Key developments since May 2004: The Swiss-based NGO Geneva Call
visited Western Sahara in June 2005, and Polisario indicated its support for a
comprehensive ban on antipersonnel mines. From April 2004 to April 2005, 354
mines and items of unexploded ordnance were discovered and marked, and 30
explosive ordnance disposal operations were carried out on both sides of the
barrier dividing Morocco and Western Sahara.
Mine Ban Policy
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 is not universally
recognized and has no official representation in the UN. It is not eligible to
accede to the Mine Ban Treaty.
From 3-10 June 2005, the Swiss-based NGO Geneva Call conducted a field
mission to Western Sahara. Geneva Call met with the Saharawi President,
Minister of Defense, UN peacekeeping mission (MINURSO), NGOs and mine survivors,
and discussed the issues of a mine ban, mine clearance, mine risk education and
victim assistance.
The President of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic and Secretary-General
of Polisario, Mohamed Abdelaziz, informed the Geneva Call mission that Polisario
will either sign the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment, or declare a similar
position.[1] The Deed of Commitment
calls for a comprehensive ban on use, production, trade and stockpiling of
antipersonnel mines, and cooperation on mine action. Previously, Polisario
representatives have stated, most recently in March 2002, that the Saharawi
government would join the Mine Ban Treaty if eligible to do so. However, at the
same time, they have spoken of a possible need for antipersonnel
mines.[2]
Polisario is not known to have produced or exported mines. It has stated
that it acquired mines in the past by lifting them from the Moroccan defensive
walls (berms).[3] Polisario maintains
that it no longer has a stockpile of mines. It keeps 1,606 disarmed
antipersonnel mines on display in the Saharawi Liberation Army Military Museum,
which is open to visitors. Polisario told the Geneva Call mission of their
intent to destroy those disarmed
mines.[4]
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 deployed a peacekeeping and observer force.
Landmine/UXO Problem and Mine Action
Western Sahara is affected by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result
of years of conflict.[5] 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 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.[6]
There is no formal mine action program in Western Sahara. However, under
bilateral military agreements signed by Morocco and Polisario in early 1999,
both parties agreed to cooperate with the UN Mission for the Referendum in
Western Sahara (MINURSO) in the exchange of mine-related information, marking of
mined areas, and the clearance and destruction of mines and UXO in the presence
of MINURSO observers.[7] This
agreement does not cover minefields along the defensive walls
(berms).[8] Polisario has stated that
it provided MINURSO with all maps and necessary information in
1991.[9] A comprehensive landmine
impact survey has not been carried out.
MINURSO carries out joint military operations, with Polisario forces in
territory on the Western Sahara side of the berms and with the Royal Moroccan
Army on the Moroccan side; when mines and UXO are discovered they are marked by
MINURSO, which then monitors their destruction in explosive ordnance disposal
(EOD) operations.
From April 2004 to April 2005, MINURSO, in cooperation with the Royal
Moroccan Army and Polisario, discovered and marked a total of 354 pieces of
mines and UXO; 30 EOD operations by Polisario and the RMA were
monitored.[10] The data reported
does not indicate what quantities were found and destroyed on each side of the
berm.
MINURSO is based in Laayoune, in Western Sahara. In 2003, MINURSO installed
the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA), in order to improve
the operational capability of its military component and to support a wider mine
action program. In March 2005, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian
Demining (GICHD) visited MINURSO, and provided training for its civilian and
military personnel in the use of IMSMA, which has been updated. The UN
Secretary-General reported that MINURSO intends to set up a joint
(military-civilian) section to manage and update
IMSMA.[11]
Landmine Casualties
In 2004, there was at least one new mine casualty in Western Sahara. On 4
March, a 10-year-old girl lost her leg in a mine incident in the region of Assa,
while grazing cattle and goats in the
desert.[12] On 6 May 2004, a
civilian vehicle hit an antivehicle mine near
Awsard.[13] It is not known if
there were any casualties in this incident. In 2003, one civilian was killed in
the only reported mine incident, in the area of Mijek (southern
sector).[14]
In 2005, MINURSO had recorded one mine incident as of
July.[15]
The total number of mine casualties in Western Sahara is not known. Between
1992 and 2003, more than 46 mine/UXO casualties were reported, including at
