Contaminated by: antipersonnel mines (heavy contamination), antivehicle mines, and explosive remnants of war (ERW).

Article 5 deadline: 1 January 2018
(Eight-year extension requested)

As of July 2017, the Republic of Zimbabwe had confirmed mine contamination of just over 62km². Nearly 9.5km² of land was released in 2016; 6.3km² was canceled by non-technical survey, 1.5km² reduced through technical survey, and 1.7km² cleared. This was more than double the amount released in 2015, by both survey and clearance, and was in part attributable to an increased operational capacity.

Recommendations for action

• Continued efforts should be made to ensure that all operators are using appropriate land-release methodologies and standards.
• Zimbabwe should develop a resource mobilization plan and clarify how financial resources will be used to meet its extension request targets.

Contamination

At the end of 2016, Zimbabwe had a total of 66.2km² of confirmed mined area remaining.[1] This is a significant drop from the nearly 75km² remaining at the end of 2015,[2] and is due to cancelation of close to 6.3km² in the Rusitu to Muzite mined area and more than doubled clearance output from operators in 2016 compared to the previous year.

Mined areas (as of end 2016)[3]

Zimbabwe’s contamination, the overwhelming majority of which is of antipersonnel mines, originates from the laying of minefields in the late 1970s during a conflict of decolonization. At the time of its independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was left with six distinct major mined areas along its borders with Mozambique and Zambia, laid by the Rhodesian army.[4] Initially, antipersonnel mines were laid in very dense belts (reportedly 5,500 mines per kilometer of frontage) to form a “cordon sanitaire.” Over time, this cordon sanitaire was breached or subject to erosion. In response, in many sections, a second belt of “ploughshare” directional fragmentation mines protected by antipersonnel mines was laid “inland” of the cordon sanitaire.[5] Antivehicle mines were used extensively by insurgents but most were detonated by vehicles or have since been cleared.[6]

At the end of 2016, remaining contamination comprised five minefields, referred to as: Musengezi to Rwenya, Sango Border Post to Crooks Corner, Rusitu to Muzite Mission, Leacon Hill to Sheba Forest, and Lusulu. The Burma Valley minefield was completed in 2015 and a former suspected hazardous area (SHA) at Kariba was cleared of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in 2013.[7]

Remaining mined areas are located close to populated areas and have considerable humanitarian, social, and economic impacts on local communities, most severely affecting poor, rural populations living along heavily mined border areas. Mines continued to prevent free movement of people, deny use of agricultural land, kill and injure livestock and impede access for grazing, halt the productivity of areas of commercial farming, and impel some poor communities to take unacceptable risks to use contaminated land. The threat to livestock is particularly severe and results in a heavy socio-economic impact as livestock is a major investment commodity in rural Zimbabwe.[8]

Accordingly, clearance of mined areas will generate opportunities for local farmers, commercial agriculture, business, and tourism, allow for the construction of schools and clinics, and enable the safe return of those displaced as a result of the mine threat.[9]

Program Management

The National Mine Action Authority of Zimbabwe (NAMAAZ) is a policy and regulatory body on all issues relating to mine action in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Mine Action Center (ZIMAC) was established in 2000 within the Ministry of Defense as the focal point and coordination center of all mine action in the country. ZIMAC is mandated to report to NAMAAZ.[10]

Since 2012, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has provided assistance to the government of Zimbabwe to train ZIMAC personnel and to supply metal detectors, protective equipment, and trauma kits, under a joint cooperation agreement.[11]

In its Fifth Article 5 deadline extension request in 2017, Zimbabwe again pledged to relocate ZIMAC outside of military installations once the Ministry of Defense has secured the necessary funds.[12] In 2016, ZIMAC was still housed within military premises, reportedly owing to budgetary constraints.[13]

Operators

The Zimbabwean Armed Forces’ National Mine Clearance Squadrons (NMCS), HALO Trust, and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) conducted land release in Zimbabwe in 2016. APOPO and Mines Advisory Group (MAG) joined in 2017. In 2013, ZIMAC tasked HALO to survey and clear the Musengezi to Rwenya, Rushinga, and Mukumbura mined areas; NPA was assigned survey and clearance of the Rusitu to Muzite Mission, Leacon Hill to Sheba Forest, and Burma Valley mined areas; and the NMCS are responsible for survey and clearance of the Sango Border Post to Crooks Corner and Lusulu mined areas.[14]

