The sovereignty of the Western Sahara remains the
subject of a dispute between the government of Morocco and the Polisario Front
(the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguía el Hamra and Río
de Oro). The Polisario’s Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is not
universally recognized and has no official representation in the UN. Polisario
representatives continue to state that the Saharawi government would join the
Mine Ban Treaty, if eligible to do so, but at the same time, they speak of a
possible need for antipersonnel
mines.[1]
Polisario is not known to produce or export mines, but instead claims to have
acquired mines by lifting them from the Moroccan defensive walls (berms). In
June 2002, Polisario told Landmine Monitor that its forces have in the past
removed antipersonnel and antivehicle mines from Moroccan minefields and
replanted them to hinder Royal Moroccan Army troop
movements.[2] Polisario has
said that it has no stockpile of mines. It keeps 1,606 disarmed antipersonnel
mines on display in the Saharwi Liberation Army Military Museum, which is open
for visitors.[3]
Both Polisario and Morocco used mines extensively in the past. Polisario and
Moroccan forces fought intermittently from 1975 to 1991, when a cease-fire went
into effect and the UN peacekeeping force, UN Mission for a Referendum in
Western Sahara (MINURSO), was deployed to the region. In June 2002, Polisario
claimed that it had not laid, maintained or refurbished “any kind of
mines” since “a cease-fire went into effect,” in reference to
the 1991 cease-fire.[4] In
January 2002, Polisario claimed that Royal Moroccan Army troops deployed in
Western Sahara “refurbish and upgrade their minefields on a daily
basis.”[5]
Landmine Problem and Mine Action
Western Sahara is affected by mines and unexploded
ordnance (UXO) as a result of years of
conflict.[6] No in-depth
landmine impact survey has been conducted. The 1991 cease-fire resulted in a
territory that is divided between the Polisario and Morocco by defensive walls
built by Morocco, known as berms (earthen walls of about three meters in
height), which Morocco has fortified with antipersonnel and antivehicle mines.
Despite the landmine problem, approximately 10,000 Saharawi nomads live in
mine-affected areas on both sides of the Moroccan
berms.[7]
Under bilateral military agreements signed by Polisario and Morocco in early
1999, both parties have committed to cooperate with MINURSO in the exchange of
mine-related information, marking of mined areas, and clearance and destruction
of landmines and UXO in the presence of MINURSO observers. In June 2002,
Polisario stated that it has issued clear instructions to cooperate with MINURSO
and provide any available information, assistance in marking and destruction of
mines and UXO. It also indicated that it provided MINURSO with all maps and
necessary information in
1991.[8]
The UN reported that between April 2002 and January 2003, the Royal Moroccan
Army carried out 36 disposal operations in the Western Sahara and the Polisario
Front carried out nine such
operations.[9] In May 2003, the
UN reported that MINURSO had monitored another 16 disposal operations carried
out by the Royal Moroccan Army in Western
Sahara.[10]
In 2003, the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining provided
MINURSO with installation support, training, software maintenance, upgrades and
general support for the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA).
IMSMA will enable MINURSO to consolidate the data on mines and UXO that it has
collected over the years for use in planning any mine action in the
area.[11]
Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance
In 2002, there were at least four new mine
casualties in Western Sahara. Polisario provided Landmine Monitor with a list
of seven mine incidents from June 2001 to April 2002. Five involved
antipersonnel mines, killing one person in 2001, and injuring one person and
killing eight camels in 2002. Two involved antivehicle mines, injuring two
people in 2001, and killing one person and injuring at least two others in 2002.
The incidents took place in Smara (two), Farsia (three), Oum Draiga, and
Mehairis.[12] In February 2003,
the Polisario reported a mine incident, which resulted in the death of a
civilian in the area of Mijek (southern
sector).[13]
The Sahara Section of the Forum for Truth and Justice, a Moroccan
organization, claims there have been a number of landmine casualties in the
Moroccan-controlled areas, particularly among nomads in the southern part of
Western Sahara.[14] MINURSO
recorded 39 mine incidents from
1992-2000.[15]
Access to emergency services, especially in remote areas, is limited to
military medical facilities. No NGO is actively working with landmine survivors
in the refugee camps or in Western
Sahara.[16]
In January 2002, a new prosthetic/orthotic workshop was opened at the Ben
Aknoun center is Algiers. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
the Algerian Ministry of Health, the Algerian Red Cross, and Polisario have
signed a cooperation agreement to assist Sahrawi ex-combatants and victims of
violence in Algeria at the workshop. The ICRC identified 182 amputees urgently
needing prostheses; the majority were Polisario mine survivors. In 2002, the
workshop fitted 58 Sahrawi amputees with prostheses. The ICRC also provided
training for prosthetic technicians at the workshop. In July 2002, an ICRC
prosthetic specialist visited the Sahrawi refugee camps to monitor the progress
of amputees assisted in
Algiers.[17]
[1] Interview with Mohamed Sidati, Minister
for Europe for the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Oslo, 20 March
2002. [2] Polisario Response to Landmine
Monitor, 27 June 2002. [3] Ibid. There
are five types of mines in the museum, from Brazil, France, Italy and the United
States. [4] Polisario Response to
Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002. [5]
Telephone interview with Emhamed Khadad, Polisario Coordinator to MINURSO, 23
January 2002. [6] For a more detailed
description of the landmine problem, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp.
921-924. [7] Interview with Major M.
Morrow, Mine Information Officer, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January
2001. [8] Polisario Response to Landmine
Monitor, 27 June 2002. [9] UN
Secretary-General, “Report of the Secretary-General on the situation
concerning Western Sahara,” S/2003/59, 16 January 2003, p.
3. [10] UN Secretary-General,
“Report of the Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western
Sahara,” S/2003/565, 23 May 2003, pp.
2-3. [11]
Ibid. [12] Polisario Response to
Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002. [13]
“Report of the Secretary-General,” 23 May 2003, p.
2. [14] Interview with Brahim Noumria,
Forum Verité et Justice- Section Sahara, Geneva, 8 April
2002. [15] See Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 1,063. [16] See Landmine
Monitor Report 2002, p. 860. [17] ICRC,
“Annual Report 2002,” Geneva, June 2003, p. 332.
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