The Central African
Republic has not signed the Mine Ban Treaty. In an interview, C.A.R.’s
Ambassador to Belgium said the C.A.R. supports a partial ban on antipersonnel
mines negotiated through the Conference on
Disarmament.[1]
The C.A.R. is not believed to be mine-affected. There is no evidence that
the C.A.R. has ever produced or exported landmines. Government officials
acknowledge that there is no practical way to control the movement of weapons,
including landmines, across the C.A.R.’s territory, due to a near-complete
lack of border controls. It is assumed that C.A.R. has a stockpile of AP mines,
but no information is available.
When France withdrew its garrisons from Bangui and Bouar in early 1998, no
stocks of landmines were left behind. Nor is the Francophone African
peacekeeping force which went in to deal with a crisis and army mutiny in early
1997 in C.A.R. believed to have used mines. The successor peacekeeping force,
the U.N.-backed MINURCA (which shared a high proportion of its personnel with
MISAB) is also not believed to have used landmines.
Although not as badly affected by central Africa’s politico-military
crisis as are countries such as Congo-Brazzaville, the Central African Republic
is traversing a period of great insecurity, especially in rural areas and the
eastern region, close to the border with Sudan. The situation is capable of
deteriorating.