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Table of Contents
Country Reports
KENYA, Landmine Monitor Report 2005

Kenya

Key developments since May 2004: From 28 November to 3 December 2004, Kenya hosted the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World. National implementation legislation is being prepared. A joint British-Kenyan International Mine Action Training Centre, for mine action training in sub-Saharan Africa, was inaugurated on 17 February 2005 close to Nairobi.

Mine Ban Policy

The Republic of Kenya signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 5 December 1997, ratified on 23 January 2001, and the treaty entered into force for the country on 1 July 2001. Parliament approved the preparation of national implementation legislation on 9 December 2004.[1] The Attorney General’s office drafted the legislation and sent it to the Office of the President for approval on 6 June 2005. After approval, the Attorney General’s office will formally publish the bill and send it to the Parliament for debate.[2]

As of September 2005, the UN had not received Kenya’s annual updated Article 7 transparency report, which was due 30 April 2005. A Ministry of Defence official told Landmine Monitor that the report was submitted on 29 March 2005.[3] Kenya submitted its third Article 7 report on 31 March 2004.[4]

From 28 November to 3 December 2004, Kenya hosted the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Nairobi.[5] This was the biggest and highest level gathering, on the mine issue, of governments and NGOs since the Mine Ban Treaty was opened for signature in Ottawa on 3 December 1997. A total of 135 governments, including 110 States Parties, participated in the conference that was also known as the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World. Over 350 NGO representatives attended from 82 countries. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki presided over the opening ceremony, and delivered the first speech of the high level segment, noting, “Each state—no matter how big or small, no matter how rich or poor—has a responsibility to protect innocent civilians from the suffering and indignity caused by these weapons.”[6] Kenya’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chirau Ali Mwakwere, spoke at the opening ceremony and chaired parts of the First Review Conference. Kenya’s Ambassador Esther Tolle, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, served as Secretary-General of the First Review Conference.

The Kenya Coalition Against Landmines (KCAL) was centrally involved in the Nairobi Summit preparations. It organized a 10-kilometer run/walk for a mine-free world, an interfaith service and other public awareness events. KCAL led the ICBL’s participation in the opening ceremony of the summit, which featured a dazzling array of African dance and music.[7]

Kenya attended the treaty’s intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2005, but did not make any interventions. Kenya has participated only rarely in the extensive States Parties' discussions regarding matters of interpretation and implementation of Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Mine Ban Treaty. However, Kenya has said that it “holds the view that any mine that functions as an antipersonnel mine or can be modified to function like an antipersonnel mine, should be considered an antipersonnel mine and therefore banned within the context of the definition of a mine and in cognizance of the letter and spirit of the convention.”[8] Moreover, Kenya’s draft implementation bill does not permit the military to participate in joint operations or drills where antipersonnel mines are being used.[9]

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Use

Kenya has never produced or exported landmines. It imported mines from Belgium, Israel and the United Kingdom. In August 2003, Kenya’s military destroyed the country’s entire stockpile of 35,774 antipersonnel mines, far ahead of its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 July 2005.[10] Kenya is retaining 3,000 antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[11] The number has not changed since Kenya first declared it in December 2001, indicating no mines are being consumed during training activities. Kenya has not yet reported in any detail on the intended purposes and actual uses of its retained mines—a step agreed to by States Parties in the Nairobi Action Plan that emerged from the First Review Conference.

In July 2004, it was reported that an antivehicle mine on the heavily used Isiolo road paralyzed transport in the region for a week.[12] Military personnel removed the landmine; the Department of Defence stated that an investigation concluded that the Oromo Liberation Front was responsible.[13]

In April 2005, media reported the arrests of 20 foreigners by Kenyan police following fighting that included the use of antipersonnel mines between the Gare and Marehan clans in the Somali town of Burhache, approximately 10 kilometers from the Kenyan border.[14]

Landmine/UXO Problem and Clearance

Kenya's Article 7 reports state that there are no areas containing or suspected of containing mines, and that no mines have been destroyed in mined areas.[15]

