Key developments since May 2002:The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia completed destruction of its
stockpile of 38,921 antipersonnel mine stockpile on 20 February 2003. In 2002,
a total of nearly 3.9 million square meters of land was cleared, destroying 19
mines and 131 UXO.
Mine Ban Policy
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYR
Macedonia) acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 9 September 1998, becoming a State
Party on 1 March 1999. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, no
specific administrative or legislative measures have been introduced to
implement the Mine Ban Treaty, but prohibited activities are covered by existing
criminal law.[1] In January
2003, FYR Macedonia reported to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) that it had not adopted legislation or taken any specific
implementation measures “because there is simply no need for
it.”[2]
FYR Macedonia has submitted four Article 7 transparency reports, including
two in 2003.[3]
FYR Macedonia attended the Fourth Meeting of States Parties in September
2002. On 22 November 2002, FYR Macedonia voted in favor of UN General Assembly
Resolution 57/74, which calls for universalization and implementation of the
Mine Ban Treaty. At intersessional Standing Committee meetings in February 2003,
FYR Macedonia reported on its stockpile destruction progress. At the May 2003
Standing Committee meetings, FYR Macedonia reported the completion of the
stockpile destruction.
FYR Macedonia is a State Party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons
(CCW), but has not ratified Amended Protocol II. In June 2002, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs stated that ratification would be achieved by the end of the
year.[4] In January 2003, FYR
Macedonia reported that, “the ratification process will be completed
soon.”[5] FYR Macedonia
attended the Fourth Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II
as an observer in December 2002.
Some of the former Yugoslavia’s mine production facilities were located
in FYR Macedonia, but according to the Foreign Ministry production had ceased
“even before it [FYR Macedonia] signed and ratified the Ottawa
Treaty.”[6] FYR
Macedonia’s Article 7 reports all state “nothing to report”
with respect to the status of conversion or decommissioning of former production
facilities.
Stockpile Destruction
FYR Macedonia completed destruction of its
stockpile of 38,921 antipersonnel mine stockpile on 20 February 2003, thereby
meeting its treaty-mandated 1 March 2003 deadline.
In 1999, FYR Macedonia reported that it had a stockpile of 42,921
antipersonnel mines.[7] In
October 2001, the Ministry of Defense clarified that FYR Macedonia had an
additional 8,353 PMA-1 fuzes and 8,353 PMA-1
detonators.[8] On 8 June 2000,
50 “souvenir” antimagnetic plastic antipersonnel mines were
destroyed.[9] A further 22,800
antipersonnel mines were destroyed on 6 October 2002 at the Krivolak training
center.
The government’s decided on 27 January 2003 to destroy the remaining
16,071 mines in an event on 20 February 2003, at Krivolak, in the presence of
invited diplomats, NGOs and other
observers.[10] FYR
Macedonia’s 15 April 2003 Article 7 Report confirms destruction of these
remaining mines, although it does not itemize the quantity of each type
destroyed, and no mention is made of the additional fuzes and
detonators.[11]
In 1999, FYR Macedonia reported its intent to retain 50 antipersonnel mines
for training and development
purposes.[12] In June 2002,
however, FYR Macedonia reported that it had decided to retain 4,000 mines (1,400
type PMA-1, 600 PMA-2, and 2,000
PMA-2A).[13] This is confirmed
in the April 2003 Article 7 report, which also indicated that none of the mines
were consumed in the reporting
period.[14]
Landmine/UXO Problem
FYR Macedonia’s landmine and unexploded
ordnance (UXO) problem is largely the result of a conflict that broke out in
early 2001 between Albanian insurgents (NLA) and FYR Macedonia government
security forces.[15] According
to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), UXO poses “by far” the
greater threat: “Mines have been laid but their use was limited....
[A]bout 80 villages were affected to varying degrees by UXOs, hampering the safe
return of about 100,000 IDPs [internally displaced persons] and
refugees.”[16] In
mid-July 2002, about 55 villages were still affected, preventing the return of
an estimated 8,000
people.[17]
In its report to the OSCE and in an intervention during the May 2003
intersessional meetings, FYR Macedonia referred to the UXO problem in the south
of the country, dating from World Wars I and
II.[18] Clearance was being
planned, but had not been budgeted for by the government, so international
donations would be required. The Mine Action Office in Skopje investigated the
affected area known as the “Thessalonika line,” which consists of a
World War I-era frontline trench stretching for approximately 250 kilometers
from Ohrid to Gevgelija. Between in 1965 and 2002, 21,037 items of UXO were
found and destroyed from the area, and UXO killed 14 and injured 142 people.
