Army under scrutiny over land mines

The government of Uganda was on Thursday cited in relation to the alleged use of anti-personnel land mines by the Ugandan army (the Uganda people's Defence Forces) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last year, during a UN press conference on the global campaign to ban land mines. Stephen Goose, Programme Director of the Arms Division of Human Rights Watch, said there was "a strong possibility" that Uganda, which was a state party to the 1997 Treaty on Land mines, had used anti-personnel land mines against Rwandan forces in the DRC in July 2000 [after clashes between the two in the northeastern city of Kisangani in June].

Although there was no definitive evidence against Uganda, an investigation into the situation was ordered at the third meeting of state parties to the 1997 treaty, which was held recently in Nicaragua, Goose stated. Uganda insisted that it was in compliance with the treaty and had welcomed the investigation, he added. Since 1995, there had not been a single case of a country exporting a land mine to another country, and 55 countries had destroyed more than 27 million land mines in recent years, according to Goose. Nonetheless, "the news is by no means all good" and 15,000 to 20,000 land mine victims a year - of which women and children make up a significant proportion - was "still an appalling number", he added.