Key
developments since May 2001: The Mine Ban Treaty entered into force for
Sierra Leone on 1 October 2001. It has not submitted its initial Article 7
Report, which was due on 20 March 2002.
MINE BAN POLICY
Sierra Leone signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 29 July
1998, ratified on 25 April 2001 and it entered into force on 1 October 2001.
Sierra Leone is not known to have yet enacted domestic implementation measures
as required by Article 9. The first Article 7 transparency report was due on 30
March 2002, but had not been submitted by the end of July 2002.
Sierra Leone attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Managua,
Nicaragua in September 2001, represented by the First Secretary of the Permanent
Mission to the United Nations in New York. Sierra Leone was not present at the
Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in January
and May 2002. Sierra Leone cosponsored and voted in favor of UN General
Assembly Resolution 56/24M on 29 November 2001, calling for full implementation
of the Mine Ban Treaty. Sierra Leone is not a party to the Convention on
Conventional Weapons (CCW) and did not participate in the CCW meetings in
December 2001 in Geneva.
USE, PRODUCTION, TRANSFER, AND STOCKPILING
During the 1991-2001 civil war, very limited use
was made of landmines, either antipersonnel or antivehicle. The rebel
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) confirmed that it had made minimal use of
landmines.[1] Sierra Leone is
not known to have produced or exported antipersonnel landmines. In February
2001, Sierra Leone acknowledged having a stockpile of 900 antipersonnel mines,
but there has been no more information revealed about the
stockpile.[2] The Mine Ban
Treaty requires that all stocks of antipersonnel mines, except those retained
for training, must be destroyed by 1 October 2005.
The UN operation in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has managed a program for the
voluntary handover of weapons, including landmines, known as Disarmament,
Demobilisation, and Rehabilitation (DDR). During Phase I, which expired on 18
May 2001, five antipersonnel mines were handed in and destroyed at the UNAMSIL
Teamsite in Kenema and three antipersonnel mines were handed in and destroyed at
the UNAMSIL Teamsite in Port
Loko.[3] From 18 May 2001-28
February 2002 (Phase II), one antivehicle mine was handed in at the UNAMSIL
Kabala Teamsite and destroyed. In addition, a total of 121 antipersonnel mines
were found and destroyed at the Matru Teamsite, a rather sizable number given
the government’s statement that its armed forces have only 900 mines in
stock.[4]
MINE/UXO PROBLEM AND CASUALTIES
Although Landmine Monitor has, in the past,
classified Sierra Leone as mine-affected, in the words of one UN official, there
is no threat of landmines in the
country.[5] Landmines used
during the civil war have, with few exceptions, been removed, either by the West
African intervention force, ECOMOG, or the British intervention force IMATT. It
is expected that when UNAMSIL extends its operations to the most remote corners
of the country where fighting was particularly severe (e.g., the Kailahun and
Koidu areas), mines may sporadically be
found.[6] Sierra Leone does
face dangers from unexploded ordnance (UXO) other than
landmines.[7]
In 2001, there were no confirmed reports of landmine casualties; however,
there are reports of possible improvised explosive device (IED) or UXO incidents
causing casualties. The surgical ward in Kenema Hospital has never treated a
landmine casualty.[8] MSF
Belgium also confirmed not having treated a single landmine
casualty.[9] According to
medical records at the Military Hospital
at Wilberforce, 45 people were killed and eleven injured by landmines during
the civil war.[10]
[1] Interview with Kenneth McCauley, former
Chief of Protocol for RUF President, Foday Sankoh, Freetown, 27 February
2002. [2] Sierra Leone acknowledged
having this stockpile at the Bamako Seminar on Landmines, Mali, February 2001,
as reported in Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p.
144. [3] Information contained in the
Ammunition Destruction statistics up to 18 May 2001, supplied by the DDR Cell at
UNAMSIL Headquarters, Freetown. [4]
Information contained in the Ammunition Destruction Statistics since 18 May
2001, supplied by the DDR Cell at UNAMSIL Headquarters, Freetown. No explanation
could be given by any of the ammunition experts in UNAMSIL about the origin of
this large number of antipersonnel mines. Also, interview with
Lieutenant-Colonel Dimitri Pankratov, DDR Cell, UNAMSIL Headquarters, Freetown,
13 February 2002. [5] Interview with
Major Aden, ammunition expert at UNAMSIL Headquarters, Freetown, 25 February
2002. [6] Interview with Major Ahsan,
UNAMSIL EOD Division, UNAMSIL Headquarters, Freetown, 26 February
2002. [7]
Ibid. [8] Interview with Dr. Ben Mark,
Surgeon General, Kenema Hospital, 21 February
2002. [9] Telephone interview with
Frederic Capelle, Technical Coordinator, MSF Belgium, Freetown, 12 February
2002. Other aid agencies also confirmed that landmines are not an issue in
Sierra Leone. [10] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2001, p. 145.
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