Key
developments since May 2001: Polisario states that it has not used
antipersonnel mines since the 1991 cease-fire, and has no stockpile of mines.
Polisario accuses Morocco of continuing to use mines. There have been no
humanitarian mine action programs since May 2000.
MINE BAN POLICY
The sovereignty of the Western Sahara remains the
subject of a dispute between the government of Morocco and the Polisario Front
(the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguía el Hamra and Río
de Oro). The Polisario’s Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is not
universally recognized and has no official representation in the UN. Polisario
representatives continue to state that the Saharawi government would join the
treaty, if eligible to do so, but at the same time, they speak of a possible
need for the weapon.[1] In a
detailed response to Landmine Monitor’s request for updated information,
Polisario confirmed that there has been no change in policy toward the treaty in
the past year.[2]
PRODUCTION, TRANSFER, AND STOCKPILING
Polisario is not known to produce or export mines.
In its response to Landmine Monitor, Polisario said it had not received mines
from other countries in the past, but instead had acquired mines by lifting them
from the Moroccan defensive walls (berms). It said Polisario forces would lift
antipersonnel and antivehicle mines from Moroccan minefields and replant them to
stop Royal Moroccan Army (RMA) troop
movements.[3]
Polisario has said that it has no stockpile of mines. It keeps 1,606
disarmed antipersonnel mines on display in the Saharwi Liberation Army (ALPS)
Military Museum, which is open for visitors. It claims all of its mines were
taken from the Royal Moroccan
Army.[4]
USE
Both Polisario and Morocco used mines extensively
in the past. Polisario and Moroccan forces fought intermittently from 1975 to
1991, when a cease-fire went into effect and the UN peacekeeping force, UN
Mission for a Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO), was deployed to the
region. Landmine Monitor could not confirm any new mine use during the
reporting period by either Polisario or Polisario in Western Sahara.
Polisario said that APLS has not layed, maintained or refurbished “any
kind of mines” since “a cease-fire went into effect,” in
reference to the 1991
cease-fire.[5] Polisario claims
that Royal Moroccan Army troops deployed in Western Sahara “refurbish and
upgrade their minefields on a daily
basis.”[6] (See Morocco
country report for more detailed allegations by
Polisario).[7]
LANDMINE PROBLEM
Western Sahara is littered with mines and
unexploded ordnance (UXO) as a result of years of
conflict.[8] No in-depth
landmine impact survey has been conducted. The 1991 cease-fire resulted in a
territory that is divided between the Polisario and Morocco by defensive walls
built by Morocco, known as berms (earthen walls of about three meters in
height), which Morocco has fortified with antipersonnel and antivehicle mines.
A Polisario official expressed Polisario's concern for “the enormous
number of landmines in Western Sahara and the many innocent victims they claim
every year.”[9] Despite
the landmine problem, approximately 10,000 Saharawi nomads live in mine-affected
areas on both sides of the Moroccan
berms.[10]
MINE ACTION
Under bilateral military agreements signed by
Polisario and Morocco in early 1999, both parties have committed to cooperate
with MINURSO in the exchange of mine-related information, marking of mined
areas, and clearance and destruction of landmines and UXO in the presence of
MINURSO observers. Polisario stated to Landmine Monitor that ALPS military
regions have clear instructions from their Ministry of Defense to cooperate with
MINURSO within the framework of this agreement and spare no effort to provide
any available information, assistance in marking and destruction of mines and
UXO. It also indicated that it provided MINURSO with all maps and necessary
information in 1991.[11]
MINURSO does not have the personnel resources, equipment or funding
necessary to conduct humanitarian mine clearance. Most clearance is done by the
RMA and recent reports indicate a decreasing level of clearance. (See Morocco
country report).
UNHCR has not produced an updated repatriation plan for the Saharawi refugees
because of continued uncertainty regarding the political
process.[12] One UNHCR official
told Landmine Monitor, “It will be impossible to run a smooth repatriation
without proper prior mine
clearance.”[13] UNHCR
also deems it necessary to open several more passages through the Moroccan berm
and for logistical reasons, these heavily mine-affected areas would need to be
surveyed and cleared well in
advance.[14]
No NGOs are known to have any plans to establish mine clearance or mine risk
education programs in Western Sahara. No large-scale mine risk education has
been provided in Western Sahara since Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)
conducted mine risk education in the five main Saharawi refugee camps near
Tindouf (Algeria) from March 1998 to May 2000.
