Somalia has been without
a central government since the fall of the regime of Siyad Barre in 1991.
Opposing factions or warlords have carved up most of Somalia’s 637,700
square kilometers into fiefdoms loosely controlled by armed militia. In 1991,
the Somali National Movement, one of the factions that fought for the overthrow
of the Siyad Barre dictatorship, proclaimed an independent Somaliland in the
five northern regions that constituted territorially the former British
Protectorate of Somaliland. In 1998, the Somali Salvation Democratic Front
(SSDF) established an autonomous regional administration, Puntland, in the
northeastern section of Somalia. Somaliland and Puntland enjoy relative
stability compared to the rest of Somalia. Information on the landmine
situation in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland can be found in a separate
report.
Mine Ban Policy
Somalia remains without a central government. Two
faction leaders, Ali Mahdi and Hussein Aideed, have at various times claimed to
have constituted central reconciliation governments in Mogadishu, the capital of
the former Democratic Republic of Somalia (SDR), but their claims have been
contested by many of the more than twenty other factions. In 1997, Ali Mahdi and
Hussein Aideed began organizing a joint administration for Mogadishu and the
Benadir region.[1] This joint
administration, which is also contested by other Benadir- and Mogadishu-based
factions, has not issued any statements on landmines.
On 20 August 1998, the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM), which operates in the
lower Juba River region released a statement to the International Campaign to
Ban Landmines (ICBL) affirming that the SPM would unilaterally observe the Mine
Ban Treaty. [2] The Puntland State
of Somalia (NE Regions) issued a landmine policy statement in January 1999 that
included support for the Mine Ban
Treaty.[3] In June 1997 the
USC/SNA, the main faction in central and southwest regions of the country issued
a letter of intent to support the Mine Ban Treaty but it has been silent
since.[4]
Concerned Somali citizens residing outside of Somalia operate anti-landmine
NGOs. These NGOs include the Somali Canadian Society in
Toronto[5] and the Somali Campaign
to Ban Landmines, which originally operated from Nairobi and is now based in the
Netherlands.[6]
Production, Transfer and Stockpiling
Somalia is not known to have produced or exported
antipersonnel mines. There have been allegations of recent small arms shipments
to factions operating inside
Somalia,[7] but whether landmine
stocks were included in these shipments is not known. All militia and factions
in Somalia are thought to have landmine stocks. Antipersonnel mines from
twenty-four countries, the majority from Czechoslovakia, Russia, Pakistan and
Belgium have been identified in
Somalia.[8]
Use
Landmines were first used in Somalia during the
1977-78 war between the regimes of Mohamed Siyad Barre in Somalia and Mengistu
Haile Mariam of Ethiopia. Mines were heavily employed during this war. Between
1981 and 1991, Somali opposition militia fought to overthrow the Siyad Barre
dictatorship. These militia operated from the Ethiopian side of the border;
consequently the Somali army used landmines extensively along the border. Almost
70 percent of all landmines in Somalia are estimated to lie within seventy to
ninety-six minefields along the border with
Ethiopia.[9]
Between 1988 and 1991, the Somali National Movement (SNM) attacked the
northern towns of Hargeisa and Burao and the surrounding countryside—which
are part of Somaliland. UNDP estimates that between 400,000 and 800,000 mines
were used in this period.[10] One
hundred thousand landmines were reported to have been used in Hargeisa
alone.[11] The Somali National
Movement also used mines during this period, largely along bridges and access
roads to military
installations.[12] (See report on
Somaliland.)
Landmine use continued after the fall of Siyad Barre by all factions vying
for power in Somalia. In 1992, a 5-kilometer section of the Bur
Dhubo-Qandhadere road was mined, and mines were heavily used in Kismayo, the
Juba River valley and along the Shebelle River near Beled
Weyn.[13] An area between Galkayo,
Dusa Mareb and the coastal town of Obbia is also
mined.[14]
Factional and inter-clan wars continue in much of southern Somalia. The
Rahanweyn Resistance Army and the Digil Salvation Army continue their efforts to
oust Hussein Aideed’s militia from the Baidoa region. An Islamic
fundamentalist group, Al Ittihad, opposed to Ethiopian influence, is also active
in the Luq-Bardheere area. Although direct evidence that landmines are being
used is not available, all of these groups have used landmines in the past. In
addition, recent reports indicate that at least three nations, Ethiopia, Eritrea
and Libya, all non-MBT ratifiers, have recently supplied the various warring
factions with large amounts of small
arms[15].
