Key
developments since May 2000: Zambia ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 23
February 2001; the treaty entered into force for Zambia on 1 August 2001. UNMAS
carried out an assessment mission in May-June 2000, and the US State Department
conducted an assessment mission in October 2000.
Zambia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 12 December
1997 and deposited its instruments of ratification at the United Nations on 23
February 2001. The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for Zambia on 1 August
2001. In his announcement of the ratification, Zambian Minister of Foreign
Affairs Keli Walubita said that Zambia remained deeply concerned that
antipersonnel mines continued to kill, maim and threaten the lives of countless
innocent people, denying communities the ability to rebuild their lives long
after the conflicts had ended.[1]
He also called on the international community to provide technical assistance to
enable Zambia meet the enormous challenges of mine action. Officials told
Landmine Monitor that Mr. Walubita was particularly supportive of Zambia’s
ratification because his parliamentary constituency is heavily infested with
landmines.[2]
Zambia attended
the Second Meeting of States Parties in September 2000, where it announced that
it was working toward ratification and toward enacting the necessary domestic
implementing legislation,given that international treaties signed by
the Zambian government are not
self-executing.[3] Zambia’s
first transparency report required under Article 7 report will be due on 27
January 2002.
Zambia voted in favor of the November 2000 UN General Assembly
resolution supporting the Mine Ban Treaty. The government participated in the
Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000 and
May 2001. It 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.
The government’s reaction to the Landmine Monitor
Report 2000 was generally
positive.[4]
Zambia is not a
signatory to Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Production, Transfer and Stockpiling
Zambia has not produced or exported antipersonnel
mines. In June 2000, it told the UN that army keeps a small stock of
antipersonnel mines for training purposes
only.[5] There has been no
disclosure of the number or types of mines in the stockpile. There have been no
reports of preparations for stockpile destruction. One of the tasks of the
National Task Force on Antipersonnel Mines Conventions is to “secure and
promote training of the Personnel under the core sectors of the Convention,
namely status, stockpile destruction, mine clearance, technologies on mines and
social reintegration of
victims.”[6]
In
September 2000, Zambia’s Deputy Foreign Minister stated, “My country
believes that the surest way of preventing the use of landmines lies in their
total destruction. Stockpiling of antipersonnel mines under the guise of
training is a loophole that could be capitalized on to justify the retention of
large numbers of these weapons. It may, therefore, be necessary to specify the
maximum number of mines which may be kept for training
purposes.”[7]
Use
The government states that the Zambian Armed Forces
do not use and are not planning to use
landmines.[8] Zambian security
forces began encountering landmines in the 1970s during the Rhodesian (now
Zimbabwe) war. The use of landmines in Zambia is to a large extent an imported
problem, as rebel insurgents carried out “nuisance mining” in the
border areas.[9] Typical of these
types of operations, there are no maps of landmines laid in these
areas.
There are unconfirmed reports of mines having been laid in December
2000 along the border with Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
following fresh incursions of refugees and rebel armies on that
frontier.[10]Landmine Monitor
Report 2000 noted that Angolan government and UNITA forces both appeared to
have laid antipersonnel mines inside Zambia in
2000.[11]
Landmine Problem and Assessment
During the Second Meeting of States Parties in
September 2000, Zambia's Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Valentine Kayope
stated that as a result of the wars of liberation in Southern Africa, Zambia's
borders are littered with many mines, and a number of development projects are
stalled due to the fear of the weapon. He said, "As a poor developing country,
we have no means to free our land of these deadly devices. We need the
assistance of the international community. We therefore call on those countries
with appropriate technology to assist us in our endeavor to clear our
land."[12]
According to the
Ministry of Home Affairs, Zambia has a landmine problem in six of its nine
provinces on the borders of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Angola and
Namibia.[13] The United Nations
Mine Action Service conducted an assessment mission in Zambia from 29 May-7 June
2000. The UN characterized the landmine/unexploded ordnance problem as
“mainly residual in nature and concentrated in sparsely populated border
areas.”[14] The UN
provided a list of six areas and eight roads confirmed or suspected to be mined,
but noted that “there is reason to believe that the problem is of a
localized nature within these
areas.”[15]
The UN also
said, “Overall, it can be generally concluded that the problem in Zambia
is primarily unexploded ordnance, followed by antitank mines and antipersonnel
mines.”[16] Types of
antitank mines discovered include the TM-46 and the TM-57; types of
antipersonnel mines found include the R2M1/2 and the POMZ-2. There have been no
reports of mines in Zambia fitted with anti-handling
devices.[17]
The UN stated,
“It is apparent that the suspected presence of mines and UXO in Zambia
frustrates longer-term development efforts. Landmines kill grazing livestock
and prevent local populations from utilizing various areas and stretches of
roads.” The UN said mines hamper increased agricultural activities and
inhibit tourism.[18] The threat
of landmines has limited community development programs. The Zambian government
revealed that an electrical power rehabilitation project at Lake Kariba in
southern province was delayed due to the suspected presence of mines along the
project’s access routes. Work on the Gwembe-Tonga Development Project was
stalled following an accident in May 1999 in which an antitank mine killed and
critically injured officials of the World Bank, the funders of the project. The
project has still not been re-started although its completion is a condition for
further World Bank funding.[19]
In October 2000, a member of Parliament for Siavonga, a mine infested
constituency in the southern province of Zambia, Frederick Hapunda urged the
government to invite former freedom fighters in the region to identify areas
inflicted with mines.[20] He said
the absence of maps made it very difficult to know which areas were mined and
therefore people in his constituency lived in perpetual
fear.[21] Mined areas are not
marked or fenced. In February 2001, Chief Sinazongwe, sent an urgent message to
the government to quickly address the landmine problem in his area, which is
near the border with Zimbabwe, stating the area is infested with
mines.[22]
In October 2000,
at the invitation of the Zambian governments, a team from the United States
Department of State conducted a mine assessment mission. The mission focused on
military to military cooperation to strengthen the Zambian corps of engineers
for operational national mine action capability. The team visited a number of
government officials and the Landmine Monitor researcher who is based at
Afronet.[23] The government of
Zambia is still negotiating with the US State Department for the training of
deminers within the Zambian army, as well as material support for other
mine-related activities.
