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Table of Contents
Country Reports
LIBYA, Landmine Monitor Report 2005

Libya

Key developments since May 2004: At the first landmine seminar in Libya in May 2005, the President of the Gaddafi Foundation for Charitable Associations and the son of Libya’s President, called for the country to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty. In April 2005, Libya established the National Program for Demining and Land Reclamation to clear affected areas so they could be used as part of the national development plan. In May 2005, Libya launched a national campaign to remove the landmines planted along its borders with Egypt and Chad.

Mine Ban Policy

The Socialist People’s Libyan Arab Jamahiriya has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. There were some indicators in 2004 and 2005 of a new willingness to consider accession. Perhaps the most significant sign of a change in thinking was seen in the statement made by Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi (President of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations, and the son of Libya’s President) at a landmine seminar in May 2005: “I personally and the Gaddafi organization support joining the Mine Ban Treaty.” He explicitly stated his desire for Libya to accede.[1]

Libya sent its Minister of the Interior, the highest level official to ever attend a Mine Ban Treaty meeting, to the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Nairobi in November-December 2004. Libya’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva participated in the intersessional meetings in Geneva in June 2005. The governments of Libya and Canada, in conjunction with the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations, hosted the Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines in May 2005, a meeting that included extensive discussion about the Mine Ban Treaty. Libya also participated in a regional meeting on military and humanitarian issues surrounding the Mine Ban Treaty, held in Amman, Jordan in April 2004.

However, Libyan officials continued to repeat long-stated objections to joining the Mine Ban Treaty. In June 2005, Libya’s UN Ambassador told States Parties: “[W]e are unable, up to this day, to accede for the following reasons: the Convention did not resolve the main issue, represented in the millions of explosives and remnants of the world wars, the majority of which are still implanted in developing countries that have neither the financial and technical potential nor the technological means for their removal.... The Convention commits the states party to remove the landmines implanted in their lands while it does not commit states that laid them, therefore failing to admit the responsibility of these states that caused the damage, and subsequently forcing them not to remove their landmines, compensate for the damages, or provide the necessary technical and financial assistance. The Ottawa Convention does not take into consideration the security concerns of developing nations like the Great Jamahiriya, which has a vast geographical area, and yet does not have alternative means to tackle the security failure caused by the absence of anti-personnel landmines.”[2 ]

Libya’s Minister of Public Security told the First Review Conference that banning offensive weapons, such as long-range missiles and depleted uranium bombs, must take precedence over banning antipersonnel mines. He said, “My country calls for the prohibition of all kinds of killing and destruction weapons the last of which are landmines in accordance with objective priorities which take into consideration the right of all peoples and states in their legitimate defense of their land and security.”[3 ]

Libya has said on several occasions in the past that it supports a prohibition on antipersonnel mines, and encourages countries that can join the Mine Ban Treaty to do so, but that it is not possible yet for Libya because of security concerns, as well as the financial and technical difficulties related to mine clearance.[4 ] Libya abstained from voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 59/84 on 3 December 2004, which called for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. It has abstained on similar resolutions every year since 1998.

The Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, held on 12 May 2005, was the first landmine event sponsored by the government and the first held in Libya. Participants included senior officials from relevant ministries, as well as representatives of diplomatic missions, the UN Mine Action Service, Libyan NGOs (including Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations and Anti-Mines Association), ICBL, International Committee of the Red Cross and Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining. The seminar opened with an address by Dr. Mohamed Taher Siala, Secretary for Cooperation Affairs and Chairman of the National Program to Remove Landmines and Rehabilitate Land. According to the ICBL, the objective of the seminar was to provide an opportunity for Libyan authorities to increase their knowledge of the Mine Ban Treaty and the mechanisms in place to ensure its implementation, including international assistance for mine-affected States Parties.[5]

The ICBL sent a representative to Tripoli in August 2005 to participate in events surrounding the anniversary of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations.