In the Lower Juba region, two factions, those of General Mohamed Said Hersi
(Morgan) and General Aden Gabyo, have been engaged in a protracted war over the
port city of Kismayo. General
Gabyo[16] and General Morgan have
been accused by many human rights organizations of atrocities committed during
the 1988-91 civil war in northern
Somalia.[17] General Gabyo was
then Siyad Barre’s Defense Minister and General Morgan commanded the 26th
Division of the Somali Army fighting in the Hargeisa region. General
Morgan’s division used landmines as weapons of terror in this civil war.
General Gabyo has now signed on behalf of the SPM a letter pledging non-use of
landmines.
Landmine Problem
Nearly three decades of warfare have left Somalia
with a serious landmine
problem..[18] Both the United
Nations and the U.S. State Department recently have revised downward the
estimate of the number of landmines in Somali soil from between 1.5-2 million in
1994 to one million in 1998.[19]
The majority of landmines are in Somaliland (see separate section for
Somaliland).
There are more than 100 suspected minefields along the border between Somalia
and Ethiopia, most of which are in pasture areas toward the Somaliland border
with Ethiopia.[20] Central and
southern areas of Somalia are less heavily
contaminated.[21] Minefields are,
however, found in Beled Weyne, Bardhere, Luq, the port city of Kismayo and in
the Juba River Valley,[22] and in
the Galkayo-Dusa-Mareb-and coastal Obbia
triangle.[23]
Somalia has also been contaminated with large amounts of UXO. Discarded UXO
pieces ranging from unexploded mortars and bombs to surface-to-air missiles are
found throughout Somalia, particularly at former military bases and at major
airports.
Mine Action
All demining in Somalia ceased with the departure
of the UN Operations in Somalia (UNOSOM) in March 1995. Prior to UNOSOM’S
departure, eleven local commercial contractors and 200 deminers are reported to
have cleared 127 square kilometers of land and 438 kilometers of road and of
removing 32,511 landmines and 72,741 pieces of
UXO.[24] (Most of the landmines
were removed by Rimfire, a commercial firm working in Hargeisa, which is now the
capital of Somaliland.) Security concerns severely limit mine action programs
in most of Somalia and except for projects in Somaliland, no demining is
currently underway. No systematic surveys have been conducted in Somalia.
In 1993, the UN launched a mine awareness campaign in schools to teach
children landmine safety. The campaign also printed posters and pamphlets and
produced two plays that were performed mainly in northern
Somalia.[25] This campaign ended
with the departure of UNOSOM.
Data on landmine accidents or casualties is no longer kept systematically in
Somalia. The U.S. State Department reports that there are no current victim
assistance programs in
Somalia.[26]
[1]In 1998, at the urging of
Egypt and Libya, Ali Mahdi and Hussein Aideed established a joint administration
for Mogadishu including a joint police force. Osman Ali Atto and several other
faction leaders are in strong opposition and factional fighting took place as
recently as 14 March 1999.
[2]The SPM letter to the ICBL
is currently with the Non-State Actors Working Group.
[3]“Puntland State Policy
and Landmines,” Press Release, Garoe, Puntland, Somalia, 15 January 1999;
“Fact sheet of Landmines in Puntland,” Garoe, Puntland, 15 January
1999.
[4]Letter sent to Belgian
Embassy in Nairobi by Aideed administration from Mogadishu during the Global Ban
of Landmines Conference held in Brussels in June 1997.
[5]The Somali Canadian Society,
2020 Don Mills Rd # 705, North York, Ontario, Canada, Fax 416 252-4474.
[6]Somali Campaign to Ban
Landmines, c/o Groes 34, Eersel 5521 LX, The Netherlands.
[7]AFP, Horn Region
Schedule, 15 February 1999, 7:44.
[15]AFP, Horn region
schedule, 7:44, 15 February 1999.
[16]General Gabyo’s visa
to Sweden was recently revoked after allegations of war crimes came to light. In
1997, after the discovery of mass graves near Hargeisa, a War Crimes Commission
was appointed in Somaliland to investigate atrocities committed during
1988-1991. Commission members indicate that they have direct evidence of General
Gabyo’s involvement in war crimes when he was Minister of Defense.
[17]Africa Watch (now human
Rights Watch)and Amnesty International have written several reports on this
period.
[19]Hidden Killers,
1998, pp. 44-48. In the 1994 edition, the estimate was 1.5 million.
[20]Data compiled from the
Somali Mine Action Center in Hargeisa, October 1998.
[21]African Rights and Mines
Advisory Group, Violent Deeds Live On: Landmines in Somalia and
Somaliland (London: African Rights and MAG, December 1993).
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