National Task Force On Landmines
There has not been any coordinated effort to
collect and consolidate mine-related information in
Zambia.[24] A National Task Force
on Landmines was established in 1999 and is presently headed by the Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Valentine
Kayope.[25] Deputy Minister
Kayope said its coordination and executing abilities are currently limited,
noting, “We do not have a specific budget line to deal with mine clearance
operations nor to implement policy at the operational
level.”[26]
The National
Task force is comprised of various ministries (Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs,
Community Development and Social Services, Health, Agriculture, Land and
Environment, Defence, and Education) and was formed primarily to address the
landmine problem in terms of: developing a national strategic plan on mine
action; building a national capacity for a mine action program to mobilize
resources for the mine clearance; designing and implementing a pilot demining
project in one or two provinces suspected to be mostly affected by the mines
problem.
In September 2000, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a
document titled, “The Work of the Zambia National Task Force on
Anti-Personnel Mines Convention.” It outlined a series of steps the Task
Force had developed to implement the Mine Ban Treaty, and noted that the Task
Force had undertaken survey missions in some mine-affected areas and presented
its findings.
Mine Clearance and Awareness
The Zambia Army and the Ministry of Home Affairs
have carried out clearance activities since the 1970s in response to enemy-laid
mines threatening Zambian troop
operations.[27] The Army Corps of
Engineers is responsible for mine clearance. One squadron of about 240 personnel
has mine clearance training. The unit has metal detectors, the performance and
serviceability of which is constrained by inadequate resources. There are other
limitations including the lack of protective equipment, suitable transport and
communications equipment. UNMAS during its ten-day stay were unable to ascertain
the professional competence and ability of the engineers to abide by
international standards for humanitarian mine
clearance.[28] The engineers have
barracks in Copperbelt Province, hundreds of kilometers away from mine-affected
areas. This situation is impractical for any effective mine clearance
program.
The Ministry of Home Affairs Bomb Disposal Unit also responds to
reports of landmines and UXO, and to requests for assistance from the Army.
The absence of a proper coordination center for mine action and the lack of
systematic information collection and analysis hinder the development of a mine
action program. The National Task Force has made recommendations for the
establishment of a Zambia Mine Action Center (ZMAC) and it is hoped that it will
be operational by July
2001.[29]
The government has
approached several governments to assist in mine clearance because Zambia does
not have the necessary funding for such an
exercise.[30] In the view of
UNMAS, only certain services should be contracted out, such as road verification
and clearance of critical areas. For other mine action tasks, use of national
military assets would seem more appropriate.
There have not been any
sustained or organized mine awareness programs in Zambia. Army and Ministry of
Home Affairs officials give impromptu mine awareness education when doing mine
clearance in an area.[31]
Landmine Casualties/ Survivor Assistance/ Disability Policy and Practice
There are no accurate figures of mine victims in
Zambia. While the figure given by the Zambian Red Cross is about 10,000 victims,
according to the Ministry of Home Affairs, only 102 victims have been recorded
since 1971.[32] A survey of
sporadic media reports would indicate that there have been between 100 and 200
victims of landmines.
The public health service does not distinguish victims
of landmine or UXO accidents from those patients injured by other causes. The
lack of reliable data as to how many people fall victim to landmines has
undermined any plans to form a national program on victim assistance. Landmines
are localized in remote rural areas far from any telecommunications and road
infrastructure.
