LM Report 2001

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GABON

Key developments since May 2000: Gabon ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 8 September 2000 and became a State Party on 1 March 2001.

Gabon signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified it on 8 September 2000, and became a State Party on 1 March 2001. Its first transparency report as required by Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 is due for submission on 28 August 2001.

Gabon attended the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000. In November 2000, at the United Nations General Assembly, Gabon voted in favor of Resolution 55/33V, which calls for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Gabon attended the Bamako Seminar on the Universalization and Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in Africa, held in Mali on 15-16 February 2001. In May 2001 Gabon for the first time participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Gabon has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines and its territory has reportedly never served as an antipersonnel mines transfer area. According to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official, Gabon has a small quantity of antipersonnel mines for training purposes,^[1] but no information on the quantity and types has been obtained. The Gabon representative at the Bamako Landmines Seminar stated that Gabon had no stockpile of antipersonnel mines; it is unclear if this was meant to include mines retained for training.^[2]

There is no landmine problem in Gabon and no record of any mine victims.

^[1] Interview with Willfried Otchanga, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Libreville, 26 January 2001.
^[2] Oral remarks during the Article 7 workshop at the Bamako Seminar, 16 February 2001. Notes taken by Landmine Monitor/Human Rights Watch.