Well-known and invisible killer littered throughout Africa

//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.'// They threaten the peace, stability and development of the world's poorest continent and kill or mutilate 12,000 people each year. This was the reason that African governments agreed recently to a landmark initiative aimed at eliminating an estimated 40 million landmines from the continent. At the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, a new "common African position" was unveiled on 17 September 2004. It aims to ensure that the continent becomes an anti-personnel mine (APM) free zone, with a framework largely centred on the 1997 Ottawa Convention. The initiative also stresses inter-African cooperation as a vital issue in successful mine clearance and calls for more support for victims and greater transparency by governments. Among the innovations that were agreed on was a call by African nations to countries which have laid landmines throughout the continent during World War II to "devote a reasonable percentage of their military budgets" to clearing them. In Egypt, for example, some 17 million landmines remain buried in the desert, a deadly legacy of World War II. The new position was agreed ahead of the Nairobi Summit in November 2004 on a Mine-Free World that will look at the progress made in the last seven years since the Ottawa Convention was drafted. Under the convention, which came into force in 1999 and was signed by 143 countries, nations that are party to the treaty must not use, stockpile, produce or transfer APMs. Still, even though African governments had backed the common strategy and some 48 joined the Ottawa Convention, a number of nations have not yet ratified the treaty. These include Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Morocco and Somalia. Ethiopian officials told IRIN that ratification was in the pipeline and a draft was expected before their parliament meets in the coming months. They said delays in ratification had stemmed largely from security concerns along their borders due to conflicts against neighbouring countries like Eritrea in 1998 and Somalia in 1977. However, Egypt, whose country is infested with an estimated tenth of the world's 200 million landmines, is still reluctant to agree to the convention. "We do not believe in a total and free ban of landmines as long as many actors, including the major producers, are still out of the convention," an Egyptian diplomat told IRIN recently. "There are three major shortcomings in the Ottawa Convention as far as we see it," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity. "There should be a real obligation, not moral obligation, to demine. States should have the right to get assistance where their countries have been mined and we also need to differentiate between landmines for protection, for national security and those landmines used for other purposes like terrorism. You should be given the right to defend yourself." Some 30 countries in Africa report being affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance and 10, including Angola, Mozambique and Sudan, say they suffer a high level of casualties. Said Djinnit, head of the Peace and Security Council at the AU, described the devastating effects of landmines on the continent and their impact on development at the conference. "We have seen innocent people, women and children amputated, lose their limbs and other vital parts of their bodies - and end up handicapped," he told delegates. "We have also seen landmines destroy the healthy and productive part of our active population, destroy fertile land for agriculture, destroy transport networks and destroy important natural resources that support life." Djinnit also told the conference, attended by diplomats, landmine experts and other officials, that the AU had been at the forefront of the campaign to ban landmines. Nonetheless, he said ending the scourge of landmines on the continent had "not been pursued with all the needed vigour and determination in Africa". "Landmines continue to be the main impediment to post-conflict reconstruction and development in our countries," the AU official added. "Ridding the continent of this invisible and indiscriminate weapon is crucial for creating conditions for peace, security, stability and development in Africa, as well as reconciling and healing societies from the trauma of conflict." The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) told IRIN that the convention, seen as one of the most successful global treaties, could also be a template for other weapons legislation. The organisation believes a similar treaty could be designed around small or light arms proliferation, a major factor causing instability on the continent. The convention also contains the potential for enforcement. Under the Ottawa Convention, a system of verification exists, whereby countries believed to be using AMPs, could be subjected to international inspection. So far, said the ICRC, the verification system has never been triggered. The ICRC also stated that sanctions could be imposed on countries where major concerns of non-compliance exist. While significant progress has been made, UN landmine experts also noted caution. Phil Lewis, of the UN's Mine Action Service and also in charge of mine clearance for the UN peacekeepers monitoring the ceasefire between Ethiopia and Eritrea, spelled out key concerns that need to be addressed in adopting a common position. The geography, size and number of landmines pose tremendous problems, Lewis said. "Within these huge distances, the actual number of mines laid may be few, but their effect is often disproportionate to these numbers," he said. "The fear of entering areas affected by a few mines remains psychologically the same." He also noted that non-military forces have laid some mines with no record of where they were placed. Medical facilities are also weak, Lewis added. However, he praised the significant progress made in mine clearance and stressed that the continent has a huge movement of people willing to help demine. Austria's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Wolfgang Petritsch, said progress made in the fight against landmines meant total eradication could be achieved. "This is doable," Petritsch, who is president designate of the Nairobi Summit, told IRIN. "With the achievements we have made in the last five years, we can rid the world of landmines and make a significant difference."