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Table of Contents
Country Reports
Morocco, Landmine Monitor Report 2004

Morocco

Key developments since 1999: Morocco has stated that it is complying with the Mine Ban Treaty “de facto.” In February 2001, Moroccan officials for the first time claimed that Morocco no longer uses or stockpiles antipersonnel mines. Morocco and the Polisario have periodically traded accusations of new mine use. Both parties have conducted mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal along the berms of Western Sahara. In April 2004, the UN reported that since 1997 MINURSO has facilitated the discovery and marking of 1,123 mines and UXO, and has participated in 750 disposal operations. Morocco ratified CCW Amended Protocol II on 19 March 2002.

Mine Ban Policy

Morocco has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In June 2004, an official repeated the government’s long-held view that it is supportive of the Mine Ban Treaty, but it is not possible to join due to the ongoing security situation in Western Sahara.[1] Morocco voted in favor of the 1996 UN General Assembly Resolution urging states to pursue vigorously an international agreement banning antipersonnel mines, but has abstained on every subsequent UNGA resolution calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, including UNGA Resolution 58/53 on 8 December 2003.

Morocco has taken an active interest in the Mine Ban Treaty. It participated as an observer in the Ottawa Process leading to the treaty and has since attended every annual Meeting of States Parties, as well as the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva (except February 2004). Morocco has participated in regional landmines meetings promoting the Mine Ban Treaty in Tunisia (January 2002), and Mali (February 2001). In February 2001 and January 2002, Morocco stated that it is complying with the Mine Ban Treaty “de facto.”[2]

Morocco is a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). It ratified CCW Amended Protocol II on landmines on 19 March 2002 and attended the Fifth Annual Conference of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in November 2003. Morocco submitted a national annual report as required by Article 13 in December 2003.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling, and Use

In February 2001, Moroccan officials told Landmine Monitor that Morocco does not use, produce, import, or stockpile antipersonnel mines. This was the first time Morocco claimed that it no longer uses antipersonnel mines, and that it no longer has stockpiles.[3] In March 2001 and in January 2002, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs again stated that Morocco does not have a stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[4] Most recently, in June 2004, a Moroccan official told Landmine Monitor that the country does not use, manufacture, export, or import antipersonnel mines.[5]

Since 2001, Landmine Monitor has sought, but never obtained, clarification on whether Morocco has a policy prohibiting use of antipersonnel mines, or is simply claiming not to have used in recent years. It is also seeking clarification regarding the existence of a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, as Morocco has never provided information regarding when it relinquished mine stockpiles or whether stockpiles were purposefully destroyed or depleted through use.[6]

Morocco acknowledges extensive use of mines in the past. In 1982, the Royal Moroccan Army (RMA) erected a wall or berm to secure the northwest corner of Western Sahara. It subsequently built defensive berms in 1984, 1985 and 1987. In all, six berms were built, four in the north of the territory and two further south. The current dividing line between Morocco and Polisario-held territories includes part of berms four and five and all of berm six in the southern sector of the territory. The berms are made of earth piled two to three meters high and reinforced with security measures including numerous antitank and antipersonnel landmines. An unnamed RMA officer informed MINURSO, the UN mission to oversee the Western Sahara cease-fire and referendum process, that between one and two million mines were used to reinforce the berms.[7]

Since it started reporting in 1999, Landmine Monitor has not found any independent evidence of any antipersonnel mine use by Morocco, and is unaware of any reports from MINURSO regarding possible mine use. On several occasions, the Polisario in Western Sahara has claimed that Morocco uses antipersonnel mines, but Landmine Monitor did not find any allegations of mine use in 2003 or the first six months of 2004.

