Contamination and Impact

Nicaragua was contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) as a result of armed conflict between 1979 and 1990.

Mines

In June 2010, Nicaragua announced it was in full compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, having cleared all known mined areas.[1] Mined areas had been reported in 105 communities[2] in 74 municipalities, in 14 of the 15 departments, and in the two autonomous regions.[3] By the time mine clearance was completed in April 2010, a total of 179,790 of mines had been found and destroyed in 1,029 mined areas, across a total of 11.92km².[4] The original estimates of contamination were 135,643 mines in 991 minefields.[5]

There may, however, remain a residual threat from antipersonnel mines. On 11 October 2010, a mine exploded in the hand of a 17-year-old boy while he was handling a metal container he had found in a forest in Jinotega district near the Honduran border. The boy lost his fingers on his left hand and received multiple shrapnel wounds on his upper body, though his injuries were not considered life-threatening. The site of the accident was approximately 2km from the nearest previously recorded mined area, which had been cleared eight years ago. As a result, the Organization of American States (OAS) considers the accident an isolated event and did not conduct any survey or clearance of the area.[6] The area was unmarked and the boy had not received mine/ERW risk education (RE). Since Nicaragua’s declaration of compliance with its Mine Ban Treaty clearance obligations RE has been limited to areas where ERW has been reported.[7]

Explosive remnants of war

Nicaragua has a residual ERW problem throughout the country. According to Nicaraguan Demining Commission (Comisión Nacional de Desminado, CND), the ERW problem is impossible to document on a national level.[8] With the completion of mine clearance, reports of ERW contamination are only received as a result of the RE program.[9] In 2010, RE teams received 125 reports that led to the destruction of 62 mines and 838 items of unexploded ordnance in 77 communities. From April 2010 to February 2011, the Army Engineering Corps, with training, logistics support, and quality assurance from the OAS, surveyed 522,650m² and destroyed 395,917 various types and sizes of small arms ammunition in Las Palomas in northern Nicaragua.[10]

An example of ERW contamination is Las Palomas in Matagalpa, a poor rural community of approximately 750 people, which was heavily contaminated with ammunition and munitions remaining from the war. The land was given to former resistance soldiers (Contras) as part of the Disarmament, Demobilization, and Resettlement program. According to a community leader, however, the land in the area was difficult to farm because explosives were “everywhere.” Nonetheless, for several years until accidents began to occur, the sale of ERW and small arms ammunition as scrap metal provided income for the community. On 9 May 2007, an accident injured four people. The CND and the OAS were aware of the ERW problem in the village, but clearance was considered low priority because clearing mines in the country was more important.[11]

Mine Action Program

Key institutions and operators

Prior to June 2010, when Nicaragua declared it was in full compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, the CND had been responsible for formulating national mine action policy, assisting, and coordinating implementation of the National Humanitarian Demining Program (Programa Nacional de Desminado Humanitario, PNDH), managing international funds for mine action, and conducting RE.[12] With Nicaragua in compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty; however, CND’s role has diminished, as managing funds and conducting RE are the sole responsibility of OAS, and the future of CND remains unclear.[13]

The Nicaraguan Army Engineer Corps is responsible for the clearance of ERW.[14] The OAS is committed to continuing RE and community liaison until September 2011.[15] It is not clear what will happen after this date.Currently, the OAS also manages the mine action database and provides victim assistance.[16]

Land Release

Over a 17-year period, Nicaragua cleared almost 12km² of mined areas, destroying in the process just under 180,000 mines at an estimated total cost of US$82 million.[17]

 Mine clearance in 2010

In June 2010, when Nicaragua announced it was in compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, it reported it had cleared 1,029 mined areas, of which the final 20 were cleared between 1 January 2009 and 30 April 2010, with the destruction of 6,246 antipersonnel mines.[18]

Compliance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the one-year extension request granted in 2008), Nicaragua was required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 May 2010. In June 2010, Nicaragua announced it had cleared all known mined areas in time and was in full compliance with Article 5.[19]

Quality management

The Mine Clearance Assistance Mission in Central America (Misión de Asistencia para la Remoción de Minas en Centro América, MARMINCA) conducted quality control on all completed clearance tasks.[20] In May 2010, with formal demining operations completed, MARMINCA completed its monitoring mission and left Nicaragua.[21]

Other Risk Reduction Measures

In 2010, one RE team with three persons under the OAS Assistance Program for Demining in Central America (Programa de Apoyo al Desminado en Centroamérica, PADCA) visited 57 communities and provided RE to some 25,000 people.[22]