Malawi did not actively
participate in international efforts to ban antipersonnel landmine before 1997,
although it did co-sponsor the 1996 UN General Assembly resolution urging states
to vigorously pursue an international agreement banning antipersonnel mines. It
was at the Fourth International NGO Conference on Landmines in Maputo in
February 1997, during the government statements session, that General O.B.
Binauli, High Commissioner of Malawi to Mozambique, stated that Malawi
"condemn(s) the manufacture, export, import, use and stockpiling of any type of
mines."[1] In April 1997, the
Malawi Campaign to Ban Landmines (MCBL) was formed by NGOs which had
participated in the Maputo conference and coordinated by Centre for Human Rights
and Rehabilitation.[2] Since then,
the Government of Malawi has worked closely with MCBL toward the global ban of
landmines which eventually led to Malawi signing of the Mine Ban Treaty. Malawi
attended the Bonn and Brussels treaty preparatory meetings but did not
participate in the Oslo treaty negotiation. It endorsed the Brussels
Declaration and has supported subsequent UN General Assembly resolutions on
landmines.
Malawi’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mapopa Chipeta, signed the Mine
Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, and in a statement to the signing ceremony, he
said that Malawi “unconditionally and unreservedly subscribes” to
the ban treaty.[3] He also made a
call for removal of mines: “We believe that the spirit of cooperation and
collaboration so far demonstrated should continue as we enter the crucial phase
of implementation. The huge number of mines planted all over the world calls for
considerable resources in order to successfully carry out the demining
exercise.”[4]
On 26 July 1998, the President of Malawi signed the instrument of
ratification and this was deposited on 13 August 1998, making Malawi the
thirty-first country to ratify and the second SADC country to ratify. Malawi has
not passed implementation legislation. The government claims that the
implementation legislation is awaiting recommendations from the Law Commissioner
who is still studying the ratification instrument. Malawi has not signed the
Convention on Conventional Weapons or its amended Protocol on
landmines.[5]
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Use
Malawi does not produce landmines and this has been
confirmed by the Foreign
Minister.[6] Malawi is not believed
to have exported antipersonnel mines. Ministry of Defence and Ministry of
Foreign Affairs officials, as well as the Malawi Army, were reluctant to provide
information on stockpiling and use of landmines when Landmine Monitor inquired.
It is an open secret that the United States supplied Malawi with antipersonnel
landmines, as part of a broader military assistance packages to the Malawi
Defence Force.[7] The US also
supplied mine detention equipment to Malawi. This support was primarily provided
to facilitate the continued use of rail traffic along the Nacala
Corridor.[8] According to a 1993
U.S. Army intelligence report, antipersonnel mines in Malawi include:
Malawi has never been at war and does not have a
big landmine problem, but there have been a few mine incidents. Most mines on
Malawi soil have spilled across the country’s long border with Mozambique
where Frelimo or Renamo laid them. There have also been a few reported
incidents where landmines have been brought from Mozambique and used in criminal
activities.[10]
Malawi is yet to map known sites within the country where minefields have
been placed or mines encountered. Well-known sites include the border areas
where refugees from Mozambique were camped, in the border districts of Mangochi,
Dedza, Ntcheu, Mulanje and Nsanje. During the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Council of Ministries' Conference held in Blantyre, Malawi in
September 1998, SADC Executive Secretary Kaire Mbuende disclosed at the press
briefing that over 1,000 kilometres of Malawi territory bordering Mozambique is
infected with antipersonnel
landmines.[11]
One army official has said that the Malawi Army has the skill and manpower to
probe and demine infested areas.[12]
Colonel Henry Odillo said that “while the Malawi Army has been receiving
reports from the police of exploded ‘landmines’ that have either
maimed or killed Malawians, there has not been any request for a possible
demining or investigation of any possibly infested areas on the Malawi
side.”[13] However, Army
spokesperson Colonel MacLloyd Chidzalo said “the Malawi army neither has
statistics nor information on explosives (landmines) under her soils, the desire
for a probe is ruled out.” He further stated, “It requires the
Commander-in-Chief to say so. It is meanwhile not necessary to investigate as
Malawi has neither bought nor used landmines before. We have no area that has
been mined in the country. It takes quite some expertise and it is expensive to
carry out such an exercise
(demining).”[14] He, however,
admitted that it is possible that warring factions in Mozambique may have, at
one point or another, trekked into Malawi and planted landmines behind them to
keep their enemy at bay. Despite ratifying the treaty, Malawi is still reluctant
to give out reliable data on landmines.