There are occasional media reports of mines being found. In July 2004, a landmine explosion in Sololo in Moyale killed a camel.[16] This was considered an isolated case; Department of Defence official, Col. George Shiundu, stated that there have been no other related occurrences since then.[17] Landmine explosions in this area have been reported previously by Landmine Monitor.[18]

Some parts of Kenya are contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO): in the pastoral north where annual military training by Kenyan and foreign military forces is carried out around the Archer’s Post and Dol Dol areas of Samburu district, and where the 1950s Mau Mau rebellion was intense.[19] A case lodged in 2001 against the UK Ministry of Defence for damage to the affected population allegedly caused by UXO left over from training exercises was settled out of court in July 2002.[20] In March 2005, UXO was found in Samburu, and disposed of by the Kenyan Army.[21]

British forces train Kenyan military personnel in clearance techniques and provide some of the equipment needed to conduct clearance operations. There have also been joint Kenyan–British UXO clearance operations in the Archer’s Post area in previous years.[22]

The International Mine Action Training Centre (IMATC), a joint British-Kenyan project that aims at becoming a center for mine action training in sub-Saharan Africa, was inaugurated on 17 February 2005 in Embakasi on the outskirts of Nairobi. With a staff of 75, the training center aims to train deminers from the Eastern African region and other African countries, by request. The staff is primarily military personal trained by the British Army, all of whom are deminers. [23] Since IMATC opened, 106 Kenyan soldiers have followed a five to seven-week training program; after refresher training in October, the soldiers were scheduled for departure to Sudan in November 2005 for a one-year deployment. From 1 August to 15 September 2005, 20 engineers from the Uganda People’s Defence Forces were trained; they will form two teams for mine clearance and explosive ordnance disposal (EOD). Other trainees included: Sudanese personnel who were trained to conduct quality assurance for the Sudan mine action program; 20 police officers from Somaliland who were trained in mine clearance and EOD; military personnel from Nigeria. The center plans to train 100 Sudanese soldiers in EOD and mine clearance in 2006.[24] The Department of Defence said that while IMATC provides training of deminers from various countries, “as for their deployment, it is up to the respective governments themselves.”[25]

From 9 to 13 May 2005, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) organized a Workshop on Socio-Economic Approaches to Planning and Management of Mine Action at IMATC. Participants were from senior posts in mine action programs in Angola, Burundi, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda.[26]

Landmine/UXO Casualties and Survivor Assistance

In 2004, Landmine Monitor identified no casualties from mine incidents.

The total number of landmine casualties in Kenya is not known. Between 1999 and 2003, at least 16 people were killed and 41 injured in mine/UXO incidents. More than 500 people may have been killed by UXO since military drills began in 1945, and many more injured.[27]

Public health facilities in Kenya are believed to be adequate to provide first aid and advanced medical care to mine/UXO casualties, ranging from rural health centers to national referral hospitals.[28]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Lopiding Hospital in Lokichokio, on the Kenya-Sudan border, provides first aid, surgical care and physical rehabilitation to mine survivors and other persons with disabilities, who have been evacuated across the border from southern Sudan by ICRC. The hospital also provides follow-up assessment, nursing care and physiotherapy, and ongoing training for surgeons, nurses and orthopedic technicians. Three mine casualties from southern Sudan were admitted to the hospital in January–February 2004, two in June 2004, and one in February 2005 for surgical treatment. In 2004, the orthopedic workshop fitted 392 prostheses, produced 116 orthoses and 1,318 crutches, and distributed 33 wheelchairs. The hospital also runs a three-month training course for field-based repairers in southern Sudan; they are trained to do simple repairs on prostheses, and to refer more complex cases and new cases to Lopiding Hospital.[29]

The Nairobi-based Jaipur Foot Project manufactures orthopedic devices for all persons with disabilities. From June 2004 to May 2005, the project fitted 546 amputees with prostheses, including two mine survivors from Somalia and one from Sudan, and distributed 309 wheelchairs (donated from different sources), 13 tricycles and 26 crutches.[30]

The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation has an office in Nairobi as part of the Omega Initiative project. The program provides technical and financial assistance to victims of war and other persons with disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa, with funding from the US government’s Leahy War Victims’ Fund.[31]

Disability Policy and Practice

Kenya has legislation protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. The Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services is responsible for issues relating to persons with disabilities, including mine/UXO survivors. In April 2004, the government launched a national 10-year program, entitled Kenya National Plan of Action: Africa Decade of Persons with Disabilities, to address the needs of persons with disabilities in the country.[32]


[1] Letter to Kenya Coalition Against Landmines (KCAL) from Linda Murila, Principal Parliamentary Counsel, Attorney General Chambers, REF No: AG/CONF/19/77 Vol. III, 25 May 2005.

