Guinea
signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified it on 8 October 1998.
It entered into force on 1 April 1999. Guinea has not submitted its initial
Article 7 transparency report, which was due on 28 September 1999. Guinea is
not known to have undertaken any national implementation measures, as required
by Article 9.
Guinea did not attend the Third Meeting of States Parties in Managua,
Nicaragua, in September 2001, and was not present at the intersessional Standing
Committee meetings in Geneva in January or May 2002. Guinea cosponsored and
voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M in November 2001,
promoting the Mine Ban Treaty.
Guinea is not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel landmines.
Guinea is one of the only States Parties that has not publicly and officially
acknowledged whether or not it maintains a stockpile of antipersonnel mines.
Landmine Monitor has received possibly contradictory information from Guinean
sources. The Guinean military told Landmine Monitor in February 2001 that it
had no stockpile.[1] However,
two members of the army have independently said that there could be a stock in
Guinea, but strictly for training
purposes.[2]
If Guinea were to have stockpiles of antipersonnel mines, they would have to
be destroyed by 1 April 2003, except those retained for training purposes.
There is no evidence of use of antipersonnel mines in Guinea. After May
2001, Guinean armed forces were no longer engaged in combat with various armed
dissident groups on Guinean soil, although military operations took place in
Sierra Leone to clear the area of elements that Guineans considered a menace. In
the military zones, no evidence of use of antipersonnel mines has been
found.[3]
Guinea is not mine-affected, although there is some contamination from
unexploded ordnance (UXO).[4]
Guinea reportedly has never had a mine incident on its
soil.[5] Although the hospitals
of Kissidougou and Conakry have received many victims of the hostilities, most
notably between September 2000 and February 2001, no incidents involving a mine
casualty have been
recorded.[6]
[1] Interview with Michel Lamah, Ministry
of National Defense, at the Bamako Seminar, Mali, 15 February
2001. [2] Informal interview with army
officer, Kissidougou, 6 May 2001, and a second officer, Guéckédou,
8 May 2001. [3] Visit of the LM
researcher to the Forest Region of Guinea, including the border area with Sierra
Leone known as the “Languette,” May 2001. The researcher’s
observations were confirmed in talks with volunteers and soldiers involved in
fighting in February 2001. [4] Certain
border areas and the towns of Guéckédou, Pamelap, and the Simbaya
areas in the capital Conakry are
UXO-affected. [5] Interview with Michel
Lama, Guinean government representative, Bamako Seminar, Bamako, Mali, 15
February 2001. [6] Interview with
Sékou Cissé, Director of the regional hospital in Kissidougou, 9
May 2001; interview with the Felice Dindo, Acting Head of Delegation, ICRC,
Conakry, 3 May 2001.
About Us
Our Research Products
