Key developments since May 2002: Cameroon
ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 19 September 2002 and became a State Party on 1
March 2003.
The Republic of Cameroon signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997.
Domestic procedures for ratification were completed on 28 July 2000, but the
ratification instrument was never deposited. A new ratification law was adopted
on 23 July 2002, and Cameroon deposited its instrument of ratification at the
United Nations on 19 September 2002, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2003.
National implementation legislation was reported in its Article 7 report, has
not yet been adopted.[1]
Cameroon attended the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September 2002, and
participated in intersessional Standing Committee meetings in February and May
2003. Although not a State Party at the time, Cameroon submitted an Article 7
report on 14 March 2001. Its first Article 7 report after the treaty’s
entry into force for the country is due on 27 August 2003.
On 22 November 2002, Cameroon voted in favor of UN General Assembly
Resolution 57/74 on the universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban
Treaty. The Cameroon Campaign to Ban Landmines represented the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) at a Mine Ban Treaty workshop in Brazzaville,
the Republic of Congo from 7 to 8 May 2003.
Cameroon has not produced, exported or used antipersonnel mines and will not
facilitate their transit through its
territory.[2] It possesses a
stockpile of 500 antipersonnel mines for training purposes, which will be
destroyed once the mines are out of
date.[3]
Cameroon is not mine-affected, but some military are trained in demining
techniques.[4] The Mine Ban
Treaty is part of the curriculum at the Military Academy in
Yaoundé.[5] Each year on
24 October, Cameroon commemorates a national who was killed in a mine incident
in Cambodia during military operations with the UN Peacekeepers during the
1992-1993 UN Transitional Authority in
Cambodia.[6]
[1] Interview with Richard Etoundi, Ministry
of External Relations, Geneva, 14 May 2003; Article 7 Report, Form A, 14 March
2001. [2] Statement of Richard Etoundi,
Ministry of External Relations, Fourth Meeting of State Parties, Geneva, 19
September 2002; Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
543. [3] Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
543. [4] Interview with Col. Jacques Lobe
Edjeh, Director of Engineers, Ministry of Defense, Yaoundé, 14 March
2003. [5] Interview with Col. David Jotsa,
Senior Training Officer, Military Academy, Yaoundé, 13 March
2003. [6] Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
543.