Libya is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons or any of its protocols.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling and Use

In March 2004, a Libyan official stated for the first time that the country never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, and that it currently had no stockpile of antipersonnel mines.[6 ] Libya is known to have imported mines from the former Soviet Union, including POMZ-2 and POMZ-2M antipersonnel fragmentation mines.[7 ]

The Chairman of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations said in a statement that Libya planted two million mines in the northeast of the country and along the border with Egypt during its conflict with Egypt in 1977. It also laid an unknown number of mines in Tipisti, southern Libya, as well as in northern Chad, during the Libyan-Chadian war from 1980 to 1987.[8 ]

Landmine Problem

Libya’s landmine problem is a result of the World War II campaign in North Africa, the conflict with Egypt in 1977 and the Libyan-Chadian war from 1980 to 1987.[9 ] Areas on the borders with Chad, Egypt and Tunisia are affected, as well as areas in the north and south of the country.[10]

Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) have had negative effects on development, petroleum and industrial projects, and on infrastructure and grazing. The construction of the “Great Man Made River,” a 3,380 kilometers network of pipes to transfer underground water in the south to the coastal concentration in the north, was severely affected by the presence of landmines and ERW, with clearance considerably increasing construction costs.[11 ]

Estimates of the extent of mine/UXO contamination vary greatly, with claims of up to 10 million landmines, as no comprehensive survey has been conducted.[12 ] Two million mines were planted by the Libyan army in 1977.[13 ] In 2003, however, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official told Landmine Monitor that there were between 1.5 and 3 million landmines in the ground.[14 ] The Ministry of Defense stated that most of the minefields are not marked.[15 ]

According to Libyan officials, there are no maps of mines planted in the Chad border area, but maps exist for the mines planted on the border with Egypt. Italy provided Libya maps showing the location of its World War II minefields.[16 ] At the intersessional meetings in June 2005, Libya reiterated its call for other countries to hand over maps of minefields on Libyan territory.[17]

Mine Action

The Ministry of Defense and the Civil Protection unit (under the Ministry of Interior and Justice) have responsibilities for various aspects of mine action. The Ministry of Defense is reported to clear areas serving both military purposes and development projects, while Civil Protection has carried out clearance in affected communities.[18 ]

In April 2005, a National Program for Demining and Land Reclamation was established “in order to work with concerned parties for the purpose of demining and reclamation of affected lands, leading to their integration in the general development plan.”[19 ] The national program is headed by the Minister of International Cooperation and comprises all ministries.[20 ] Libya has stated that in order for the national program to be successful it must be provided with maps of all minefields in Libya, as well as the necessary means to conduct mine clearance and provide assistance to mine survivors. In this regard, “a special fund has been established to collect financial support.”[21 ]

At the Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines on 12 May 2005, the Chairman of Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations, Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi, explained that the Army Engineering Corps has the experience necessary to clear World War II landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), since they cleared hundreds of thousands of World War II era mines and ERW during the 1970s and 1980s. He noted that the technical characteristics and large number of mines (more than two million) along the Egyptian border would make clearance of the border area difficult.[22 ] The chairman added that Libya and Egypt discussed joint border clearance, but that Egypt was not eager to undertake joint clearance and Libya was reluctant to undertake clearance operations unilaterally.[23]

However, at the same seminar, the chairman announced the launch of a “national campaign” to remove the landmines planted along the borders with Egypt and Chad.[24 ] The campaign is reported to have started in late June 2005 in Tobrouk, as a joint project of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations and retired military personnel.[25]

The Anti-Mines Association, a national NGO, was formed in early 2005. It is a member of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations. The Anti-Mines Association has not commenced mine clearance operations.[26 ]

From World War II until 1981, Libya reported the clearance of 14.5 million landmines and ERW.[27 ] According to a military official, some mine clearance is still carried out every year by Civil Protection and the Engineering Corps of the Army, but the results of this demining are not made public.[28 ]