During a period of high tensions in late 2000 and early 2001, Polisario and Morocco accused each other of recent deployment of mines.[8] On 6 December 2000, the President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Polisario’s Secretary-General Mohamed Abdelaziz, made a formal complaint to the UN Secretary-General that Morocco had violated the 1991 cease-fire by laying mines. In January 2002, the Polisario Front claimed that Royal Moroccan Army troops deployed in Western Sahara “refurbish and upgrade their minefields on a daily basis,” but no independent actors including MINURSO, confirmed these allegations.[9]

Landmine Problem and Mine Action

Morocco is not considered mine-affected, except for the territory it controls in Western Sahara (see the separate Landmine Monitor report on Western Sahara). Under bilateral military agreements signed by Morocco and Polisario in early 1999, both parties committed to cooperate with MINURSO in the exchange of mine-related information, marking of mined areas, and clearance and destruction of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the presence of MINURSO observers.[10]

Between February and April 2004, MINURSO discovered and marked 82 landmines and observed eleven collaborative disposal operations conducted by the Moroccan Army and Polisario on both sides of the berm.[11] Between October 2003 and January 2004, MINURSO discovered and marked 36 landmines and UXO on both sides of the berm and monitored 257 disposal operations by the Moroccan Army.[12] From May to October 2003, MINURSO discovered and marked 56 landmines and pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on both sides of the berm and monitored 31 disposal operations carried out by Moroccan army.[13]

According to an April 2004 United Nations report on Western Sahara, MINURSO has facilitated the discovery and marking of 1,123 mines and UXO since 1997, and it has participated in 750 disposal operations.[14]

MINURSO installed an Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database provided by the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining in 2003.[15]

Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance

A Moroccan official interviewed by Landmine Monitor in June 2004 had not heard of any mine casualties in 2003 or 2004.[16] No comprehensive information is available on mine casualties in Morocco. Between March 2000 and March 2001, Moroccan authorities registered 51 military casualties from antivehicle mines and UXO explosions in Western Sahara; seven were killed, 19 were severely injured, and 25 slightly injured.[17] Between 1991 and 1998, UN team sites west of the berm recorded almost 50 mine and UXO incidents.[18]

Mine survivors are reportedly not treated differently from other persons with disabilities. Moroccan officials state that, “In general, assistance to the handicapped and their insertion into the socio-economic fabric constitutes one of the principal priorities of the Moroccan government.”[19] There is a Commission for the Disabled in Morocco and several national laws including Dahir 1.92.30 of 10 September 1993 on the protection of persons with disabilities and Prime Minister’s Decree 30.130.00 of 7 July 2000 on employment of persons with disabilities in public administrations.[20]


[1] Interview with Seham Lemrabet, Moroccan Permanent Mission to UN in Geneva, Geneva, 25 June 2004.
[2] Response to LM Questionnaire by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 March 2001; “Regional Seminar on the Ottawa Convention in North Africa: Final Report on Proceedings,” Tunis, 15-16 January 2002.
[3] Meeting with four representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rabat, 28 February 2001. 
[4] Response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 March 2001. “Le Maroc ne possede pas de stock de mines antipersonnel.” Moroccan officials repeated that the country does not use and has no stock of antipersonnel mines at the Regional Seminar on the Ottawa Convention in North Africa, Tunis, 15-16 January 2002.
[5] Interview with Seham Lemrabet, Permanent Mission of Morocco to the UN in Geneva, 25 June 2004.
[6] Interview with Abderrahim Bendaoud, Chief of the Security and Disarmament Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tunis, 15 January 2002; Response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 March 2001; meeting with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 28 February 2001.
[7] MINURSO, “Western Sahara: Updated Mine Situation,” February 1998.
[8] Response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 March 2001; Review by LM of records kept at MINURSO Headquarters, Laayoune, January 2001.
[9] Telephone interview with Emhamed Khadad, Polisario Coordinator, MINURSO, 23 January 2002.
[10] Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Situation Concerning Western Sahara, S/1999/307, Paragraph 13, 22 March 1999.
[11] Report of the UN Sec-Gen on Western Sahara, S/2004/325, 23 April 2004, p. 3.
[12] Report of the UN Sec-Gen on Western Sahara, S/2004/39, 19 January 2004 p. 3.
[13] Report of the UN Sec-Gen on Western Sahara, S/2003/1016, 16 October 2003, p. 3.
[14] Report of the UN Sec-Gen on Western Sahara, S/2004/325, 23 April 2004, p. 3.
[15] Report of the UN Sec-Gen on Western Sahara, S/2004/39, 19 January 2004 p. 3.
[16] Interview with Seham Lemrabet, Permanent Mission of Morocco, 25 June 2004.
[17] Response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 March 2001.
[18] MINURSO, “Western Sahara: Updated Mine Situation,” February 1998.
[19] Response by Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 March 2001.
[20] Ibid.