During a meeting held on 27 January 2003 between the Deputy Minister of
Defense, Rizvan Sulejmani, and the UN Mine Action Office, it was agreed that the
Ministry of Defense would formally request NATO and UN assistance in clearing
the affected area.[19]
Unlike previous Article 7 reports, the two submitted in 2003 provided no
information on mined areas or mine
clearance.[20]
Mine Action Coordination and Mine Clearance
In September 2001, UNMAS opened a Mine Action
Office (MAO) in Skopje to coordinate mine action responses and develop a
strategy for the rapid implementation of mine clearance and mine risk education.
The MAO has two national staff and an international technical advisor, and
shares its offices with
UNICEF.[21] It is equipped with
the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database. The MAO had
a budget of $94,390 for its operations January-June
2003.[22]
In May 2002, UNMAS stated that, with the aim of completing “the
clearance of all minefields and UXO affected areas before winter 2002, it [the
MAO] will ensure that national EOD [explosive ordnance disposal] units obtain
additional training and equipment, if still necessary [and] additional
commercial EOD teams could also be
employed.”[23] UNMAS
reported in December 2002 that it was “assisting both the UNHCR and the
OSCE to assess UXO clearance requirements prior to the return of refugees in UXO
affected villages.”[24]
In 2002, various actors cleared nearly 3.9 million square meters of affected
land, destroying 19 mines and 131 UXO. NATO and FYR Macedonia security forces
carried out mine clearance of roads in areas affected by the conflict earlier in
that year, and teams from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) carried out mine/UXO
clearance in inhabited
areas.[25]
The Slovenia-based International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims
Assistance (ITF) contracted the BiH teams again in 2002 to conduct clearance and
train FYR Macedonia
personnel.[26] According to the
ITF, in 2002 the three teams verified and cleared 1,780,771 square meters,
destroying eight antipersonnel mines, an antivehicle mine, and 56
UXO.[27] They mainly worked in
the Kumanovo and Tetovo regions, and cleared 504 houses. Operations ended on 4
July 2002. In 2002, the ITF allocated $1,213,653 to fund its operations in FYR
Macedonia, including demining, battle area clearance and “train and
equip.” This was a substantial increase from 2001 ($474,592). The
European Union allocated €1.9 million (US$1.8 million) to mine action in
FYR Macedonia in 2002.[28]
Three eight-person FYR Macedonia teams started operations on 30 September
2002 in the Kumanovo region. Two other teams did not have their working status
resolved by Ministry of Defense. The MAO and the FYR Macedonia government
coordinated work prioritization. The three teams checked and cleared 361,772
square meters, locating five mines and 41
UXO.[29]
Two international organizations also carried out mine/UXO clearance in FYR
Macedonia in 2002. On 19 April 2002, Handicap International (HI) and CARE
International (CARE) signed an agreement with the government; HI started work in
September, while CARE started in October
2002.[30] Both the HI and CARE
operations submitted daily and weekly reports to the MAO, which issued quality
control certificates.[31]
The HI teams consisted of 25 deminers and two mine detecting dog teams
working in the areas of Tanusevci, Leshak, Rogachevo, Ljuboten, Goshince, and
Staro Selo. From 2 September to 13 December 2002, they cleared 1,630,260 square
meters, destroying one mine and 24 UXO.
CARE contracted the Zimbabwe demining company, Minetech, whose 41 deminers
and four mine detecting dog teams worked in Popova Shaka, Selce and Shemshevo.
From 4 October to 28 November 2002, CARE’s Minetech teams cleared 83,478
square meters, destroying four antipersonnel mines and ten
UXO.[32]
In April 2003, HI, CARE/Minetech, and civil protection teams planned to
resume clearance operations in the areas of Umin Dol, Ropalce, and
Aracinovo.[33]
Mine Risk Education
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
and the Macedonian Red Cross continue to conduct Mine Risk Education (MRE) in
FYR Macedonia, with the ICRC taking the lead.
