LM Report 2000

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MALI

Key developments since March 1999: In May 1999 Mali announced that it had destroyed 5,127 antipersonnel mines, while retaining 2,000 for training purposes. Mali has not submitted its Article 7 report, due by 27 August 1999. Mali agreed to co-chair the SCE on Stockpile Destruction, but did not attend the two SCE meetings.

Mine Ban Policy

Mali signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified on 2 June 1998. It has not undertaken any national implementation measures. Mali has not yet submitted its Article 7 transparency report, due by 27 August 1999. In November 1999, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told Landmine Monitor that report was delayed because the counselor in charge of it had been given other responsibilities.^[1]

Mali attended the First Meeting of States Parties (FMSP) in Maputo in May 1999. In a statement to the plenary, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Farouk Camara, said that Mali has never engaged in the production or transfer of antipersonnel mines, nor have any been deployed on its territory.^[2] At the FMSP, Mali agreed to co-chair the Standing Committee of Experts on Stockpile Destruction, along with Hungary. Mali did not, however, attend the two meetings of the SCE in December 1999 and May 2000 in Geneva.

Mali voted in favor of pro-ban UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54B in December 1999. Mali is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons, nor is it a member of the Conference on Disarmament.

In November 1998 the Association Malienne des droits de l'Homme (AMDH) established an NGO coalition, the National Commission To Ban Landmines. AMDH told Landmine Monitor that to their knowledge there is no indication of any use of AP mines by Mali’s Armed Forces in 1999 or 2000.

On 25 May 1998 Mali initiated destruction of its antipersonnel mine stockpile and completed the process in October 1998. At the FMSP, Mali announced that 5,127 AP mines and 4,131 antitank mines without anti-handling devices mines were destroyed at a cost of CFA Fr 49,918,402 (US$72,233).^[3] None of its 6,400 antitank mines with anti-handling devices were destroyed. Mali has chosen to retain 2,000 antipersonnel mines for training.^[4]

At the FSMP Mali noted that it has made some modest contributions to mine clearance activities and has established an expert demining force, which has been deployed abroad. In 1997 the National Center for Orthopaedic Devices (CNAOM) was established when the Center for Re-education of the Physically Handicapped (CRHP) and the National Institute for the Re-Adaptation and Professional Training of the Physically Handicapped (INRFP-HP) merged. At the FSMP, Mali stated that it seeks to share its experience and expertise in the area of prosthetics and orthapaedics and the special reintegration of victims.^[5]

[1] Telephone interview with Mr. Samasékou, Counselor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mali, 14 November 1999.
[2] Statement by the Delegation of Mali to the First Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Maputo, 3-7 May 1999, pp. 3-4.
[3] Identified as 3,225 mines antipersonnel a pression et 1,902 mines antipersonnel a traction. Statement to the First Meeting of States Parties, p. 5.
[4] Statement to the First Meeting of States Parties, p. 5.
[5] Ibid., p. 6.