least 13 people killed and 33 injured. In addition, between March 2000 and
March 2001, Moroccan authorities registered 51 military casualties from
antivehicle mines and UXO explosions in Western Sahara. However, reporting of
casualties is not believed to be comprehensive. In April 2000, Norwegian
People’s Aid identified 320 landmine amputees in the Saharawi refugee
camps.[16] There have reportedly
been more than 2,500 landmine casualties since
1975.[17]
Survivor Assistance
Access to emergency services, especially in remote areas, is limited to
military medical facilities. There is a medical center in Laayoune and two
medical stations in Awsard and Smara. Mine casualties can face a two or three
day drive to the national hospital in Rabouni, near Tindouf, Algeria. Due to
the difficult terrain, prostheses are in constant need of
repair.[18]
The International Committee of the Red Cross supports a prosthetic workshop
at the Ben Aknoun center in Algiers, Algeria, to provide access to physical
rehabilitation for Saharawi amputees. In 2004, the center provided 38
prostheses and 43 orthoses; none were for mine
survivors.[19]
The Chedid Chreif Center in the refugee camp in Rabouni provides shelter,
medicines, basic supplies, and socioeconomic reintegration activities to mine
survivors and other war victims. The director of the center has established a
self-help system, in which local authorities, NGOs and individuals spend time
with survivors, and provide financial or material aid, if needed. In 2004, 81
people were assisted.[20]
The French NGO Triangle provides assistance to people with disabilities in
the Dakhla refugee camp for Saharawi people. Services include several community
and welcome centers, awareness raising and
education.[21]
Some Spanish and Italian NGOs reportedly provide funding for artificial limbs
for amputees in Western
Sahara.[22]
[1] Interview with Pascal Bongard,
Geneva Call, Geneva, 17 June 2005; Geneva Call Press Release, “Geneva
Call’s mission in disputed Western Sahara: New Progress in the fight
against landmines,” Geneva, 15 June 2005.
[2] Interview with Mohamed Sidati,
Minister for Europe for the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, Oslo, 20 March
2002.
[3] Interview with Pascal Bongard,
Geneva Call, Geneva, 17 June 2005. 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. Polisario response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[4] Interview with Pascal Bongard,
Geneva Call, Geneva, 17 June 2005.
[5] See Landmine Monitor Report
2004, p. 1071, and Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp. 921-924.
[6] Interview with Maj. M. Morrow,
Mine Information Officer, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January 2001.
[7] Military agreement No. 3 on the
reduction of hazard from mines and UXO, 12 March 1999.
[8] See Landmine Monitor Report
2004, pp. 1072, 1241.
[9] Polisario response to
Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002.
[10] Report of the UN
Secretary-General on the situation concerning Western Sahara, S/2005/254, 19
April 2005, p. 3.
[11] Report of the UN
Secretary-General, S/2005/254, 19 April 2005, p. 3.
[12] Email to Landmine Monitor
from Rainer Chr Hennig, Editor, Afrol News, 18 March 2005;
“Nouvelles hebdomadaires du Western Sahara: Territoires occupées et
sud Maroc,” Western Sahara Referendum Support Association, 10 April
2005.
[13] “Statistics Discovered
& Destroyed UXOs/Mines: The Period from Jul 2003 to Jul 2005,” sent to
Landmine Monitor (HI) by Enrico Magnani, Information Officer/IMSMA Focal Point,
MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 September 2005.
[14] For more information, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1241.
[15]"Statistics For Discovered
& Destroyed UXOs/Mines: The Period from Jul 2003 to Jul 2005,” sent to
Landmine Monitor (HI) by Enrico Magnani, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 September
2005.
[16] For more information, see
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 1241-1242.
[17] Email to Landmine Monitor
(HI) from Gaizi Nah Bachir, Researcher and Anti-mines Activist, Western Sahara,
3 September 2005.
[18] Email to Landmine Monitor
(HI) from Gaizi Nah Bachir, Western Sahara, 3 September 2005; see also
Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 1242, and
www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/dpko/minurso.pdf.
[19] ICRC Physical Rehabilitation
Program, “Annual Report 2004,” Geneva, July 2005, pp. 37, 44. The
statistics for 2004 are incomplete.
[20] Email to Landmine Monitor
(HI) from Gaici Nah Bachir, researcher and mines activist, 25 September 2005,
with information provided by Brahim Moulay Ahmed, Director, Chedid Chreif;
Information provided to Landmine Monitor (HI) by Melainin Lakhal,
Secretary-General of the Union of Saharawi Journalists and Writers (UPES),
Western Sahara, 27 August 2005.
[21]
See Triangle Generation Humanitaire website, www.trianglegh.org.
[22] Interview with Pascal
Bongard, Geneva Call, Geneva, 17 June 2005.