No external funding for mine clearance in Libya has been reported, except for an allocation by Italy in 2002 of €2.5 million, which was diverted to Angola and Bosnia and Herzegovina when Libya failed to meet Italy’s deadline to provide information about how the funds would be used.[29 ] The chairman of the National Program for Demining and Land Reclamation explained that Libya could not decide how to use the Italian funds, and did not at that time have a national program to coordinate the project. He added that the funds offered were negligible compared with the costs of clearing Libya’s mine contamination.[30 ]

Landmine Casualties and Survivor Assistance

In 2004 and the first half of 2005, Landmine Monitor identified no new mine/UXO casualties in Libya. However, according to a Libyan government official there are new incidents every month, but there is no mechanism in place to collect data.[31 ]

The total number of landmine casualties in Libya is not known. Reports compiled by the Libyan police indicate that 11,845 landmine casualties were recorded between 1940 and 1995, including 6,749 people killed and 5,096 injured.[32 ] The Libyan Jihad Center for Historical Studies reports higher statistics with 12,258 mine casualties, including 3,874 people killed and 8,384 injured, between 1952 and 1975.[33 ]

Libya offers medical care in public hospitals free of charge to all its citizens. The country’s two major hospitals are located in Tripoli and Benghazi. Both hospitals are affiliated with specialized schools and institutes for the training of medical staff.[34 ] Smaller towns and villages have health clinics, and remote areas are serviced by mobile clinics.[35]

All persons with disabilities, including mine and UXO survivors, receive medical care and rehabilitation in specialized hospitals, access to social support facilities, and assistance in accessing employment opportunities.[36 ] However, the physical rehabilitation services and psychosocial assistance in Libya are reportedly insufficient to meet the needs of mine/UXO survivors.[37]

Disability Policy and Practice

The 1980 Law on Social Insurance provides a comprehensive social security system for all citizens and foreigners living in the country, including people with disabilities. Entitlements include pensions, medical treatment and surgery, hospitalization, medicine, orthopedic equipment, dental care, glasses, and rehabilitation.[38 ] Law No. 5 of 1987 also relates to persons with disabilities but no information is available on the benefits available under the legislation.[39]


[1] Statement by Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi, Chairman, Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005 (notes taken by Landmine Monitor researcher).

[2 ]Statement by Amb. Najat M. Al-Hajjaji, Permanent Representative of Libya to the UN in Geneva, Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 17 June 2005.

[3 ]Statement by Nasser El-Mabruk, Minister of Interior, Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World (First Review Conference), Nairobi, 3 December 2004. The Minister’s formal title is Secretary of the General People’s Committee for Justice and Security.

[4 ]For example, statement by Libya, Amman Seminar on Military and Humanitarian Issues Surrounding the Ottawa Convention, Amman, 20 April 2004; interview with Almabrouk Mohamed Milad, Director of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geneva, 12 February 2004.

[5] Sylvie Brigot, ICBL Advocacy Director, “Report on the May 2005 Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines,” 18 May 2005.

[6 ]Interview with Col. Ali Alahrash, Ministry of Defense, Geneva, 16 March 2004. Landmine Monitor reported in the past that Libya was not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but was presumed to have stockpiles of antipersonnel mines.

[7 ]Jane’s Mines and Mine Clearance, Third Edition 1998-99, Jane’s Information Group, p. 603.

[8 ]Statement by Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi, Gaddafi International Foundation, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005 (notes taken by Landmine Monitor researcher).

[9 ]Sylvie Brigot, ICBL Advocacy Director, “Report on the May 2005 Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines,” 18 May 2005.

