LM Report 2004

Gabon

Key developments since 1999: Gabon ratified the Mine Ban Treaty on 8 September 2000, and became a State Party on 1 March 2001. Gabon reported that it destroyed its stockpile of 1,082 antipersonnel mines before the Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for the country. Gabon submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report more than one year late in September 2002, and has not provided required annual updates in 2003 and 2004.

Gabon signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997, ratified on 8 September 2000, and became a State Party on 1 March 2001. In February 2004, a government official stated that national implementation legislation had been drafted.^[1]

After participating fully in the Ottawa Process leading to the Mine Ban Treaty, Gabon has attended three annual Meetings of States Parties (in 1999, 2000 and 2003), but has never been present for the intersessional Standing Committee meetings. Gabon attended a regional landmine meeting held in Mali in February 2001. Each year since 1996, Gabon has voted in favor of the annual pro-mine ban United Nations General Assembly resolution, with the exception of 1999 when it was absent.

Gabon submitted its initial Article 7 Report, due by 28 August 2001, on 25 September 2002. Annual updates, due on 30 April of 2003 and 2004, have not been submitted.

Gabon declared that it is not mine-affected and that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.^[2] While it did not provide an exact date of destruction, Gabon reported that it destroyed its stockpile of 1,082 antipersonnel mines at a remote Republican Guard firing range, before March 2001 when the treaty entered into force for the country.^[3]

Gabon’s Article 7 report stated that the country had retained no mines for training purposes, but in the past and again in early 2004, Gabonese officials declared that the country possesses "some" and "less than 300" mines for training purposes.^[4]

In March-April 2003, two Gabonese soldiers participated in a course at the regional mine clearance training center for ECOWAS member states in Ouidah, Benin.^[5]

[1] Telephone interview with Michel Biang, Director, Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Libreville, 25 February 2004.
[2] Article 7 Report, Forms B, C, E and G, 25 September 2002.
[3] Article 7 Report, Form F, 25 September 2002.
[4] Article 7 Report, Form D, 25 September 2002. Telephone interview with Michel Biang, Director, Legal Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Libreville, 25 February 2004; interview with Wilfried Otchanga, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Libreville, 26 January 2001; interview with Charles Essonghé, UN mission, New York, 24 April 2000.
[5] “Benin Mine Clearance Training Center,” document provided to Landmine Monitor by Thomas Adoumasse, Deputy Director, Department of International Organizations, Benin Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in February 2004.