Mauritius was the first African country to sign and
ratify the Mine Ban Treaty, when its Secretary General of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister, Mohamed Ould Maawiya, signed and at
the same time deposited the instrument of ratification on 3 December 1997 in
Ottawa, Canada. Mauritius, Ireland and Canada all signed and ratified in this
same manner. Mauritius participated in the Oslo treaty negotiations and also
supported the key 1996 and 1997 UN General Assembly resolutions on landmines.
Mauritius has never been a producer, exporter, or user of antipersonnel
landmines. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has acknowledged that there is a
very small stock of approximately a dozen landmines retained for training
purposes under Article 3 of the ban
treaty.[1] A Foreign Affairs
spokesperson reported that they were in the custody of the Mauritius Police
Force.
While Mauritius has not enacted specific domestic legislation implementing
the Mine Ban Treaty, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has announced that "there
will soon be legislation to include anti-personnel landmines in the definition
of explosives in the Explosives Act." A spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs indicated that no amendment is needed because the definition already
tacitly includes landmines.[2]
Mauritian non-governmental organizations have been campaigning in support of
the ban since February 1996 when one of its members attended the Fourth
International NGO Conference on Landmines in Maputo, Mozambique. A small group
of people formed the Ban Landmines Group (Mauritius) and developed an action
plan to lobby the government to sign and ratify the ban
treaty.[3] Ban Landmines Group
(Mauritius) started a signature campaign to support the Ottawa Process,
collecting over 1,600 signatures in schools which were then remitted to the
Prime Minister, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs and drew public
attention through the media
articles.[4]
[1]'Landmines in Mauritius,
“As Dead as the Dodo?”, Interview with Rajikeswur Purryag, Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs,' African Topics, issue
22, January-March 1998.
[2]Ban Landmines Group meeting
with official, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Port Louis, 11 March 1999, in Report
of Ban Landmines Group (Mauritius), prepared for presentation at the Southern
African Regional Landmines Campaign Meeting, Johannesburg, South Africa,
15-16 March 1999.
[3]Meeting with Hon Paul
Berenger, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Port Louis, 23 April 1997.
[4]L'Express, (Port Louis)
and Le Mauricien, (Port Louis), 14 August 1997.
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