Key
developments since May 2001: Some 20 of the more than 35 mined areas in the
country have been cleared; in 2001, 9,712 square meters of land were cleared,
including 3,648 mines and UXO. Rwanda submitted its first Article 7
transparency report, indicating that it has no stockpile of antipersonnel mines.
RCD-Goma rebel forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with whom the Rwandan
military cooperates closely, have admitted ongoing mine use.
MINE BAN POLICY
Rwanda signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December
1997 and ratified it on 13 June 2000. The treaty entered into force for Rwanda
on 1 December 2000. A presidential order of 24 December 1998 confirms the
incorporation of the Mine Ban Treaty into domestic law, but no specific
implementation legislation or other measures have been
undertaken.[1]
Rwanda submitted its first Article 7 transparency report on 4 September 2001,
for the period 1 February-31 August 2001. It had been due to 30 May 2001.
Rwanda has not submitted the annual update due 30 April 2002.
Rwanda attended the Third Meeting of State Parties in Managua, Nicaragua, in
September 2001, and the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in
January 2002, but not in May 2002.
Although Rwanda was a cosponsor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M
calling for universalization and full implementation on the Mine Ban Treaty, it
was absent from the vote on the resolution on 29 November 2001.
USE
Since 1998, there has been no reported new use of
antipersonnel mines in Rwanda. However, in recent years there have been
allegations of mine use in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by various
fighting forces, including by Rwanda and opposition forces it supports. There
were particularly serious and credible allegations that Rwandan forces used
antipersonnel mines during the fighting around Kisangani in the DRC in June
2000.[2] Rwandan officials have
repeatedly denied allegations of mine use in the DRC.
In this reporting period, since May 2001, Landmine Monitor does not have
evidence of new use of antipersonnel mines by Rwandan forces in the
DRC.[3]
Assisting Mine Use
Landmine Monitor is concerned that Rwanda could be
at risk of violating the Mine Ban Treaty by virtue of close military
cooperation, including joint combat operations, with the Congolese Rally for
Democracy (RCD-Goma). In 2002, several RCD-Goma military officers admitted to
Landmine Monitor past and ongoing use of antipersonnel mines by RCD-Goma
soldiers.[4]
Under Article 1 of the Mine Ban Treaty, a State Party may not “under
any circumstance...assist, encourage or induce, in any way, anyone to engage in
any activity that is prohibited to a State Party under this
Convention.”
Rwanda should make clear the nature of its support for the rebel forces that
admit to using antipersonnel mines, and make clear its views with regard to the
legality under the Mine Ban Treaty of its joint military operations with the
RDC. As a party to the treaty, Rwanda should state categorically that it will
not participate in joint operations with any force that uses antipersonnel
mines. The matter is all the more serious since the Democratic Republic of
Congo acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 2 May 2002, and now has a legal
obligation to prevent and suppress any activity prohibited by the treaty.
PRODUCTION, TRANSFER AND STOCKPILING
Rwanda reports that it has never produced
antipersonnel mines.[5] In the
past, Rwanda imported an unknown number of antipersonnel mines; some 35 types of
mines from at least eight countries have been found in
Rwanda.[6] In its Article 7
Report, Rwanda states that it has no stockpiles of antipersonnel landmines, and
no mines retained for training
purposes.[7] It also reports
that no destruction of stockpiled mines took place in its reporting period of
February-August 2001.[8] No
information was provided on when or how Rwanda’s previous stockpile of
antipersonnel mines was destroyed.
LANDMINE PROBLEM AND SURVEY
Rwanda has reported that between 1990 and 1994
mines were placed in the provinces of Umutara (northeast), Byumba (north),
Ruhengeri, and Gisenyi (northwest), urban and rural Kigali and Gitarama
(center). The latter province is reportedly affected by “scattered
mines” only, and all the others by both “minefields and scattered
mines.”[9] More then 35
areas have been identified as mined or suspected to contain mines, of which some
20 have been cleared. The majority of these areas are smaller than 50,000
square meters. Rwanda reports that approximately 200,000 antipersonnel mines and
UXO are scattered through the
country.[10]
According to the National Demining Office (NDO), antipersonnel mines that
have either been turned into household utensils or traded at the market for
metal are a great danger to the
population.[11]
A database maintained by the National Demining Office is based on information
gathered by its survey teams, as well as reports from local communities. NDO is
planning to carry out a level one survey in mid-2002, and Rwanda requested
“all governments and NGOs to help us carry out this
survey.”[12]
MINE ACTION
In September 2001, Rwanda stated, “Having a
mine-free country remains among the priorities of the Rwandan
government.”[13] It
established the National Demining Office in 1995. The main functions of the NDO
are to: propose policies and strategies to the government, develop and supervise
a sustainable and integrated mine action plan, coordinate all demining
activities and maintain a national
database.[14] Rwanda notes the
need to improve its national mine action capacity.
According to the NDO, in 2001, 3,648 mines and UXO were cleared from an area
covering 9,712 square
meters.[15] From January to
June 2002, 783 mines and UXO were cleared from an area of 2,437 square
meters.