In early 2002, the ICRC and Macedonian Red Cross initiated a media campaign
to reach a wider audience than previous community-based MRE activities.
Regional and local television stations in affected areas aired two television
spots; one aimed at the general public and one (a cartoon) aimed at young
children. In June 2002, an ICRC and Macedonian Red Cross-sponsored MRE theater
play, What it means to be brave, targeted at children under 14 years
started to perform in villages in the Tetovo and Kumanovo regions and in Skopje,
reaching over 1,600
children.[34] In 2002, a total
of 94 plays were performed for over 7,500
children.[35]
In 2002, four new mine/UXO casualties were recorded
in the MAO database in Skopje; one person was killed and three injured. In
2001, 38 new mine/UXO casualties were recorded by the UNMAO. The majority of
incidents in 2001 were antivehicle mines causing multiple casualties.
On 8 May 2002, a KFOR vehicle carrying a mine clearance team detonated a mine
in the Lesnica area, northeast of Tetovo, which killed an Italian soldier and
injured a German soldier. On 3 November, two policemen were injured by a
booby-trap near St. Bogorodica monastery in Matejce.
On 4 March 2003, two Polish soldiers serving with KFOR were killed and three
civilians injured when the vehicle they were traveling in detonated a landmine
on the road between Sopot and Sicevo, northeast of Skopje.
FYR Macedonia continues to report UXO casualties in the south of the country
from World War I and II ordnance. Between 1997 and 2000, five people were
killed and another 30 injured in UXO incidents in the popular tourist
destination of Struga. Between 1965 and 2002 eight people were killed and 111
injured in the Bitola region. In Gevgelija, one person was killed and another
injured by UXO.
Survivor Assistance
The Kosovo Mine Action Coordination Center reported
in August 2001, “FYROM has a well-developed medical and hospital system
and should be more than capable of dealing with any mine/UXO
casualties.”[37] However,
the World Health Organization reported that public health services in the
country had suffered from a decade of regional instability and difficulties in
socioeconomic transition, exacerbated by the influx of refugees following the
1999 Kosovo crisis.[38]
Hospitals lack adequately trained staff and medical equipment is often old and
in a poor state of repair. The only specialist accident and emergency unit is
at the Clinical Center in
Skopje.[39] Services providing
social care for persons with disabilities, including mine survivors, are
reportedly poorly
developed.[40]
The Slavej orthopedic center, located within the Clinical Center in Skopje,
is the only facility in the country providing orthopedic devices. There is said
to be a need for training for physiotherapists in order to provide adequate
rehabilitative care. The Clinical Center has only three degree-trained
physiotherapists; the other physiotherapists were trained at technical schools
(high schools).[41]
In 2002, the ITF provided $28,703 for mine survivor assistance in FYR
Macedonia. Seven mine survivors were rehabilitated and fitted with prostheses
at the Institute for Rehabilitation in Slovenia. The ITF is also providing
funding for one student from FYR Macedonia to study prosthetics and orthotics at
the College for Health Studies at the University of Ljubljana in
Slovenia.[42]
[1] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
329. [2] Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia response to OSCE Questionnaire, 3 January 2003, p.
