LM Report 2004

Western Sahara

Key developments since 1999: Polisario states that it has not used antipersonnel mines since the 1991 cease-fire, and has no stockpile of mines. Between April 1998 and May 2000, Norwegian People’s Aid conducted a mine risk education program for Saharawi refugees in Algeria. 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.

Mine Ban Policy

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 have stated, most recently in March 2002, 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 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 to 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]

During a period of high tensions in late 2000 and early 2001, Polisario and Morocco accused each other of recent deployment of mines.^[5] 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, Polisario claimed that Moroccan Army troops deployed in Western Sahara “refurbish and upgrade their minefields on a daily basis.”^[6]

Landmine Problem and Mine Action

Western Sahara is affected by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result of years of conflict.^[7] 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.^[8]

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.^[9] 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.^[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 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]

In 2003, the GICHD provided MINURSO with installation support, training, software maintenance, upgrades and general support for the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA). According to an April 2004 UN report, the database system should enable MINURSO to consolidate the landmine and UXO data that it has collected over the years for use in planning any mine action in the area.^[15]

In April 1998, Norwegian People's Aid implemented a mine risk education program in Western Sahara that sought to provide training for approximately 100,000 refugees. The program ended in May 2000.^[16]

Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance

In February 2003, Polisario reported a mine incident that resulted in the death of a civilian in the area of Mijek (southern sector).^[17] On 1 September 2003, the Moroccan Army reported a mine incident that destroyed a civilian vehicle in the area of Hawza.^[18] It is not known if there were any casualties in this incident. No casualties were reported in the first half of 2004.

Comprehensive information on mine casualties since 1999 is not available. In June 2002, Polisario provided Landmine Monitor with a list of seven mine incidents from June 2001 to April 2002. Five involved antipersonnel mines: one person was killed in 2001, and one person was injured and eight camels were killed in 2002. Two involved antivehicle mines: two people injured in 2001, and one person was killed and at least two others injured in 2002.^[19] From May to December 2000, MINURSO recorded five mine incidents in Western Sahara; two involved military personnel and three involved civilians.^[20] On 5 March 2000, a family traveling by jeep drove over a mine in the Oumediggin region in southern Western Sahara; the father, mother, and one of their sons were killed and another son lost one of his arms.^[21]

Between March 2000 and March 2001, Moroccan authorities registered 51 military casualties from antivehicle mines and UXO explosions in Western Sahara.^[22]

The Sahara Section of the Forum for Truth and Justice, a Moroccan organization, claims that there have been a number of landmine casualties in the Moroccan-controlled areas, particularly among nomads in the southern part of Western Sahara.^[23] MINURSO recorded 39 mine/UXO incidents from 1992 to 2000; seven people were killed and 27 injured. However, these figures were not believed to be comprehensive.^[24]

Norwegian People’s Aid conducted a mine victim assessment mission in the Saharawi refugee camps in April 2000, which identified 320 landmine amputees.^[25] Access to emergency services, especially in remote areas, is limited to military medical facilities. Mine casualties can face a two or three day drive to the national hospital in Rabouni, near Tindouf, Algeria. No NGOs are known to be actively working with landmine survivors in the refugee camps or in Western Sahara.^[26]

Since 2001, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has supported a prosthetic workshop at the Ben Aknoun center in Algiers, Algeria, primarily to provide access to physical rehabilitation for Saharawi amputees, and Algerians not covered by health insurance. The Saharawi component of the program ended during the first quarter of 2003. The program included transportation costs, technical assistance, and training for one Saharawi technician. More than 60 Saharawis received physical rehabilitation since 2001, including eleven prostheses fitted in 2003 (two for mine survivors), and 77 fitted in 2002 (61 for mine survivors) including 58 for Saharawi amputees. In July 2002, an ICRC prosthetic specialist visited the Saharawi refugee camps to monitor the progress of amputees assisted in Algiers.^[27]

[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] Ibid.
[5] Response to LM Questionnaire by Morocco Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 9 March 2001; Review by Landmine Monitor researchers of records kept at MINURSO Headquarters, Laayoune, January 2001.
[6] Telephone interview with Emhamed Khadad, POLISARIO Coordinator to MINURSO, 23 January 2002.
[7] For a detailed description of the landmine problem, see Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 921-924.
[8] Interview with Maj. M. Morrow, Mine Information Officer, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January 2001.
[9] Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Situation concerning Western Sahara, S/1999/307, Paragraph 13, 22 March 1999.
[10] Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[11] Report of the UNSG on the Situation Concerning Western Sahara, S/2004/325, 23 April 2004, p. 3.
[12] Report of the UNSG on the Situation Concerning Western Sahara, S/2004/39, 19 January 2004 p. 3.
[13] Report of the UNSG on the Situation Concerning Western Sahara, S/2003/1016, 16 October 2003, p. 3.
[14] Report of the UNSG on the Situation Concerning Western Sahara, S/2004/325, 23 April 2004, p. 3.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Landmine Monitor Report 1999, p. 924.
[17] Report of the UNSG on the Situation Concerning Western Sahara, 23 May 2003, p. 2.
[18] Report of the UNSG on the Situation Concerning Western Sahara, S/2003/1016, 16 October 2003 p. 3.
[19] Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[20] MINURSO, “Landmine Accidents Jan 99-Dec 00,” document provided 8 January 2001.
[21] Statement by Emhamed Khadad, Polisario, 12 March 2001, and interview, Oslo, 4 April 2001.
[22] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Response to Landmine Monitor Questionnaire, 9 March 2001.
[23] Interview with Brahim Noumria, Forum Verité et Justice-Section Sahara, Geneva, 8 April 2002.
[24] MINURSO, “Landmine Accidents Jan 99-Dec 00.” See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 1063.
[25] Rune Nilsen, NPA, “Mine victims support assessment mission to Tindouf 15-26 April 2000.”
[26] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, pp. 1064-1065; Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 980.
[27] ICRC Physical Rehabilitation Programs, “Annual Report 2003,” 9 March 2004, p. 26; ICRC, “Annual Report 2002,” Geneva, June 2003; ICRC, “Annual Report 2002,” Geneva, June 2003, p. 332.