-eight minefields were on the border with Greece, extending over a length of 71,270 meters. The location of four other minefields has not been reported, but it has been confirmed that there were no minefields on Bulgaria’s borders with other countries.^[19]

Details of the minefields and the clearance operations were reported in a presentation to the Workshop on Regionally Focused Mine Action, held in Thessaloniki, Greece, on 4-5 May 2000. Lieutenant-Colonel Yonko Totevski reported that the minefields were in partially wooded areas, where clearance was made difficult by fallen trees and landslips. Fencing had been removed by local people who were using the mined areas for logging and grazing animals, but there were records of all the minefields. All the mines were the PSM-1 bounding fragmentation type, with tripwires. Some had been detonated by animals, but about 90 percent were described as “completely ready for use.” Clearance of 13,926 mines from sixty-eight minefields during 1997-1998 returned into use an area totalling 13,364 acres, along a distance of 71,270 meters. Intact mines were destroyed in situ; those with damaged fuzes were removed and destroyed elsewhere.^[20]

Mine Action Funding and Assistance

Landmine Monitor is unaware of a Bulgarian financial contribution to international mine action programs in 2000 or 2001. Bulgarian officers participated in the OSCE mine monitoring groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and acted as instructors in the West European Union Demining Mission in Croatia. Bulgaria participates in the Regional Mine Action Support Group and has developed its mine clearance capacity for future participation in peacekeeping operations. Within the Army engineering forces, groups are being trained in humanitarian demining with eight officers attending demining courses in the Netherlands and Turkey.^[21]

^[1] Letter from Ivan Piperkov, Head of Global Security and Disarmament Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2 July 2001.
^[2] Email from Ivan Piperkov, Head of Global Security and Disarmament Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 January 2001.
^[3] Article 7 reports, submitted 27 August 1999 for the period 1 March-27 August 1999; 5 April 2000 for the period 27 August 1999-5 April 2000; and 1 March 2001 for the period 5 April 2000-1 March 2001.
^[4] Email from Ivan Piperkov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 January 2001.
^[5] Statement of Amb. Petko Draganov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Second Annual Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II, Geneva, 11-13 December 2000.
^[6] CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, 6 November 2000.
^[7] Report of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Bulgaria to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 19 January 2001.
^[8] See Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 570-571.
^[9] “Knurs-DM, 122 mm Cargo-Carrying Rocket Projectile for Remote Minelaying,” Bulgaria Niti Kazanlak, undated.
^[10] Email from Ivan Piperkov Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 March 2001.
^[11] Article 7 reports, submitted 27 August 1999 for the period 1 March-27 August 1999; 5 April 2000 for the period 27 July 1999-5 April 2000; and 1 March 2001 for the period 5 April 2000-1 March 2001.
^[12] Statement of Amb. Petko Draganov, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Bulgaria to the UN Conference on Disarmament, Second Annual Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II, Geneva, 11-13 December 2000; Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, 6 November 2000, Form A.
^[13] “Bulgaria gets rid of all its landmines,” Reuters, 16 January 2001.
^[14] Landmine Monitor notes, Seminar on the Destruction of the PFM-1 Mine, Budapest, 1-2 February 2001; email from Ivan Piperkov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 January 2001.
^[15] Article 7 reports for the periods 1 March-27 August 1999 and 5 April 2000-1 March 2001, Forms E and F.
^[16] Article 7 reports for the periods 1 March-27 August 1999, 27 July 1999-5 April 2000, and 5 April 2000-1 March 2001, Forms D, and email from Ivan Piperkov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 January 2001.
^[17] CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, 6 November 2000, Form E; see also Report to the OSCE, 19 January 2001 and Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 608.
^[18] Article 7 report, 27 July 1999-5 April 2000, Form F2. Earlier, the National Program for the Implementation of the Ottawa Convention identified seventy-two minefields in the Momchilgrad and Smolyan areas of Bulgaria, of which fifty-five had been cleared by the time of the Program’s publication in August 1999. The numbers of mines destroyed are reported in the Program. “Towards a Mine-Free World: the Bulgarian National Contribution—National Program for the Implementation of the Ottawa Convention,” Sofia, August 1999, pp. 19, 32.
^[19] Email from Ivan Piperkov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 8 February 2001.
^[20] Lt. Col. Yonko Totevski, “Bulgaria’s Experience in Mine Fields Destruction among [sic] the Common Border with Greece,” Workshop on Regionally Focused Mine Action, South Eastern Europe Initiative, Thessaloniki, Greece, 4-5 May 2000.
^[21] Email from Ivan Piperkov, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 29 January 2001; CCW Amended Protocol II Article 13 report, 6 November 2000, Form E.

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