Key developments
since March 1999: Despite a military coup in December 1999, Côte
d’Ivoire ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 30 June 2000.
Côte d’Ivoire signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997.
Ratification legislation was submitted to the National Assembly in June 1999 and
one month later, the assembly voted in support of it, authorizing the President
of the Republic to ratify.[1] While
a military coup on 24 December 1999 delayed the ratification process, on 24
March 2000, the ratification document was forwarded for signature to the
President.[2] The new head of
state, General Robert Guéi, signed the ratification document on 5 June
2000 and it was deposited with the United Nations on 30 June 2000.
Côte d’Ivoire attended the First Meeting of States Parties in
Maputo in May 1999 in a delegation led by its Ambassador to South Africa, H.E.
Kanga Ballou. It did not participate in any of the treaty’s
intersessional meetings in Geneva in 1999 or 2000. Côte d’Ivoire
voted for the December 1999 UNGA resolution in support of the Mine Ban Treaty.
Côte d’Ivoire is not a party to the Convention on Conventional
Weapons but it attended the December 1999 First Annual Conference of States
Parties to Amended Protocol II. Côte d’Ivoire is not a member of
the Conference on Disarmament.
Côte d’Ivoire has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.
Government officials describe the country as completely mine-free with no
stockpiles of antipersonnel or antitank
mines.[3] There were no allegations
of mine use during the period of the coup. Military training includes only
basic information on landmine recognition and safety
precautions.[4] In an interview,
General Bendji Joseph Mockey told the Landmine Monitor that some soldiers
“don’t even know what a mine
is.”[5] Côte
d’Ivoire provides training for African military officials every year on
landmines (such as safety precautions, landmine recognition and demining) at the
Zambakro military school, which is sponsored by the French
government.[6]
The French military on 28 September 1999 destroyed the 120 antipersonnel
mines that it had stockpiled in Côte d’Ivoire. (See LM report on
France).
During the early 1990s there were fears that the west of the country might be
contaminated with landmines used in the conflict with Liberia, but the ICRC has
not recorded any landmine incidents in Côte d’Ivoire. The recently
established Handicap International office in Abidjan also confirmed that there
are no registered landmine victims in Côte
d’Ivoire.[7]
[1] Law No. 99-431 – 6 July
1999. [2] Borderau d’envoi N° 809
RE/AJC/AH/2, 24 March 2000. [3] Interview
with General Bendji Joseph Mockey, Cabinet Director, Ministry of Defense,
Abidjan, 8 March 2000. [4]
Ibid. [5]
Ibid. [6] Telephone interview with Colonel
Gilbert Canovas, Defense Attaché, French Embassy, Yaounde (Cameroon), 3
May 2000. [7] Interview with Handicap
International/Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan, 13 March 2000.