Treaty signatory and host to the 2004 Summit

//Att. Subscribers, this report is part of a comprehensive set of features, background reports, interviews and other resources on landmine-related issues titled 'IRIN Web Special on Humanitarian Mine Action, published ahead of the 2004 Nairobi Summit on a Mine Free World.'// Kenya, the host of the upcoming summit of parties to the Ottawa Convention - that calls for the ban of production and use of anti-personnel mines (APMs) - has been one of the most active parties to the Mine Ban Treaty. Kenya completed the destruction of its stockpile of 38,774 APMs in August 2003, four years ahead of the 2009 deadline stipulated in the convention, according to Michael Oyugi, head of the secretariat of the committee organising the summit, to be held in Nairobi from 29 November to 3 December 2004. Some 3,000 mines have been retained for training purposes, he added. The decision to hold the summit in an African country is also significant because the continent is most affected by the hazards of landmines, according to Oyugi. Although Kenya does not have a landmine problem, it has - over the years - emerged as a "hub for humanitarian activities", a factor that makes Nairobi an appropriate choice as host of the summit, which will also address the humanitarian dimension of landmines, Oyugi said. Most of the 240,000 refugees in Kenya come from countries affected by the landmine problem, including Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea. The refugees include some of those who have lost limbs to landmines in their countries. At Lopiding, close to the Kenyan-Sudanse border area of Lokichoggio, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) runs one of the largest field hospitals in the world, treating mostly those affected by war in southern Sudan. In 1992, the ICRC set up an orthopaedic workshop at the Lopiding hospital that makes artificial limbs for amputees, including victims of landmines, and fitting those with disabilities with orthoses. Fighting between Ethiopian troops and rebels of the Oromo Liberation Front has occasionally spilled over into Kenya, and in the late 1990s there were several reported cases of the rebels planting mines on the Kenyan side of the border to prevent Ethiopian forces from pursuing them. The mines were removed by the Kenyan military mines, according to Oyugi. The Convention on the Prohibition on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of APMs and their Destruction, came into force on 1 March 1999 and has been widely hailed as the most successful global disarmament and humanitarian treaty ever, having been ratified by 143 states. According to Oyugi, Kenya will gain from a "raised international profile" due to the media focus on the summit as an estimated 1,500 delegates gather to review the Mine Ban Treaty. The gathering is widely seen as the most significant meeting of world leaders to address the global landmine problem since the historic Convention signing in Ottawa, Canada, in December 1997. "There is likely to be a tourism spin off from the summit," said Oyugi, referring to the increased exposure Kenya's tourism industry, one of the country's foreign exchange earners, is likely to gain during the meeting. Mereso Agina, the research coordinator of the Kenya Coalition Against Landmines, hoped that the successful hosting of the mines summit would lead to the "upgrading" of the United Nations Office in Nairobi with a view to holding more such international meetings in Kenya. "That would be a direct benefit to Kenya, promoting the country as a conference destination with the expected benefits to the hospitality industry," she said. Nairobi hosts the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT). The Nairobi Summit is aimed at reviewing issues critical to the Convention, including deadlines for mine clearance and destruction of mine stockpiles by state parties to the convention and providing help to those maimed by landmines. "Some countries may need assistance to meet the [mine clearing] deadline, for example Angola - mine clearing is a tedious exercise," said Oyugi. He said the Nairobi Summit is expected to come up with two documents. One of them will be a programme of action on how the goals of the convention are to be achieved, while the second one will be a political declaration by state parties re-affirming their commitment to the convention. "The summit is expected to re-invigorate the convention - give it a new lease on life," Oyugi added. Although Kenya does not have a landmine problem, parts of the country's arid and semi-arid pastoral north and eastern areas are contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by foreign and Kenyan armed forces carrying out training exercises. Regular military training exercises have been carried out around Archer's Post in the Eastern Province and Dol Dol in Northeastern Province, exposing an estimated 600,000 people to potential danger. In July 2002, the British government agreed to pay compensation of 4.5 million pounds (about seven million euros at that time) to more than 200 Kenyan members of the Maasai and Samburu nomadic communities, who were injured or maimed by UXOs left on their land by the British army. Britain's defence ministry said it accepted "limited liability" for what happened during a 50-year period during which, British forces conducted live-fire exercises on land used for grazing by Maasai and Samburu livestock herders. UXO-clearance operations have been carried out in the affected areas by the British army in conjunction with the Kenyan military. According to last year's report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), UXO-clearance teams working in the Archer's Post area in 2001 and 2002, found four to five pieces of ammunition per sq km. A Kenyan army-demining unit, serving with the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE), has been involved in mine clearance along the two countries' border. Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bloody two-year border that ended with the signing of a peace agreement in 2000. To facilitate travel to Nairobi for registered delegates who will attend the summit, Kenyan embassies abroad are issuing visas free of charge, Oyugi said. Delegates from countries where Kenya does not have embassies will obtain visas on arrival from a special immigration counter that will be set up at the Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi. Hotels in Nairobi will also offer special rates for delegates and there will be shuttle buses running between the city centre, where most of the hotels are situated, and the UN complex in the Nairobi suburb of Gigiri, the venue for the summit. Some 800 more police will be deployed in Nairobi to boost security during the summit. More information on the summit is available on its Web site (http://www.minesfreesummitnbi.or.ke/). The summit's official opening ceremony will be held in the Kenyatta International Conference Centre in central Nairobi on November 28, presided over by Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki, a day before delegates shift to the UN complex for the rest of the conference. It will be attended by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. According to ICBL, most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the most heavily mined region in the world, are parties or signatories to the Mine Ban Treaty. There are 23 mine-affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Angola, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Sudan. In 2002 and 2003, new landmine casualties were reported in 20 of the 23 mine-affected countries, according to ICBL. In many of the mine-affected countries in the African region, medical facilities and rehabilitation services are in poor condition, mostly due to a lack of financial resources. Armed conflict, whether ongoing or in the past, has also taken a heavy toll on the health infrastructure in several countries, meaning that landmine survivors have had little hope for rehabilitation and re-integration into society.