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Table of Contents
Country Reports
Côte d'Ivoire, Landmine Monitor Report 2003

Côte d'Ivoire

Côte d'Ivoire signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified it on 30 June 2000, and became a State Party on 1 December 2000. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for the mine issue.

An official re-stated to Landmine Monitor in November 2002 that Côte d'Ivoire possesses no stockpile of antipersonnel mines, not even for training purposes.[1] In October 2002, the rebel group Patriotic Movement for Côte d'Ivoire accused Army forces of having laid antipersonnel mines, imported from Angola.[2] Mines were said to have been laid in three locations in Côte d'Ivoire: in Bondoukou in the northeast, in M'Bahiakro in the center and in Daloa in the center-west.[3] Officials from both Côte d'Ivoire and Angola denied the charges.[4] Landmine Monitor is unaware of any evidence to corroborate the allegation.

As reported last year, Côte d'Ivoire’s initial Article 7 Report, which was due on 30 May 2001, had been sent to its UN Mission in New York, but had not been officially submitted. At that time, a copy of the “nil” report, covering the period 9 May 2001 to 31 December 2001, was provided to Landmine Monitor.[5] In January 2003, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the necessary steps would be taken to comply with the Article 7 treaty obligation.[6] However, the report has not yet been submitted.

Côte d'Ivoire did not attend the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in 2002 or the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in February or May 2003.

On 22 November 2002, Côte d'Ivoire voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 57/74 promoting universalization and implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty.

On 20 December 2002, the parliament of Côte d'Ivoire voted to authorize the president to ratify Amended Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons.[7]

In 2002, the Côte d'Ivoire section of Club Union Africaine, with the financial and technical support of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Canadian Embassy, conducted education activities on the consequences of the war in two schools in the Abodo commune of Abidjan. Over 1,000 children were reached.[8]


[1] Interview with Theodore Koffi Fana, First Counselor, Embassy of the Côte d'Ivoire, Paris, 21 November 2002. Côte d'Ivoire is not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel mines. See, Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 207.
[2] “Les rebelles dénoncent la pose de mines antipersonnel apportées d'Angola” (The rebels accuse antipersonnel mines from Angola have been laid), Agence France Presse, 21 October 2002.
[3] Ibid.; “El Embajador de Angola en Abidjan desmiente que su pais haya entregado minas antipersona a Costa de Marfil” (The ambassador of Angola in Abidjan denies that his country has provided antipersonnel mines to Côte d'Ivoire), Europa Press, 21 October 2002.
[4] Ibid.; interview with Théodore Koffi Fana, First Counselor of the Côte d'Ivoire Embassy, Paris, 21 November 2002; letter from HE Kessie Raymond Koudou, Ambassador of Côte d'Ivoire in France to Handicap International, 31 December 2002.
[5] Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 207.
[6] Interview with HE Boua Kamon, Director of Political and Humanitarian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affaires, Abidjan, 13 January 2003; interview with Marcellin Abié Obou, Sub-Director of Judicial Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abidjan, 15 January 2003.
[7] Parliamentary Law No. 0545, 20 December 2002.
[8] Email from Traoré Wodjo, President, Club Union Africaine Cote d'Ivoire, 24 March 2003.