In 2016, HALO Trust’s capacity more than doubled from 13 to 30 manual demining sections as a result of additional funding.[15] NPA reached its maximum operating capacity at the end of 2016 with a total of 56 deminers, up from 48 at the start of the year, also benefitting from additional funding.[16] ZIMAC reported that the capacity of the NMCS increased from 120 deminers to 150 during the year.[17]

In 2016, ZIMAC began accrediting two further international demining operators, MAG and APOPO, both of which were scheduled to begin operations in 2017.[18] APOPO reported it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ZIMAC and that the Ministry of Defense had granted permission for the organization to begin operating in Zimbabwe.[19] In September 2017, MAG had also signed a MoU with ZIMAC and established an office in Harare ready to support the start of clearance operations later in the year.[20] MAG said it had been provided with a tasking profile in Mashonaland East incorporating a mined area that is 130km in length with a total area of more than 11.8km².[21]

Strategic planning

Zimbabwe has developed a National Mine Action Strategy for 2018–2025, its first ever mine action strategy, which is expected to be formally approved by the government by 2018. It was developed in consultation with stakeholders with the support of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). The strategy time-line corresponds to Zimbabwe’s fifth Article 5 extension request with the overall goal of completing Article 5 obligations in 2025.[22]

Standards

ZIMAC reported that national mine action standards would be revised in the second half of 2017, with input from all mine action stakeholders. Once disseminated, ZIMAC quality assurance (QA)/quality control (QC) officers will monitor their implementation.[23] HALO Trust confirmed that standards for mechanical clearance would be updated, as it was introducing mechanical clearance operations during the year, and NPA confirmed that revisions would also include standards for mine detection dogs (MDDs).[24]

Information management

ZIMAC’s information management capacity showed significant signs of progress in 2016.[25] ZIMAC reported that the national Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database was markedly improved during the year and that work was continuing in 2017 with GICHD assistance to input and improve historic operator data.[26] The GICHD reported it conducted an information management baseline assessment in May 2017 and drafted a corresponding workplan. A key objective is to update the national database to ensure it includes all the information from the various operators, including historical data.[27] Inflated and outdated baseline contamination estimates were eliminated from the database and erroneous reporting, such as for the total area released in the Burma Valley minefield, was corrected, as evidenced in Zimbabwe’s revised Article 5 extension request. NPA reported continuing to use a digital recording and mapping system, the DEDUCT Observer application in 2016, and that it was sending ZIMAC daily electronic updates on survey and clearance outputs through the DEDUCT system.[28]

Land Release

A total of nearly 9.5km² of land was released by HALO Trust and NPA in 2016, including just under 3.2km² of mined area released by clearance and technical survey and 6.3km² canceled by non-technical survey.[29] This is more than double the total area released in 2015 (just under 4.1km²).[30] The significant increase in output in 2016 was the result of cancelation of nearly 6.3km² at the Muzite to Rusitu mined area by NPA and ZIMAC survey teams and a doubling in total clearance output by the three operators.[31]

Survey in 2016

Close to 7.8km² of land was released by survey in 2016, including just under 6.3km² canceled through non-technical survey and 1.5km² reduced through technical survey, with a further 9.8km² confirmed as mined.[32] This is more than twice the amount released by survey in 2015, when just over 3.4km² of land was released.[33]

In 2016, NPA reported that comprehensive combined non-technical and technical survey was carried out within the Leacon Hill to Sheba Forrest and Muzite to Rusitu mined areas as a joint exercise by ZIMAC officials and NPA teams. A total of nearly 6.3km² was canceled within the Muzite to Rusitu mined area and more than 8.7km² confirmed, changing the status of the mined area from suspected to confirmed contamination. The survey also identified the time and capacity needed for completion of clearance of the minefield, as well as defining the direct and indirect beneficiaries and expected land use upon completion.[34]

Mined area survey in 2016[35]

Note: TS = technical survey.

Clearance in 2016

In 2016, HALO Trust, NPA, and the NMCS cleared a total of just under 1.7km² of mined area, destroying 23,193 antipersonnel mines, four antivehicle mines, and 14 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO). This is more than twice the amount cleared in 2015, when the three entities cleared a total of almost 0.71m² of mined area.[36]

HALO Trust attributed the large increase in its clearance output in 2016 to a nearly doubling of its manual demining capacity thanks to increased funding.[37] NPA reported that its increase in mine clearance in 2016 was due in part to the deployment of additional teams in January and October, but was primarily the result of a 50% reduction in the amount of fadeout required during clearance, from 10 meters to five meters, after a change in methodology approved by ZIMAC. Both NPA and HALO Trust emphasized the importance and positive impact of a supportive host government and ZIMAC’s willingness to accept innovation in clearance methodologies as key reasons behind the increase in clearance output.[38]

Mine clearance in 2016[39]

Note: AP = antipersonnel AV = antivehicle.