Since September 1995, 27,473 mines and UXO have been cleared from an area of
6,275,192 square meters, as well as 57 kilometers of the road from Gisenyi to
Kibuye.[16] In September 2001,
Rwanda reported that of the more than 35 areas that have been identified as
mined or suspected of being mined, and some twenty areas had been
cleared.[17]
In 2001, the US provided $400,000 to the NDO to help it continue its mine
risk education campaigns, replenish equipment, and provide deminers and medics
with refresher training.[18]
The US has allocated $350,000 for Rwanda for fiscal year
2002.[19]
Mine risk education (MRE) activities started immediately after the
establishment of the National Demining Office in 1995. NDO carries out is MRE
through media, lectures, theater, and by distributing educational material in
every province of the country. Rwanda considers this effort to be an important
factor in the 80 percent decrease in casualties since the establishment of the
NDO.[20]
LANDMINE CASUALTIES AND SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE
In 2001, twenty-three landmine casualties
(seventeen men and six women) were recorded, according to the National Demining
Office: six in Byumba, one in Gysenyi, twelve in Kigali (city), one in Mutara,
and three in Ruhengeri.[21] In
the first half of 2002, two mine casualties were recorded (both male): one in
Byumba and one in Kigali
(rural).[22]
Since 1990, 617 mine casualties have been recorded, of which 446 were
male.[23]
In 2001, the National Prosthesis and Orthopedic Rehabilitation Service of
Kigali Hospital Center treated 289 patients with amputations, of which 120 were
mine victims (95 men, 17 women, and eight
children).[24] The Service
produced 289 prostheses in
2001.[25]
Handicap International provides technical support to the Service at Kigali
Hospital Center. In 2002, HI was strengthening its collaboration with the
physiotherapy department so as to promote all-round patient care. HI supports
disabled people and local structures and associations for social and
professional reinsertion of people with disabilities in twelve
districts.[26]
The Mulindi Japan One Love Project (MJOLP) is a joint Rwandan/Japanese NGO
that produces prostheses and orthoses free of charge for disabled persons and
promotes the socio-economic reintegration of people with
disabilities.[27] It produced
approximately 500 prostheses and orthoses from July 1994 to April 2002. The
MJOLP inaugurated a new workshop in Kigali on 29 September
2000.[28] In February 2002,
MJLOP began a mobile workshop service to reach disabled people in remote
areas.[29]
In 2001, Médecins Sans Frontière (MSF) described its pressing
health concerns in Rwanda as including mental trauma from the genocide and
war-related injuries. After fighting in northwestern Rwanda in June 2001, MSF
began a surgical intervention in
Ruhengeri.[30]
[1] Order of the President, nr. 38/01, 24
December 1998. [2] See Landmine Monitor
Report 2001, pp. 132-134. [3] There have
been allegations that, following killings that took place in Kisangani between
14 and 18 May 2002, the RCD-Goma rebels and their Rwandan allies laid
antipersonnel mines around a mass grave located close to Bangboka airport.
Landmine Monitor was not able to confirm this allegation. Information provided
to Landmine Monitor by a local NGO, 5 June
2002. [4] See the Democratic Republic of
Congo country report in this edition of Landmine Monitor
Report. [5] Article 7 Report, Form E, 4
September 2001. [6] See, Landmine
Monitor Report 1999, p. 162, and Jane’s Mines and Mine Clearance, edition
2000-2001, p. 663. [7] Article 7 Report,
Form B, 4 September 2001. [8] Article 7
Report, Forms F and G, 4 September
2001. [9] Article 7 Report, Form C, 4
September 2001. [10]
Ibid. [11] “Abatoragura ibisafurya
muritonde mutazaba nka Bisuperi” (“Those gathering big pans, beware
of the plates”), Imvaho (Information), weekly magazine of ORINFOR,
Ministry of Information, 4 March
2001. [12] Article 7 Report, Form C, 4
September 2001. [13] Article 7 Report,
Form A, 4 September 2001. [14]
Ibid. [15] National Demining Office
Report provided to Faustin Rwahama, Second Counselor, Rwandan Embassy in
Brussels, Belgium, 26 July 2002, faxed to Landmine Monitor 26 July
2002. [16]
Ibid. [17] Article 7 Report, Form C, 4
September 2001. [18] US Department of
State, “To Walk the Earth in Safety,” November 2001, p.
11. [19] US Department of State Fact
Sheet, “The US Humanitarian Demining Program and NADR Funding,” 5
April 2002. [20] Article 7 Report, Form
I, 4 September 2001. [21] The casualty
figures provided did not distinguish between deaths and injuries. NDO Report
provided to Rwandan Embassy in Brussels, 26 July
2002. [22]
Ibid. [23]
Ibid. [24] Email to Landmine Monitor
from Hélène Pouget, Coordinator Rehabilitation Program, Handicap
International, 23 July 2002. [25]
Ibid. [26] Review of Activities 2001,
Handicap International, p. 22. The districts are: Butare, Cyangugu, Gahini,
Gisenyi, Kabgayi, Kibuye, Kigeme, Ngarama, Nyanza, Ruhengeri, Rutongo, and
Rwamagana. [27] Landmine Monitor Report
2001, p. 137. [28] “One Love
Tsushin,” No. 18, January
2001. [29] “One Love
Tsushin,” No. 22, May 2002. [30]
“Activity Report 2000-2001, Africa, Rwanda,” Médecins Sans
Frontières, www.msf.org.
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