Landmine Casualties
There have been several landmine incidents on
Malawi soil. Some landmine incidents occurred in the refugee camps when Malawi
was hosting refugees from Mozambique. For instance, Edmund Chimaliro of the
Malawi Red Cross who works as a project co-ordinator in Dzaleka refugee camp
told Amnesty International in November 1996 that:
Landmines are not really a problem in Malawi, but there have been several
incidents on Malawi soil. In Chikwawa at Changambika refugee’s camps,
Mozambicans planted landmines for killing each other. During my time in these
camps we had three incidents. In one incident, they had hung up a poster on a
tree to attract people to read what it said. The landmine was placed under the
poster and a person was blown up for his curiosity to read what was on the
poster. In Nsanje, another person was blown up by a landmine planted outside
the bathroom.”
Landmine incidents still occur. In 1998, three incidents were reported in
the media, in which two people were killed in two separate incidents. Other
incidents may have occurred without being reported in the media. All three
incidents occurred along the border with Mozambique.
Case 1. On 27 October 1998, Esther Pulapato, a thirteen year old girl
died suddenly after stepping on an antipersonnel landmine. Pulapato, a resident
of Namwera village in Mulanje district, stepped on the mine when she was digging
for fish bait on the Mozambique shores of the Muloza River. The incident was
reported to Mulanje Police Station. The officer-in-charge of the police station
together with the doctor of Mulanje District Hospital visited the scene of the
accident and the doctor conducted a post-mortem at the site, which indicated
that the death was due to landmine
explosion.[15]
Case 2. Daudi Sinosi, a boy aged eight years, stepped on an
antipersonnel mine in May 1998 while playing catching grasshoppers together with
three other children of the same family in their village compound. All four
children were injured but Sinosi was seriously injured as he stepped on the
mine. The incident was reported to the Namwera police and the victims were
evacuated to Mangochi Hospital. Sinosi was later transferred to Zomba Hospital
where he died a few days
later.[16]
Case 3. Saize is a carpenter from Makanijra in Mangochi district,
which borders with Mozambique. In March 1998, he went with his assistants into
the forest to saw and collect timber for his business. While in the forest
looking for suitable trees, he came across on a beautiful and glittering object.
He is already knew about landmines and hand grenades, so he suspected that the
object was either one of the two. He reported the matter to Makanjira police
who collected the object and sent it to Lilongwe police headquarters for
identification. It is believed that the returning Mozambican refugees left the
object, which was a landmine, in the forest. It was not planted in the soil but
left lying on the bare
ground.[17]
Some Malawian soldiers fell victim to landmines during the Mozambique civil
war. This happened mostly along the Nacala Corridor where they were deployed to
guard the Nacala railway line, which economically benefits Malawi. Lt. Colonel
Chidzalo, Malawi Army spokesperson gave an estimated number of fifty landmine
victims during the Nacala Corridor Campaign. Of the fifty landmine casualties,
thirty died and the rest were injured. Of the injured, two continue to serve in
the army while the others have since retired from the army. He also disclosed
that victims were provided with medical assistance and that they were
compensated in monetary
terms.[18]
[1]“Malawi Government
Position on Landmines,” presented by H.E. General O.B. Binauli, High
Commissioner of Malawi to Mozambique, to the Fourth International NGO Conference
on Landmines, Maputo, Mozambique, 27 February 1997.
[2]MCBL includes: the Centre for
Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), the Malawi Centre for Research, Advice
and Education on Rights (Malawi CARER), and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Malawi.
[3]Honorable Mapopa Chipeta,
Minister of Foreign Affairs, statement to signing ceremony, Ottawa, 4 December
1997.
[5]Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
“Malawi Ratifies Chemical Weapons and Landmines Conventions,” Media
Release, 13 August 1998.
[6]“Malawi does not produce
landmines but is constantly exposed to the dangers long after the war in
neighboring Mozambique ended,” in Honorable Mapopa Chipeta, Minister of
Foreign Affairs, statement to signing ceremony, Ottawa, 4 December 1997.
[7]U.S. Army Foreign Science and
Technology Centre Intelligence Report, “Landmine warfare – Mines and
Engineer Munitions in Southern Africa (U).”
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