A Polisario representative stressed the “urgent need for greater
support for mine action for the Saharawi people, particularly in the fields of
victim assistance and better survey, research and documentation of the present
landmine
situation.”[15]
LANDMINE CASUALTIES AND SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE
Polisario provided Landmine Monitor with a list of
seven mine incidents from June 2001 to April 2002. Five involved antipersonnel
mines, killing one person in 2001, and injuring one person and killing eight
camels in 2002. Two involved antivehicle mines, injuring two people in 2001,
and killing one person and injuring at least two others in 2002. The incidents
took place in Smara (two), Farsia (three), Oum Draiga, and
Mehairis.[16]
MINURSO recorded 39 mine incidents from
1992-2000.[17] A Moroccan
organization named the Forum for Truth and Justice-Sahara Section has gathered
information on landmine casualties in the Moroccan-controlled parts of Western
Sahara. It states that there were a number of new landmine casualties during
the reporting period, particularly among nomads in the southern part of Western
Sahara.[18]
NPA conducted a mine victim assessment mission in the Saharawi refugee camps
in April 2000, which identified 320 landmine amputees and another 300 disabled
due to polio, and other reasons. A number of landmine survivors live in Western
Sahara, on both sides of the berm, but no figures were available. Access to
emergency services, especially in remote areas, is limited to military medical
facilities. No NGO is actively working with landmine survivor assistance in the
refugee camps or in Western
Sahara.[19]
NPA prepared a proposal to establish a prosthesis workshop project in the
camps and secured funding, but due to Algerian restrictions on visas to enter
the region, the project was cancelled in early 2001. While the visa problems
were solved in late 2001, neither NPA nor any other organization has gone ahead
with the project yet.
The ICRC is developing contacts with representatives of the Polisario Front
in order to sign an agreement regarding the fitting of lower-limb prostheses for
Sahrawi refugees who are amputees at their center in
Algiers.[20]
[1] Interview with SADR Minister for
Europe, Mr. Mohamed Sidati, Oslo, 20 March
2002. [2] “Landmine Monitor Report
2002: F Polisario answers to Western Sahara Questionnaire,” received by
Landmine Monitor by email from Emhamed Khadad, Polisario coordinator to MINURSO,
27 June 2002. Hereafter, Polisario Response to Landmine Monitor, 27 June
2002. [3] Polisario Response to Landmine
Monitor, 27 June 2002. [4] Ibid.. There
are five mine types in the museum, from Brazil, France, Italy and the United
States. [5] Polisario Response to
Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002. [6]
Telephone interview with Emhamed Khadad, Polisario Coordinator to MINURSO, 23
January 2002. [7] Polisario Response to
Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002. [8] For
a more detailed description of the landmine problem, see Landmine Monitor Report
1999, pp. 921-924. [9] Interview with
Mohamed Sidati, SADR Minister for Europe, Oslo 20 March
2002. [10] Interview with Major M.
Morrow, Mine Information Officer, MINURSO, Laayoune, 7 January
2001. [11] Polisario Response to
Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002. [12]
According to the UN Peace Plan, UNHCR will be responsible for providing mine
awareness for 120,000 refugees in Algeria and 26,000 refugees in Mauritania
prior to the planned repatriation of Saharawi refugees. The UNHCR does not,
however, have any concrete plans for such activities due to the delays in the
peace plan and lack of funds. [13]
Interview with Mr. Mohamed Hantosh, UNHCR Senior Desk Officer, North Africa and
Western Sahara Operation, Geneva, 9 April
2002. [14]
Ibid. [15] Interview with Mohamed
Sidati, SADR Minister for Europe, Oslo 20 March
2002. [16] Polisario Response to
Landmine Monitor, 27 June 2002. [17] See
Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 1063, for more detail. MINURSO has no full
time mine action staff person responsible for maintaining and updating the
landmine/UXO incident records. This responsibility lies with the MINURSO Force
Training Officer, who is also the Mine Information
Officer. [18] Interview with Brahim
Noumria, Forum Verité et Justice- Section Sahara, Geneva, 8 April
2002. [19] See also Landmine Monitor
Report 2001, pp. 1064-1065. [20] ICRC
(Geneva), Special Report, Mine Action 2001, July 2002, p. 37.
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