Progress in 2017

As of May 2017, APOPO had been tasked to survey and clear a 37km-long stretch of minefield along the border with Mozambique, running southwest from the Sango Border Post to the Mwenezi river, in cooperation with the NMCS. It stated that, as of May 2017, a task assessment had been carried out.[40]

MAG reported that in September 2017 it had been provided with a tasking profile in Mashonaland East incorporating a mined area that is 130km in length with a total area of more than 11.8km².[41]

Deminer safety

HALO Trust reported that five of its staff were involved in accidents during mine clearance operations involving R2M2 mines in 2016. Two deminers were injured in the accidents, while three were unharmed.[42] NPA reported no accidents or injuries involving its mine action personnel since the start of its operations in 2013.[43]

Article 5 Compliance

In June 2014, Zimbabwe was granted an Article 5 mine clearance deadline extension of three years until 1 January 2018. Since its initial Article 5 deadline expired on 1 March 2009, it has submitted four subsequent extension requests. The current extension until 1 January 2018 is to enable further survey and clearance, but Zimbabwe is not committing itself to complete its clearance obligations within the requested period, nor will it manage to do so.[44]

Zimbabwe submitted its fifth extension request in March 2017, which it revised in August, for a period of eight years through to 31 December 2025, setting a deadline for the completion of clearance for the first time. According to its extension request workplan, a total of more 6.3km² would be addressed in 2017, followed by close to 8km² in 2018; 8.5km² in 2019; 9.1km² in 2020; 7.7km² in 2021; 7.8km² in 2022; 7.9km² in 2023; 6.7km² in 2024; and 4.2km² in 2025, for a total of just over 66.2km² of remaining contamination released.[45]

In August 2017, it submitted a revised version of the request, correcting errors in reporting and deleting outdated contamination estimates. The revised request sets for the first time an end-date for completion of clearance. It also establishes a realistic estimate of remaining contamination, and sets attainable annual clearance targets, provided sufficient funding is secured.[46]

Operators commended the cooperative and inclusive process behind the preparation of the extension request and the national mine action strategic plan, as well as efforts to accurately define the amount of contamination remaining, enabled by the application of solid survey methodology in earlier years.[47]

In the request, Zimbabwe lists three primary factors that have prevented it from completing its Article 5 obligations thus far since becoming a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty: the extent of the contamination, inadequate national funding for demining, and a lack of demining equipment. Positively, however, Zimbabwe reported that the impact of these factors was ameliorated by the completion of re-survey, allowing efforts to focus on clearance; increasing partnerships between international operators and the government to build capacity; and continued assistance from the ICRC for better demining equipment.[48] In the request, Zimbabwe also enumerated possible risks and assumptions that could impede it from completing clearance in due time, including heavy rain, difficult terrain, significant metal contamination in ploughshare minefields, political instability, and lack of funding.[49]

In its 2017 extension request, Zimbabwe estimated that activities planned for the eight-year extension period through to completion of clearance will cost a total of almost US$130 million, with $12.7 million to be provided by the government of Zimbabwe, including $0.6 million in 2017.[50] The request states that resource mobilization will be an ongoing effort, and that Zimbabwe will continue to seek support from the international community. To complement efforts, ZIMAC was also developing a website to increase the visibility of the mine action program.[51]

NPA reported receiving in-kind support during joint risk education activities carried out by NPA and the NMCS teams, along with assistance for the renewal of work permits.[52] HALO Trust did not report receiving in-kind support from the government in 2016, but noted the contributions of the NMCS to the national demining program and the overall supportive operational environment, while raising some concerns about an increase in import bureaucracy and subsequent increases in costs and delays during the year.[53]

ZIMAC reported that with the commencement of MAG and APOPO’s operations in late 2017 a marked increase in land release output was expected. In addition, it emphasized that the introduction of MDD teams by NPA would increase the speed of technical survey while the deployment of mechanical assets by HALO Trust would reduce the time needed to remove deeply buried mines in manual demining.[54] ZIMAC stated that the development of a new national mine action strategy had given the national program a new impetus to complete clearance by 2025 and would help to ensure the full support of other relevant government departments to mine action.[55]

In its revised 2017 Article 5 extension request, Zimbabwe reported that during its previous extension period, from December 2014 to December 2016, almost 143km² (some two-thirds) of all recorded mined areas had been addressed, from a total of close to 209km² remaining as of December 2014.[56]

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.