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Gambia

Last Updated: 11 September 2012

Mine Action

Contamination and Impact

Mines

The Gambia was seemingly contaminated by antipersonnel mines as a result of spillover from violence in the Casamance region of Senegal, as evidenced by a December 2007 mine blast in the Gambia’s Western division that killed two children and injured another in Gilanfari, a village on the border with Senegal’s Casamance region.[1] It appears that these are the only mine incidents to have affected the country. In December 2010, at the Tenth Meeting of States Parties, the Gambia declared that it no longer has mined areas containing antipersonnel mines in areas under its jurisdiction or control.[2]

The Gambia cautioned, however, that in October 2010 elements from the non-state armed group in Casamance, the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de Casamance, MFDC), had been intercepted within the Gambia with three antipersonnel mines in their possession. In its statement, it also noted that it had a “well trained and fully equipped” demining team, “which is always ready to respond to any emergencies.”[3]

In its Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report covering the calendar year 2011, the Gambia again reported suspected mined areas on the outskirts of the villages of Gilanfari and Tamba-Kunda in the Foni Bintang District, West Coast region. These villages are close to the border with the southern Senegalese region of Casamance.[4]

 



[1] See ICBL, Landmine Monitor Report 2009: Toward a Mine-Free World (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada: October 2009),Country profile: The Gambia: Scope of the Problem—Contamination and Casualties sections,” www.the-monitor.org.

[2] Statement of the Gambia, Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 December 2010, www.apminebanconvention.org. However, the list maintained by the Mine Ban Treaty Implementation Support Unit of affected States Parties with outstanding Article 5 obligations continued to include the Gambia as of 1 September 2011. “38 States Parties in the Process of Implementing Article 5,” undated, www.apminebanconvention.org.

[3] Statement of the Gambia, Tenth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 December 2010.

[4] Article 7 Report (for calendar year 2011), Form C. This mirrored the Gambia’s Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report, submitted in early 2010, which cited the same area as being mine-suspected. Article 7 Report, Form C, 2010.