3. [3] Article 7 Report, submitted 15
April 2003 (for the period 15 April 2002–15 April 2003); Article 7 Report,
24 February 2003 (for the period from 6 November 2002); Article 7 Report, 25
June 2002 (for the period 30 April 2001–30 April 2002); Article 7 Report,
25 May 1999 (for the period 4 December 1997–31 March
1999). [4] Email response to Landmine
Monitor questionnaire provided by Ruzica Zanteva Angelova, Counselor,
Multilateral Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 25 June 2002. Previous
responses from the Ministry indicated ratification by the end of 2000 and by
mid-2001. See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
733. [5] Response to OSCE Questionnaire,
3 January 2003, p. 2. [6] See Landmine
Monitor Report 2000, p. 687. [7] Article
7 Report, Form B, 25 May 1999. [8]
Major Metodija Velickovski, Department of Engineering, Ministry of Defense,
“Antipersonnel mine situation in Republic of Macedonia,” Workshop on
Regionally-focused Mine Action, NATO Partnership for Peace, Athens, 18-19
October 2001. He also clarified that the first Article 7 Report misreported the
PMA2 mines as PMA3 mines. [9] Article 7
Report, Form D, 25 June 2002. [10]
Colonel Ratko Toncevski, Ministry of Defense, “Mine Stockpile Destruction
in Republic of Macedonia,” Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction,
Geneva, 6 February 2003. [11] Article 7
Report, Form G, 15 April 2003. [12]
Article 7 Report, Form D, 25 May
1999. [13] Response to Landmine Monitor
questionnaire, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 25 June
2002. [14] Article 7 Report, Form D, 15
April 2003. [15] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2002, pp. 331-333. [16]
“UNMAS Update” in Mine Action Support Group, “Newsletter:
December 2002,” p. 13. [17]
Ibid. [18] Response to OSCE
Questionnaire, 3 January 2003, p. 3; Landmine Monitor notes of intervention by
FYR Macedonia to Standing Committee on Mine Clearance, Mine Risk Education, and
Mine Action Technologies, Geneva, 14 May
2003. [19] Interview with Sandy Powell,
Project Manager, UN Mine Action Office, Skopje, 21 March 2003; UNMAO,
“Situation Report: December 2002;” UNMAO, “Situation Report:
January 2003.” [20] The June 2002
Article 7 Report included details of mine clearance operations conducted in
2001. Article 7 Report, Form C (attachment Table 1), 25 June
2002. [21] UN, “Portfolio of
Mine-Related Projects 2003,” October 2002, pp.
241-244. [22]
Ibid. [23] UNMAS, “Mine Action
Assistance in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM),” website
accessed 3 May 2002. [24] “UNMAS
Update” in Mine Action Support Group, “Newsletter: December
2002,” p. 13. [25] Response to
OSCE Questionnaire, 3 January 2003, p. 3; Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p.
333. [26] Under the ITF “train and
equip” program, 42 civil protection personnel were trained in battle area
clearance, demining, EOD and demolition from April to July 2002. Complete
equipment was provided for five eight-person teams, including mine detectors,
personal protective equipment (donated by the US Department of State) and five
ambulance vehicles (donated by the European Agency for Reconstruction). The ITF
regards this as its major activity in FYR Macedonia in 2002. ITF, “Annual
Report 2002,” p. 35; email from Iztok Hocevar, Project Manager, ITF, 17
April 2003. [27] ITF, “Annual
Report 2002,” p. 35. [28] Email
from Eva Veble, Head of International Relations, ITF, 30 April 2003; email from
Catherine Horeftari, European Commission, to Sylvie Brigot, ICBL, 23 May
2003. [29] Email from Iztok Hocevar,
Project Manager, ITF, 17 April 2003; response to OSCE Questionnaire, 3 January
2003, p. 3. [30] UNMAO, “Situation
Report: 13 May 2002;” response to OSCE Questionnaire, 3 January 2003, p.
3. [31] Response to OSCE Questionnaire,
3 January 2003, p. 3. [32] UNMAO,
“Situation Report: September 2002;” Response to OSCE Questionnaire,
3 January 2003, p. 3. [33] Interview
with Vesna Mirkoska, Assistant, UN Mine Action Office, Skopje, 21 March
2003. [34] ICRC, “Mine/UXO
Awareness Program in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,” 1
November 2002, available at
www.icrc.org [35]
Interview with Darko Jordanov, ICRC Skopje, 20 March 2003; ICRC Skopje,
“ICRC UXO/Mine Awareness Program in Macedonia,” 10 January
2003. [36] Information provided to
Landmine Monitor Victim Assistance Research Coordinator by Sandy Powell, Project
Manager, and Vesna Mirkoska, Assistant, UN Mine Action Office, Skopje, 29 April
2003. [37] UN Interim Administration
Mission in Kosovo, “UNMIK MACC Update - 10/08/2001,” 10 August
2001. [38] World Health Organization,
Department of Emergency and Humanitarian Action, “Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia,” June 2000, p.
1. [39] European Observatory on Health
Care Systems, “HiT summary: The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia,
2002, Health Care Systems in Transitions,” accessed at
www.observatory.dk on 29 April
2003. [40]
Ibid. [41] Interview (by Landmine
Monitor Victim Assistance Coordinator) with Cathriona McCauley, Disability
Project Coordinator, Handicap International, Skopje, 28 April
2003. [42] ITF, “Annual Report
2002,” p. 23.