LM Report 1999

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MADAGASCAR

Madagascar signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 but it has not yet ratified. However, the Minister of the Armed Forces is preparing to place the legislation necessary for ratification before the national assembly.^[1] While Madagascar did not participate at all in the Ottawa Process, including the treaty negotiations, it did support the pro-ban 1996 and 1997 UN General Assembly resolution on landmines.

Madagascar is not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel mines. The Minister of the Armed Forces confirmed by letter to the U.N. that Madagascar had not imported any landmines since as far back as 1970.^[2] The size and composition of Madagascar’s current stockpile of AP mines is not known.

Madagascar, the largest of the Indian Ocean island states, has had a turbulent post-colonial history, including periods of military, social unrest and widespread strike action. It is also affected by some of Africa’s most pressing economic, social and environmental problems. However, the political system has never descended into the generalized combat that has favored the spread of landmine use elsewhere in the continent.^[3] According to the U.S. State Department, the only known use of mines in Madagascar was in 1991 as a deterrent to opposition marches in the immediate vicinity of the Presidential Palace.^[4] Madagascar is not considered mine-affected.

^[1]LM Researcher telephone interview, Mme Elena Rajaonarivelo, Madagascar Mission to the U.N., New York, 31 March 1999.

^[2]Ibid.

^[3]For the historical background, see Africa South of the Sahara, Europa Publications (London), 1996, pp.553-557.

^[4]U.S. State Department, Hidden Killers, July 1993, p. 121.

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