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Country Reports
CÔTE D’IVOIRE, Landmine Monitor Report 1999

CÔTE D’IVOIRE

Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Amara Essy signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997. Côte d’Ivoire has not yet ratified, but government officials expect that ratification will occur in due course (before the States Parties meeting in Maputo if possible), and state that there are no obstacles to ratification.[1] Côte d’Ivoire endorsed the Brussels Declaration and was a full participant to the Oslo negotiations. It has supported the relevant 1996, 1997 and 1998 UN General Assembly resolutions.

Côte d’Ivoire has not produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Government officials describe the country as completely mine-free, with no stockpiles of either AP or AT mines.[2] Since independence in 1960, Côte d’Ivoire has been an island of relative stability in one of the world’s most politically and militarily unstable regions. During the early 1990s there were fears that western areas of Côte d’Ivoire, particularly border villages adjoining Liberia, might be contaminated by landmine use in the Liberian conflict. However, the ICRC has recorded no landmine incidents on Ivoirian territory and in 1996, Côte d’Ivoire was among countries where the ICRC deployed media specialists to boost national awareness of the landmines issue.[3]

A training centre for regional peacekeepers will soon open near the political capital Yamoussoukro which will include a demining training capacity "to be put at the disposition of any African country" that requests it.[4] The government regards the issue of demining as very important, "as it is we Africans who are most affected."[5]

<CHAD | ETHIOPIA>

[1]LM Researcher telephone interview with Eric Ndri, Côte d’Ivoire mission to the UN, New York, 1 April 1999.

[2]LM Researcher telephone interviews with officials at Côte d’Ivoire Embassies in Ottawa and Paris, 25 March 1999; telephone interview, Ndri, 1 April 1999.

[3]ICRC website. Search “Cote d’Ivoire AND landmines.”

[4]Telephone interview, Ndri, 1 April 1999.

[5]Ibid.