[10] Those areas include: Barida, Capuzo, Giarabub, Kufra, Tobrouk, Gazala, El-Adem, Bir-el-Gobi, Timmi and Mechili in the east and northeast; Cyrene, Barce, Soluk, Msus, Benghazi, Tolmmetta, Zuetina, Agdabia, Brega, Agheila, Ras-Lanuf, Nufilia, Sirte, Hon, Buerat, Ghaddahia, Minsurata, Zltine, Sebha, Homs, Tarhuna, Gheriat, Beni-ulid, Mizda, Bu-Ngem, Tripoli, Zawia and Zuara in the north; Ghadams on the Libyan-Tunisian border; Murzuk and Tipisti in the south. “The White Book,” Libyan Studies Center, 1980, p. 1; “Death Fields,” Department for Civil Protection, Ministry of Justice and Security, 2002.

[11 ]Statement by Nasser El-Mabruk, First Review Conference, Nairobi, 3 December 2004; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1065.

[12 ]See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1065; Ahmed Besharah, “World War II mines planted in Libya and its socio-economic impact,” Libyan Jihad Center for Historical Studies, 1995, p. 123.

[13 ]Statement by Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi, Gaddafi International Foundation, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005.

[14 ]Interview with Alambrouk Mohamed Milad, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 15 May 2003. For types of antipersonnel mines remaining from World War II, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 1065-1066.

[15 ]Interview with Col. Ali Alaharash, Ministry of Defense, 16 March 2004.

[16 ]Sylvie Brigot, ICBL Advocacy Director, “Report on the May 2005 Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines,” 18 May 2005.

[17] Statement by Amb. Najat M. Al-Hajjaji, Standing Committee on General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 17 June 2005.

[18 ]Interview with Dr. Taher Siala, Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Liaison and International Cooperation, Chairman of the National Program for Demining and Land Reclamation, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005.

[19 ]Statement by Libya, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 17 June 2005.

[20 ]Statement by Dr. Taher Siala, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005.

[21 ]Statement by Amb. Najat M. Al-Hajjaji, Permanent Representative of Libya to the UN in Geneva, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 17 June 2005.

[22 ]Statement by Seif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi, Gaddafi International Foundation, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005.

[23] Sylvie Brigot, ICBL Advocacy Director, “Report on the May 2005 Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines,” 18 May 2005.

[24 ]Statement by Amb. Najat M. Al-Hajjaji, Standing Committee on the General Status and Operation of the Convention, Geneva, 17 June 2005.

[25] Landmine Monitor telephone interview with Hakim Amri and Mashalah Gafoul, Directors, Anti-Mines Association, 25 June and 3 July 2005.

[26 ]Landmine Monitor meeting with Anti-Mines Association board members, Tripoli, 11 May 2005.

[27 ]Ahmed Besharah, “World War II mines planted in Libya and its socio-economic impact,” Libyan Jihad Center for Historical Studies, Tripoli, 1995, p. 123.

[28 ]See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1066.

[29 ]See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1066.

[30 ]Interview with Dr. Taher Siala, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005.

[31 ]Interview with Dr. Taher Siala, Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005.

[32 ]See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 953.

[33 ]Ahmed Besharah, “World War II mines planted in Libya and its socio-economic impact,” Libyan Jihad Center for Historical Studies, Tripoli, 1995, p. 153.

[34 ]“Looking at Health Care,” Cultural Profiles Project, www.cp-pc.ca/english/libya/health.html, accessed 6 October 2005.

[35] Paola Russo, “Welfare in the Mediterranean Countries, Great Arab Popular Socialist Libyan Jamahyria,” Center for Administrative Innovation in the Euro-Mediterranean Region, Arco Felice, undated (but relating to events in 2004), p. 13.

[36 ]Interview with Col. Ali Alahrash, Ministry of Defense, 16 March 2004.

[37] Response from Dr. Taher Siala to Landmine Monitor question at the Tripoli Seminar on Removing Landmines, Tripoli, 12 May 2005.

[38 ]Law No. 13 of 1980 on Social Security, www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/, accessed 5 August 2005.

[39] Law No. 5 of 1987 on Disabled Persons, http://natlex.ilo.org accessed, 23 August 2005.