Landmine researchers from French-speaking countries meet in Bujumbura

An international conference on landmine clearance in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, has started drafting the 2004 landmine report for French-speaking African countries. Researchers from Burundi, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea and Senegal, who began the meeting on Wednesday, are also due to prepare for the Ottawa review conference due to be held in November in Nairobi, Kenya. The coordinator of the Centre for Alert and Prevention of Conflicts, Charles Ndayiziga, told IRIN that the conference was focusing on drafting the 2004 landmine report. But on the sidelines of the Bujumbura meeting, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is due to meet the former rebel movement, Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces de defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD) faction led by Pierre Nkurunziza. Ndayiziga said that previous reports by ICBL had accused the movement and the Burundian army of using landmines. The mapping of affected areas prior to demining require that the CNDD-FDD and the army identify the areas where they planted them, he said. While the CNDD-FDD signed the Geneva plea on landmines on 15 November 2003, the government of Burundi ratified the Ottawa Treaty on Landmines on 23 October 2003. This ratification committed Burundi to ban the use, importation and stocking of landmines. Under the treaty, existing stocks have to be destroyed at least four months after the ratification while demining operations should be completed within 10 years. Burundi has to set up the necessary structures for collection of data on the types of mines or the existing stocks before a report is sent to the UN Secretary-General. Burundi has only two months to complete this task, according to the Centre for Alert and Prevention of Conflict. Ndayiziga told IRIN that an important step towards landmine clearance would be reached during the conference as an independent body formed by civil society organisations was due to be launched on Friday. In a preparatory meeting of the national campaign on landmines last Thursday, civil society organisations had deplored the absence of viable statistics on landmines and national structures for aid to landmine victims. A 2002 UNICEF report says landmines claim up to 100 victims every year in Burundi.