Key developments
since March 1999: The Parliament ratified the Mine Ban Treaty and the
President signed the law. It awaits deposit at the UN. Progress was made in
training deminers; clearance operations are expected to get underway.
Mine Ban Policy
Moldova signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997. Government officials had said that the treaty would not be ratified until
the issues related to the status of the Pridnestrovie Moldavian Republic (PMR)
are resolved,[1] and Russian
troops withdrawn from its
territory.[2] (For background on
Moldova and PMR, see LM Report 1999, pp. 743-744.) However, on 27 April
2000, the Moldovan Parliament ratified the Mine Ban
Treaty.[3] The President signed
the law on 14 June 2000. According to an official of the Foreign Ministry, the
instrument of ratification will be sent to the United Nations in September
2000.[4]
Moldova did not attend the First Meeting of States Parties in Maputo in May
1999, nor has it attended any intersessional Standing Committee of Experts
meetings related to the treaty. The main reason is financial constraints. The
government sent representatives to the second international conference on
landmines in Russia and the CIS held in Tbilisi, Georgia in December 1999.
Moldova voted for the December 1999 UN General Assembly resolution in support of
the Mine Ban Treaty, as it had in 1997 and 1998.
On the same day that it ratified the MBT, the Moldovan Parliament also
ratified the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and all of its protocols,
including Amended Protocol II on
landmines.[5] The government
did not participate in the First Annual Conference of State Parties to Amended
Protocol II in Geneva in December 1999, though it did attend the preparatory
meeting in May 1999.[6]
Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, Use
The Moldovan government is not believed to produce
landmines. The Moldovan government is not known to have imported or exported
antipersonnel landmines, but does not have an export moratorium in place.
Moldova inherited mine stocks from the USSR. According to the government,
Moldova’s army has approximately 12,000
mines.[7] The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs states that Moldova would be able to destroy 10,000 mines on
its own, but will need international support for the other
2,000.[8]
Types of antipersonnel mines thought to be in Moldovan arsenals include: PMN,
PMN-2, PMN-4, OZM-72, MON-50, MON-90, MON-100, MON-200, KSF-ls, PFM-ls, and
POM-2s.[9] (See LM Report
1999, pp. 745-746.)
According to Moldovan officials, there has been no new military use of mines.
Criminal use of mines and other explosives stolen from storage or obtained
during the conflict, however, is
reported.[10]
Mine Clearance
In an official ceremony Canada’s Ambassador
to Moldova handed over to Moldovan sappers ten sets of personal protective
equipment for deminers, valued at U.S.$ 120,000. He indicated Canada would also
be providing training courses on use of the equipment. Brigadier General Ion
Coropchan, Chief of General Staff of the Moldovan Armed Forces has said the
equipment would be used in the demining of 150 hectares near the village of
Pogrebya in the Chishineu district, and also for clearance of UXO left after
WWII.[11]
In 1999, a group of the Moldovan police officers underwent a demining
training course in the United
States.[12] On 9 February 2000,
U.S. military representatives provided equipment for detection and demining,
valued at $104,000 dollars.[13]
In February and March, deminers from the Second Infantry Brigade of the Armed
Forces were trained to use the equipment in demining operations at
Moldova’s Military Engineers
Center.[14]
In early 1999, under the Joint Control Commission (see footnote 1), it was
agreed to carry out demining operations of about eighty hectares of land near
Pogrebya which lies in the security zone and under the auspices of peacekeeping
troops. However, the operation did not move forward because of concerns as to
where to locate the Moldovan
sappers.[15] Finally at an 18
April 2000 session of the Joint Control Commission, it was agreed to place
forty-nine Moldovan sappers in the village of Koshnitsa, in the immediate
proximity of the mined areas. Demining is scheduled to take place from 1 May
through 1 September. [16] The
demining of the minefields near Pogrebya is a difficult exercise, plagued by an
absence of maps, a high density of mines (said to be 150-200 mines/hectare), and
dense vegetation.
Mine Awareness
There are no systematic mine awareness programs in
Moldova. During mine clearance operations, deminers meet with the local
population and give them information about what to do if they come upon mines or
UXO. In 1999 representatives of Ukrainian Peacekeepers Veterans Association
(UPVA) created the Ukrainian Mine Action Information Center (UMAIC), which has
representatives in Moldova and PMR. UMAIC supports Ukrainian activity with
Moldova / PMR, in organizing mine awareness activities with the population. The
Center has also sought to educate the government and private sector about the
needs of landmine victims.
Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance
Statistics on mine casualties are not public
information. There is only sketchy information on mine incidents in local media.
(See LM Report 1999, pp. 746-747.) On 14 April 2000, the parliament
enacted laws to protect the rights of the disabled and war victims.
