The Republic of
Macedonia acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 9 September 1998. It had
participated in all the Ottawa Process treaty preparatory meetings and the Oslo
negotiations, and endorsed the pro-treaty Brussels Declaration in June 1997. It
did not sign when the treaty opened for signature in Ottawa for reasons
unrelated to the treaty itself, but informed the Canadian government of its
intent to accede to the treaty (a process by which states can become bound
without signature). Macedonia also voted in favor of United Nations General
Assembly resolutions supporting a ban on landmines in 1996, 1997, and 1998.
Macedonia attended the Budapest Regional Conference on Antipersonnel
Landmines in March 1998, where an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
expressed support for the ban treaty and hope that it would facilitate demining
and victim assistance
efforts.[1]
Macedonia is a state party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (30
December 1996), but has not ratified amended Protocol II on mines.
Production, Transfer, and Stockpiling
It is believed that some of the former
Yugoslavia’s mine production facilities were located in Macedonia, which
gained independence on 17 November 1991. Some production may have occurred
post-independence, but this is not
confirmed.[2] Macedonia is not
known to have exported AP mines. The size of its stockpile inherited from the
former Yugoslavia is not known. The former Yugoslavia produced at least 16
kinds of antipersonnel landmines, including: the MRUD, the MT-4, the PMA-1, the
PMA-2, the PMA-3, the PMD-1, the PMR-1, the PMR-2, the PMR-2A, the PMR-2AS, the
PMR-3, the PROM-1, the TM-100, the TM-200, the TM-500, and the UDAR
mine.[3]
Use
Macedonia is considered not to be
mine-affected.[4] In the summer
of 1998, landmines were detected near the border with the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (FR Yugoslavia) by soldiers from the UN Preventive Deployment Force
(UNPREDEP) in Macedonia. The Macedonian government stated that the mines had
been laid by the troops of the FR Yugoslavia, and that, despite some reports,
the mines were all on FY Yugoslavia territory, not Macedonian
territory.[5] The mines were
apparently laid by Yugoslavia to prevent smuggling of arms and recruits from
Albania to Kosovo.
[1]Statement by Mr. Stefan
Nikolovski, Assistant Minister in Charge of Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, reported in International Campaign to Ban Landmines,
“Report: Regional Conference on Landmines, Budapest, Hungary, 26-28 March
1998,” p. 21.
[2] The UN landmine database
seems to indicate production. See, Country Profiles, United Nations Demining
Database, http:www.un.org.Depts/Landmine/
[3]U.S. Department of
Defense, “Mine Facts” CD ROM.
[4]Country Profiles, United
Nations Demining Database.
[5]"Defence Ministry Denies
any Landmines within Macedonia,” BBC Monitoring Service, 8 August
1998; “Macedonia Major Weapons Supply Route to Kosovo,”
Reuters, 16 August 1998; “Yugoslavia mines its border with
Macedonia,” Associated Press, 5 August 1998.
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