Liberia acceded to the
Mine Ban Treaty on 23 December 1999. In a written response to Landmine
Monitor’s question on the reason for the accession, Liberia’s
Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Joe Mulbah, stated:
Liberia believes that landmines pose a perpetual threat to civil society.
Its use is pernicious to the people. The gruesome use of landmines has today
left the world with millions of amputees and maimed children. Coming out of a
seven-year civil war in which landmines were used on a minimal scale, we saw the
horrendous impact it had on our people. We pray that such devastation should
never come our way as a people who have resolved never to experience war in our
existence. We therefore support the global programme to eliminate
landmines.[1]
Liberia is due to submit its Article 7 transparency measures report by 28
November 2000. Liberia did not attend the First Meeting of States Parties in
Maputo in May 1999, nor has it participated in any intersessional meetings of
the treaty. Liberia sponsored UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54B supporting
the Mine Ban Treaty, but was not present for the vote on 1 December 1999. It
is not a party to CCW nor is it a member of the Conference on Disarmament.
Liberia is not known to have produced or exported AP mines. There is concern
that Liberia may serve as a transit point for weapons shipments to rebel groups
in Sierra Leone, particularly to the Revolutionary United
Front.[2]
It is assumed that Liberia maintains a stock of antipersonnel mines, but
Landmine Monitor has not been able to confirm this. In 1999 Liberia conducted a
weapons destruction program.[3]
The exercise, which began on 25 July, involved the destruction of over 19,000
small and heavy caliber weapons, more than three million rounds of ammunition
and some landmines collected by the UN and ECOMOG during the disarmament
exercise in 1996-1997. A symbolic arms-burning act took place in Monrovia but
the real weapons destruction occurred at an abandoned iron ore mine about forty
miles northwest of the
capital.[4]
There is no credible evidence of new use of AP mines in Liberia. However, it
is not possible to assess if non-state actors in the north of the country
possess or use landmines. Landmines were used in the nine-year civil war from
1989 to 1997. Rebel forces mined roads and ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group
(ECOMOG) forces planted minefields around their installations. Areas such as
the currently unstable province of Lofta County were
affected.[5] Mines were also used
in Monrovia (in the Paynesville area), Capemount and Bong Mines. Prior to the
1997 multiparty elections, mines were found in the private residences of various
warlords.[6]
While the U.S. Department of State had previously listed Liberia as
mine-affected, in 1998 it revised its assessment and declared the country
mine-free.[7] The Catholic
Justice and Peace Commission, an NGO concerned with human rights and
humanitarian issues, has expressed its concern about the possibility of a
remaining landmine problem and has been unable to verify that Liberia is now
landmine-free.[8]
Some hospitals and clinics are up and running again in several parts of the
country and the two prosthesis workshops in Ganta and Monrovia have been
reactivated.[9] The main JFK
hospital in Monrovia has a small outpatient clinic. In general the facilities
are limited due to the destruction and looting during the civil war.
[1] Statement by Joe Mulbah, Minister of
Information, Culture and Tourism, Republic of Liberia, undated, faxed to
Landmine Monitor/Human Rights Watch, 31 July
2000. [2] Telephone interviews with
diplomatic sources, Monrovia and Freetown, 20 July
2000. [3] On 4 June 1999 President Charles
Taylor set up a committee to oversee the destruction of these weapons, which had
been stored at the Liberian Industrial Free Zone Authority. Radio Liberia
International, Monrovia, in English 0700 gmt, 4 June
1999. [4] Associated Press, 27 August
2000; “UN: Secretary-General welcomes on 18 October weapons destruction
program in Liberia,” M2 Presswire, 20 October 1999. The destruction
process was filmed by a Norwegian film company, TV Communication; interview with
TV Communication director Bjorn Roar Bye, Oslo, 11 November
1999. [5] A Monrovia-based lawyer
interviewed by Dutch-freelance journalist Bram Posthumus in March 2000 stated
that in 1997, twenty-five landmines were retrieved and destroyed in Voinjama
area of Lofa County. [6] Information
provided to Landmine Monitor by Dutch freelance journalist Bram Posthumus, who
assessed the landmines situation in Liberia in March
2000. [7] U.S. Department of State, Hidden
Killers, September 1998, p.A-2. [8]
Interview with John Stewart, Catholic Justice and Peace Commission, Monrovia,
March 2000. [9] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor by journalist Bram Posthumus.
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