Pridnestrovie Moldavian Republic
The Transdniester region of Moldova declared independence from Moldova in
1990, and calls itself Pridnestrovie Moldavian Republic (PMR). It is not
internationally recognized. Forces from Moldova and PMR battled in 1992, with
both sides using landmines.
PMR officials have made no public statements about the Mine Ban Treaty.
Officials have said they have received no official information about the treaty
and Moldova and international landmine
activity.[17]
Moldova has said that PMR produces its own arms, including antipersonnel
mines. Arms factories located in Ribnita, Tiraspol, and Tighina were part of the
Soviet Union’s military supply complex and are continuing to produce
weapons, Moldovan officials claim, including production of the basic
Russian-type mines. The PMR government admitted to producing arms in order
“to maintain the same military footing with Moldova.”[18]
The Russian 14th Army has allegedly provided PMR separatists with mines. The
PMR may in turn have supplied mines to others; it has allegedly provided support
to Abkhazia against Georgia, and the Krajina Serbs against
Croatia.[19] Moldova has
recently charged that mines manufactured in PMR are smuggled out of the
country.[20] However PMR
leaders and the head of Security Service of PMR General Vladimir Antufeev said
that the allegations do not correspond to reality; the charges are an attempt to
discredit the government of PMR.
[21]
The number of mines in the PMR stockpile is unknown, but likely in the
thousands. Types of antipersonnel mines thought to be in their arsenals
include: PMN, PMN-2, PMN-4, OZM-72, MON-50, MON-90, MON-100, MON-200, KSF-ls,
PFM-ls, and POM-2s.[22]
According to PMR there has been no new military use of mines. However, mining
of the territory is considered by the leadership of PMR as the main means of
defense of PMR
territories.[23]
PMR does not disclose data and information about mine incidents. However, the
President of PMR Igor Smirnov said that eight PMR sappers have been killed by
mines since the end of the
conflict.[24]
The PMR guarantees citizens free health care. In addition to its own
citizens, its veterans’ hospital accepts Moldovan citizens for free
treatment.
[1] On 8 May 1997, “The Memorandum on
the Basis for Normalization of Relations between the Republic of Moldova and
Trans-Dniester Moldavian Republic,” was signed in Moscow. On 16 July
1999, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and PMR met in Kiev, under the auspices of the
OSCE, where an agreement was signed on the fundamentals of a peace settlement of
the conflict, pursuant to which a Joint Control Commission was formed with
representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, PMR, and OSCE. Subsequently,
issues related to withdrawal of Russian troops from PMR complicated
progress. [2] Interview with Mr.
Vladimir Lupan, Deputy Head, European Security Department, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Moldova, Chishineu, 17 February
2000. [3] Resolution of Parliament,
#973/14, 27 April 2000. [4] Letter from
Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ICBL-Ukraine, 23 June
2000. [5] Resolution of Parliament,
#975/14, 27 April 2000. [6] Procedural
Report, CCW//AP.II/CONF.1/PM/6, 2 June 1999, p.
2. [7] Statement of Vladimir Lupan,
Foreign Ministry of Moldova, made at the First International Conference on
Landmines in Russia and the CIS, Moscow, 27-28 May
1998. [8] Interview with Mr. Vladimir
Lupan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 17 February
2000. [9] Annual Report, Ukrainian
Peacekeepers Veterans Association,
1998. [10] Vladimir Shirochenko
“The thieves are handing of arms to the thieves,” Argumenti I Fakti
(newspaper), 20 January 2000. [11]
(http://www.cry.ru/crime.news/1999/08/09/19990809110610.html). [12]
Data from the Police of Moldova, 17 February
2000. [13] “Soviet Mines will be
destroy by American demining equipment,” Narodna Armiya (newspaper), #31,
18 February 2000. [14] BASA –
Press, 9 February 2000. [15] Interview
of Mr. Georgiy Roman, Moldovan Co-chair, Joint Control Commission, Interlik, 9
November 1999. [16] BASA – Press,
9 February 2000. [17] Interview with
President of PMR Mr. Igor Smirnov, 30 November
1999. [18] “Moldova: Speranta Bloc
Claims Dniester Produces, Exports Arms,” FBIS, FBIS-TAC-98-064, 5 March
1998. Also, Interview with Mr. Vladimir Lupan, 17 February
2000. [19] Moldova: Speranta Bloc Claims
Dniester Produces, Exports Arms,” FBIS, FBIS-TAC-98-064, 5 March
1998. [20] Interview with Mr. Vladimir
Lupan, 17 February 2000. [21] Interview
of Minister of State Security of PMR General Vladimir Antufeev, Olvia Press, 17
April 2000. [22] Annual Report,
Ukrainian Peacekeepers Veterans Association,
1998. [23] Interview with President of
PMR Mr. Igor Smirnov, 30 November
1999. [24] Ibid.