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Table of Contents
Country Reports
Côte D'ivoire, Landmine Monitor Report 2004

Côte D'ivoire

Key developments since May 2003: Côte d'Ivoire submitted its initial Article 7 report three years late on 27 May 2004. It participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings for the first time in June 2004.

Key developments since 1999: Côte d'Ivoire ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 30 June 2000, and became a State Party on 1 December 2000. It submitted its initial Article 7 report three years late on 27 May 2004. It has not enacted national legal measures to implement the treaty. In August 2001, Côte d'Ivoire hosted a national seminar on the Mine Ban Treaty and the ECOWAS moratorium on small arms.

Mine Ban Policy

Côte d'Ivoire signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997. It ratified the treaty on 30 June 2000, becoming a State Party on 1 December 2000. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for the mine issue; however, a law creating an interministerial committee has been drafted.[1] Côte d'Ivoire has not enacted national legal measures to implement the treaty, reportedly due to the political instability of the country.[2]

The country participated fully in the Ottawa Process leading to the Mine Ban Treaty and has since attended two annual Meetings of States Parties (in 1999 and 2003). It participated for the first time in the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee meetings in June 2004. Regionally, Côte d'Ivoire has been present for seminars on landmines held in Burkina Faso (January 2004), Mali (February 2001), Ghana (March 2001) and Nigeria (October 2001). In August 2001, Côte d'Ivoire hosted a national seminar on the Mine Ban Treaty and the ECOWAS moratorium on small arms. The country has voted in favor of each annual pro-mine ban resolution by the United Nations General Assembly since 1996.

On 27 May 2004, Côte d'Ivoire submitted its initial Article 7 report, which was originally due by 30 May 2001.[3] In the report, Côte d'Ivoire indicates that it is not mine-affected and that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines and it possesses no stockpile of the weapon, even for training purposes.[4] On 28 September 1999, France destroyed 120 antipersonnel mines that it had stockpiled on Côte d'Ivoire territory.[5]

In June 2004, an official confirmed that mines had never been used by either the army or the rebel group Patriotic Movement for Côte d'Ivoire, including during the country’s September 2002 conflict.[6] The rebel group Patriotic Movement for Côte d'Ivoire accused army forces of having laid antipersonnel mines, imported from Angola.[7] Officials from both Côte d'Ivoire and Angola denied the charges.[8] Landmine Monitor found no evidence to support these allegations.

Côte d'Ivoire’s Zambakro regional training center for peacekeepers provides demining training. In 2003, four Côte d'Ivoire soldiers participated in a demining training at the regional mine clearance training center for ECOWAS member states in Ouidah, Benin.[9]

There have been no reports of landmine casualties. In 2003, a soldier was injured in an unexploded ordnance incident at the French military firing range.[10]


[1] Statement of Capt. Patrick M'Bahia, National Gendarmerie, at the International Colloquium of the National Structures in Charge of the Mine Issue, organized by CNEMA in Paris, France, on 12-13 March 2004; interview with Capt. Patrick M'Bahia, National Gendarmerie, Geneva, 21 June 2004.
[2] Interview with Andre Gnato Zie, Cabinet Director of the Minister of Defense, Bangkok, 18 September 2003.
[3] Although dated 19 April, the report was submitted to the UN on 27 May 2004. The report covers the period from 1 May 2003 to 31 March 2004. Landmine Monitor received a Côte d'Ivoire Article 7 report dated 9 May 2001, covering the period 9 May 2001 to 31 December 2001; however it was never formally submitted to the UN. See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 207.
[4] Article 7 Report, Forms B, D and E, 27 May 2004; see also all past editions of Landmine Monitor Report.
[5] Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 50 and 639.
[6] Interview with Capt. Patrick M'Bahia, National Gendarmerie, Geneva, 21 June 2004.
[7] “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; “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.
[8] Interview with Théodore Koffi Fana, First Counselor of the Côte d'Ivoire Embassy, Paris, 21 November 2002; letter from Kessie Raymond Koudou, Ambassador of Côte d'Ivoire in France to Handicap International, 31 December 2002; interview with Andre Gnato Zie, Cabinet Director of the Minister of Defense, and Capt. Patrick M'Bahia, Officer of the National Gendarmerie, Bangkok, 18 September 2003; interview with Capt. Patrick M'Bahia, National Gendarmerie, 21 June 2004.
[9] “Benin Mine Clearance Training Center,” document provided to Landmine Monitor by Thomas Adoumasse, Deputy Director, Department of International Orgnizations, Benin Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in February 2004.
[10] Interview with Capt. Patrick M'Bahia, National Gendarmerie, Geneva, 21 June 2004.