[2] Email from Linda Murila, Attorney General Chambers, 16 September 2005.

[3] Email from Linda Murila, Attorney General Chambers, 16 September 2005.

[4] Previous Article 7 reports were submitted on 4 June 2002 and 27 December 2001. Kenya has said it submitted a report on 7 February 2003 as well, but it has never been officially received and posted by the UN.

[5] See ICBL, “Wanted: A Mine-Free World, Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World, Report on Activities,” May 2005. This contains information on the formal and informal governmental and NGO activities, and includes key official documents. See also the official website of the First Review Conference, www.gichd.ch.

[6] Statement by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to the high level segment, First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty (Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World), Nairobi, 2 December 2004.

[7] See “Kenya Coalition Against Landmines Activities,” in ICBL, “Wanted: A Mine-Free World, Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World, Report on Activities,” May 2005, p. 46.

[8] Statement by the Kenya on Article 2, Fifth Meeting of States Parties, Bangkok, 17 September 2003.

[9] Draft legislation, “The Prohibition of Antipersonnel Mines Bill 2004.” The government reiterated this position in interventions on Article 1 at the February 2004 Standing Committee meeting on General Status and Operations of the Convention. Notes taken by Landmine Monitor, Geneva, 9 February 2004.

[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 322, for details of the types of mines.

[11] Article 7 Report, Form D, 31 March 2004. The 3,000 include: 700 each of No. 4, No. 12 and No. 409 mines; 500 No. 6 mines; 400 NR 413 mines.

[12] East African Standard, 13 July 2004.

[13] Interview with Col. George Shiundu, Department of Defence, Nairobi, 15 September 2005.

[14] Issa Hueesin and Hussein Abdulahi, “20 Netted in Operation to Rid Town of Foreigners,” Nation, 19 April 2005.

[15] Article 7 Reports, Forms C and F, 31 March 2004, 4 June 2002 and 27 December 2001.

[16] Daily Nation, 10 July 2004.

[17] Interview with Col. George Shiundu, Department of Defence, Nairobi, 15 September 2005.

[18] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 529.

[19] The British military has carried out live-fire training in Kenya for several months each year since 1945. For details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2003, p. 313, and Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 324.

[20] “Pastoralist compensation,” IRIN, 22 August 2002; Landmine Monitor Report 2002, p. 323.

[21] Daily Nation, 30 March 2005; interview with Col. George Shiundu, Department of Defence, Nairobi, 15 September 2005.

[22] See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 528-529.

[23] Interviews with Brig. George N. Kyaka and Col. George Shiundu, Department of Defence, Nairobi, 15 September 2005.

[24] Telephone interview with Lt. Col. Tim Wildish, Commandant, IMATC, 21 September 2005; interview with Woboya Vicent, Senior Assistant Secretary, Department of Disaster Preparedness and Refugees, Office of the Prime Minister, and Mine Action Coordination Focal Point, Kampala, Uganda, 8 August 2005.

[25] Interviews with Brig. George N. Kyaka and Col. George Shiundu, Department of Defence, Nairobi, 15 September 2005.

[26] Interview with Eric Filippino, Head, Socio-Economic Section, GICHD, 19 September 2005.

[27] For more information, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 529.

[28] For more details, see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 175 and Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 159-160.

[29] ICRC Physical Rehabilitation Program, “Annual Report 2004,” Geneva, July 2005, p. 21; telephone interview with Herman Marenye, Manager, Orthopedic Workshop, Lopiding Hospital, 15 July 2005; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 530.

[30] Interview with Sunil Sinha, Program Manager, Jaipur Foot Project, Nairobi, 15 July 2005; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 530.

[31] For more information, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 530.

[32] For more information, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 531.