Note: ERW = explosive remnants of war; UXO = unexploded ordinance.

Contamination 

In Somaliland, HALO Trust reported that as of May 2018, a total of 16 mixed antipersonnel and antivehicle minefields remained to be cleared with a size of just over 8km², the majority of which are barrier minefields or military base perimeter minefields.[1]

According to HALO, in Somaliland antipersonnel mines continued to present an ongoing threat to life among the primarily pastoralist populations, which rely heavily on agriculture and land for livestock grazing. These groups are constantly moving across Somaliland, putting herders and animals at higher risk from the threat of mines and ERW.[2]

Program Management

The Somaliland Mine Action Center (SMAC) is responsible for mine action in Somaliland.

Officially, SMAC is under the authority of the vice-president of Somaliland, who heads the interministerial Mine Action Steering Committee.[3]

Strategic planning 

Somaliland’s latest strategic mine action plan expired in 2014. In May 2018, HALO Trust reported that it was working with SMAC and other stakeholders to develop a strategy with the hope of completion and first implementation in 2019.[4]

UNMAS’s Explosive Hazard Management Strategic Framework for Somalia for 2015–2019 includes Somaliland.[5]

Quality management

HALO Trust reported that SMAC continued to conduct formal handovers of completed areas in 2017 with support from HALO. A large backlog of cleared areas awaiting formal handover remained, however.[6]

Information management

HALO Trust reported continuing regular checks of its information management system to ensure accuracy of reporting and stated that it transfers all data to SMAC, which then inputs it into its Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) database.[7]

Operators

DDG conducted explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) and risk education in Sool and Gurieel regions of Somaliland and southcentral Somalia. By the end of 2017, DDG was deploying a single four-strong EOD team and nine two-person risk education teams.[8]

HALO Trust employed 424 demining and operational personnel and deployed three mechanical assets.[9] It focused on the survey and re-survey of former military camp minefields along the Ethiopian border.[10]

In February 2017, NPA began survey and clearance in Toghdeer and Sool, in the disputed areas between Puntland and Somaliland. The two survey teams were merged to form a demining team at the end of 2017, making a total of two demining teams with 12 deminers.[11]

Land Release

Survey in 2017

In Somaliland, in 2017, HALO Trust confirmed nearly 0.7km² of mine contamination: just over 146,000m² in Awdal region, 175,000m² in Woqooyi Galbeed region, and 343,800m² in Togdheer region.[12]

NPA confirmed 57 areas with a size of over 471,000m². It additionally cancelled just under 1,300m² of mine contamination in Somaliland through non-technical survey and reduced close to 42,000m² during the year.[13]

Mined area survey in 2017[14]

Note: TS = technical survey.

Clearance in 2017 

In Somaliland, in 2017, HALO reported clearing a total of 1,103,015m² of mined area, including areas with mixed threat contamination. It cleared eight areas containing antipersonnel mines with a total of size of just over 0.75km², with the destruction of 87 antipersonnel mines, seven antivehicle mines, and 43 items of UXO. This included 80,860m² in Awdal region, 243,630m² in Woqooyi Galbeed region, and 426,500m² in Togdheer region. An additional 17 antipersonnel mines were destroyed in EOD call-outs.[15] This compared with 2016, when HALO reported clearing 12 areas containing antipersonnel mines with a size of just over 1.1km² in Somaliland.[16]

In May 2017, NPA began operations in the northern disputed territories of Sool and Sanaag.[17] It reported clearing two areas with a total size of just over 61,000m² in 2017; however no mines or UXO were found or destroyed.[18]

Mine clearance in 2017[19]

Note: AP = antipersonnel; AV = antivehicle.

Progress towards clearance 

In 2017, HALO Trust reported that provided that operational capacity is maintained, it hoped to complete clearance of the last known and accessible mined area in Somaliland by mid-2019, two years later than the end-2017 date it initially reported, which it said was due to the need to reduce operational capacity and the fact that new hazardous areas identified through survey requiring clearance.[20]

In Somaliland, in 2018, HALO was continuing to prioritize manual and mechanical clearance of confirmed mined areas, along with responding to EOD call-outs and accidents and conducting survey and risk education. It emphasized the need for developing sufficient residual capacity in Somaliland for clearance and ERW disposal, in particular due to the nature of past mine-laying and the likelihood that unknown contaminated areas will be continued to be found after the clearance of all recorded confirmed hazardous areas (CHA)s. HALO reported it was continuing to work with SMAC, the Ministry of Defense, and NPA to develop a transition plan that moves operational focus away from international donors and international NGOs to a national capacity funded, led, coordinated, and implemented by the Somali state.[21]

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the primary mine action research in 2018 and shared all its country-level landmine reports (from “Clearing the Mines 2018”) and country-level cluster munition reports (from “Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2018”) with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.