According to the US State Department, persons with
disabilities face discrimination in employment and education. While steps
have been taken to alleviate their problems, such as the establishment of a
government-led national trust fund to provide loans to the disabled to assist in
the establishment of businesses, efforts are limited by scarce resources.
The government has not legislated or otherwise mandated accessibility to public
buildings and services for the
disabled.[33]
[1] Statement by Hon. K. S.
Walubita, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on the Occasion of the Ratification
by Zambia of the Mine Ban Treaty, Lusaka, 15 February
2001.
[2] Foreign office
officials said this in response to Landmine Monitor Report 2000 in which
it was stated that Minister Walubita had not made signing of the treaty a
priority, 29 January 2001.
[3]
Statement Delivered by Hon. Valentine Kayope, Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs, to the Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 11-15 September
2000.
[4] On 31 January 2001,
in an interview with Landmine Monitor, the Administration Officer for
International Organizations, Mr. Matomola Singongi, stated that the government
was generally impressed with the report but pointed out that the government was
not reluctant to ratify the treaty as suggested in the report. He stated,
“There are certain processes which have to happen before a final decision
is made.”
[5]Landmine
Monitor Report 2000, p. 192; United Nations Mine Action Service, “Mine
Action Assessment Mission Report, Zambia,” 29 May-7 June 2000, p.
13.
[6] Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, “The Work of the Zambia National Task Force on Anti-Personnel
Mines Convention,” September
2000.
[7] Statement delivered
by Hon. Valentine W.C. Kayope, M.P. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the
Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 12 September
2000.
[8] United Nations Mine
Action Service, “Mine Action Assessment Mission Report, Zambia,” 29
May-7 June 2000, p.
13.
[9] Ibid, p.
7. [10] Interview with
Foreign Affairs official, Lusaka, 29 January
2001.
[11]Landmine Monitor
Report 2000, p. 193: “Landmine Monitor interviewed Angolan soldiers
who admitted to laying AP mines on Zambian soil in 2000 in order to stop UNITA
rebels from obtaining access to suspected rear bases. There have
also been reports that UNITA rebels have laid some landmines in Cahvuma district
to depopulate the border areas in order that their activities are not witnessed
and to avoid being followed by the Zambian security
forces.”
[12] Statement
delivered by Hon. Valentine W.C. Kayope, M.P. Deputy Minister of Foreign
Affairs, to the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva,
12 September 2000.
[13] United
Nations Mine Action Service, “Mine Action Assessment Mission Report,
Zambia,” 29 May-7 June 2000, p. 7.
[14] Ibid, p.
3.
[15] Ibid, p.
8.
[16] Ibid, p.
8.
[17] Ibid, p. 8. Also,
interview with Foreign Affairs official, Lusaka, 29 January
2001.
[18] Ibid, p.
10
[19] Ibid, p. 9; Times
of Zambia, 2 October
2000.
[20] Remarks by Mr.
Hapunda to a meeting organized by the National Task Force on Landmines, Lusaka,
1 October 2000.
[21] A similar
statement was made by Sinazongwe member of Parliament, Syacheye Madyenkuku who
stated that development projects in Gwembe valley had been stalled because of
the threat of landmines, Sinazongwe, 20 January
2001.
[22] Sinazongwe is a
district in the south of Zambia near the Zimbabwean Border. Chief Sinazongwe
made this call on 17 February 2001 to a group of journalists from the Zambian
Information Services.
[23] The
team was made up of Robert A Dolce, Policy Analyst, Office of Humanitarian
Demining Programs; Arnold Sierra, Humanitarian Demining Officer; Col. Richard
Thresher, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Peacekeeping and Humanitarian
Assistance; and Stuart Chenea, program manager of the United States European
Command, Humanitarian Demining
Program.
[24] On 1 October
2000, Mr. Kayope said there was a need to set up a database on landmines and
training of military units and personnel to attain international demining
standards. He was speaking at a meeting organized by the National Task Force on
Landmines at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in
Lusaka.
[25] Mr. Kayope is now
a full Cabinet Minister and it is uncertain as to whether he will continue
chairing the Task Force.
[26]
Mr. Kayope was speaking to the press after he met with the UNMAS team in Lusaka,
May 2000.
[27] Interview with
Todd Mulyata, Senior EOD Specialist, Ministry of Home Affairs, Geneva, 11 May
2001.
[28] UNMAS, “Mine
Action Assessment Mission Report, Zambia,” 29 May-7 June 2000, p.
11.
[29] Interview with Todd
Mulyata, Geneva, 11 May
2001.
[30] Interview with
Matomola Singongi, Desk Officer on Landmines, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Lusaka, January 2001.
[31]
United Nations Mine Action Service, “Mine Action Assessment Mission
Report, Zambia,” 29 May-7 June 2000, p. 12.
[32] UNMAS, “Mine Action
Assessment Mission Report, Zambia,” 29 May-7 June 2000, p.
9.
[33] US Department of State,
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -
2000:
Zambia, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, February 2001.
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