LM Report 2001

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GAMBIA

Gambia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997, and ratification was approved by Parliament on 2 November 1999. According to the Office of the President, the instrument of ratification has been dispatched to the United Nations.^[1] As of July 2001, it had not been formally deposited with the UN Secretary-General in New York.

As of January 2001, the Solicitor General was awaiting instructions from the Department of Defense to draft legislation to give effect to the Mine Ban Treaty at the national level.^[2]

Gambia did not attend the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000, but participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in May 2001.

In November 2000, at the UN General Assembly, Gambia voted in favor of Resolution 55/33V, which calls for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. Gambia also participated in the Bamako Seminar on the Universalization and Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in Africa, held in Mali on 15-16 February 2001.

Gambia is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

The Permanent Secretary of Defense has declared that Gambia has never produced, stockpiled or used mines. “But we consider the mine problem as a potential threat. That is the reason why we are supporting mine ban actions.”^[3] Gambia’s representative at the Bamako Landmines Seminar also told Landmine Monitor that Gambia had never used antipersonnel mines and had no stockpile. He stated that there had been no known instances of MFDC rebels from the Casamance province of Senegal transiting through Gambia with mines.^[4]

Gambia is not considered mine-affected. Despite suspicions that Gambia’s security situation may have been compromised in the past by proximity to the Senegalese province of Casamance,^[5] there are no reports of any mine incidents in the country.^[6]

^[1] Interview with Essa Khan, Permanent Secretary of Defense, Office of the President, Banjul, 15 January 2001.
^[2] Interview with Raymond C. Sock, Solicitor General and Legal Secretary, Attorney General’s Chambers, Department of State for Justice, Banjul, 15 January 2001.
^[3] Interview with Essa Khan, Permanent Secretary of Defense, Office of the President, Banjul, 15 January 2001.
^[4] Landmine Monitor interview with Habib Jarra, representative of Gambia to the Bamako Seminar on Landmines, Bamako, Mali, 16 February 2001.
^[5] See for instance Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 166.
^[6] Interview with Andrew Jarjou, Acting Secretary General of the Gambia Red Cross, Banjul, 16 January 2001.

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