Article 5 Deadline: 1 January 2021
(On track to meet deadline)

At the end of 2016, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania had one suspected hazardous area (SHA), with an estimated size of 1km², in the north of the country close to Western Sahara. Investigations confirmed that the area is located in Mauritania. No land was released in 2016. In September 2017, funding was secured to clear the area.

Contamination

At the end of 2016, Mauritania had SHA, with an estimated size of 1km², in Ain Bintilli district, Tiris Zemmour region, in the far north of Mauritania. In early 2017, it confirmed that the area contained antipersonnel and antivehicle mines.[1]

At the end of 2015, Mauritania reported it had released all known antipersonnel mine contamination, totaling 40 mined areas covering 67km², including 18 areas with a size of 64.8km² identified prior to 2010, and a further 22 areas covering 2.3km² identified in 2012–2013.[2] However, other contaminated areas were thought to exist close to Western Sahara which, depending on the demarcation of the border, could be inside Mauritanian territory and thus within its jurisdiction.[3] In its request for a second extension to its Article 5 clearance deadline submitted in 2015, Mauritania stated that it “suspects that the security system along the border with Western Sahara, which comprises fortifications and minefields, crosses Mauritanian territory, especially since there is no natural border between the two.”[4]

Mauritania’s mine contamination is a legacy of the conflict over Western Sahara in 1975–1978. A 2006 Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) had found a total of 65 SHAs covering 76km² and affecting 60 communities. This represented a significant overestimate of the actual mine threat. In 2010, Morocco provided detailed maps of minefields laid during the Western Sahara conflict. The minefields had been partially cleared using military procedures prior to the entry into force of the Mine Ban Treaty.[5]

Program Management

The National Humanitarian Demining Program for Development (Programme National de Déminage Humanitaire pour le Développement, PNDHD) coordinates mine action operations in Mauritania.[6] Since 2007, the program has been the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior and Decentralization, with oversight from an interministerial steering committee.[7] The PNDHD has its headquarters in the capital, Nouakchott, and a regional mine action center (RMAC) in Nouadhibou.

Operators

In accordance with a 2006 decree, all clearance activities were conducted by the Army Engineer Corps operating under the PNDHD.

Strategic planning

In March 2017, Mauritania reported that a new national mine action strategic plan for 2016–2020 had been developed with primary aims and targets, including verification of Mauritania’s borders and clearance of any newly identified contamination by 2020, continuing risk education and victim assistance, and maintenance of national mine clearance capacities.[8]

Information management

The national mine action database is held at the PNDHD. In March 2017, Mauritania reported that the GICHD was updating the database and installing the latest version of the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) software.[9]

Land Release

Mauritania reported that nationally funded technical surveys and administrative checks carried out in late 2016 and early 2017 resulted in the identification and confirmation of a mined area covering an estimated 1,000,000m² and containing both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines in Sebkhat Fogra, Ain Bintilli district.[10] It stated that the investigations undertaken had confirmed that the hazardous area was located within Mauritanian territory and that the area had been clearly marked with warning signs in Arabic and French.[11]

As noted above, Mauritania had announced the completion of clearance of all known areas of antipersonnel mine contamination in November 2015. The PNDHD had reported the release in 2015 of seven mined areas covering a total of 2.95km² with the destruction of 35 antipersonnel mines and 47 antivehicle mines.[12]

Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the five-year extension request granted by States Parties in 2015), Mauritania is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 January 2021.[13] It is on track to complete clearance in advance of this deadline.

In September 2017, the PNDHD reported that funding had been secured from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for clearance of the remaining area and that it expected to deploy teams following a two-week refresher training course. Clearance was anticipated to be completed within three months, by December 2017, and the area to be released in early 2018, after quality control has been carried out. It stated that no further suspicion of mined areas remained on Mauritania’s territory and no further survey or efforts to clarify the border demarcation were required.[14]

Previously, in June 2017, Mauritania projected that with external funding of US$75,000 it could complete clearance of the newly confirmed 1km² area by the end of the year and declare itself in compliance with Article 5 of the convention at the forthcoming meeting of States Parties in December 2017. It appealed for donor support to reach this goal.[15]

Mauritania has explained that the reasons for its inability to meet its initial Article 5 deadline of 1 January 2016 included lack of financial resources, insufficient progress in demining, use of only manual clearance, and difficult soil and climatic factors.[16] In its second extension request, Mauritania undertook to initiate and maintain dialogue with stakeholders with the aim of acquiring relevant topographic and cartographic information to determine the exact location of its northern border and to develop plans to address any contaminated areas identified within its jurisdiction.[17] Specifically it pledged to:

• Conduct a survey and mapping exercise of the northern border;
• Maintain dialogue with stakeholders in the Western Sahara conflict to find a solution to clarifying the problem;
• Develop and implement an action plan to address any contaminated areas if necessary;
• Inform States Parties of progress at the annual meetings and through Article 7 reports; and
• Maintain the PNDHD and demining units for residual clearance and risk education.

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the mine action research in 2017, including on survey and clearance, and shared all its resulting landmine and cluster munition reports with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.