Somalia

Background

After mid-2006 the Somali Islamic Courts Council (SICC) pushed the US-backed Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism out of Mogadishu, the Benadir region and some parts of the Middle Shabele region. Ethiopia began overt support of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG), which then only controlled regions near Baidoa, and Puntland in the north. The TFG and SICC engaged in what a November 2006 UN report described as an “aggressive, rapid, and large – by Somali standards – and planned military build-up” with the assistance of 10 other countries, in violation of the UN arms embargo.^[1] In late November Ethiopia sent troops into Somalia and war broke out between Ethiopian/TFG forces and the SICC. By January 2007 Ethiopian/TFG forces had defeated open opposition by SICC militias, and much of the SICC leadership fled the country. An African Union mission (AMISOM), consisting solely of Ugandan troops, arrived in Somalia in early 2007. There have been attacks against TFG, Ethiopian and African Union forces with explosive devices throughout the year.

Mine Ban Policy

The Somali Republic has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. The Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic was created under a 2004 charter.^[2] The TFG prime minister attended as an observer the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Nairobi in November-December 2004 where he stated the TFG’s intention to outlaw antipersonnel mines.^[3] The TFG did not attend any Mine Ban Treaty meetings in 2006 or 2007.

Ten active Somali factions have renounced use of antipersonnel landmines by signing the Deed of Commitment administered by Geneva Call. These signatories are members of the Transitional Federal Institutions (Government and Parliament), but also continue to control independent militia forces and territory.^[4]

Production and Stockpiling

Somalia has never been known to manufacture landmines, but they are thought to be widely available. Mines were reportedly being sold in the Bakaraaha arms market in Mogadishu in late 2006.^[5] Most factions are believed to possess some landmine stocks. The former TFG Deputy Prime Minister told Landmine Monitor in 2005 that he believed militias in Mogadishu alone held at least 10,000 antipersonnel mines.^[6]

Ugandan forces in the African Union mission were reported to have recovered 2,128 unspecified mines, among other weapons, in disarmament operations in Mogadishu in the first week in May.^[7] Many of the weapons came from demobilizing militias associated with businesspeople based in the capital, including some warlords who had previously been identified as having mine stockpiles.^[8] Captain Paddy Ankunda, AMISOM spokesperson, was quoted in a media report as stating, “We register and document [the weapons] and keep them in safe custody. In due course, they will be destroyed in the presence of the public so that there is no suspicion that they will end up in the hands of another clan.”^[9]

Geneva Call reported that in 2006 it undertook several missions to verify mine stocks held by signatory factions and to help prepare for their destruction.^[10] In October 2006 Geneva Call and the Danish Demining Group traveled to Gedo to survey the stocks of one of the signatories, the Somali National Front, which had been “actively collecting and stockpiling mines…in areas under its control” as part of its commitment.^[11]

In July 2007 Geneva Call was given what it described as “unprecedented access to a military camp in Galkayo, where we found no AP mines” and that the local authorities confirmed their willingness to provide access to other military camps in a future mission and to destroy their stocks.^[12]

Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines

In November 2006 the UN group monitoring the arms embargo on Somalia reported further allegations of transfers of antipersonnel mines, as well as antivehicle mines and unspecified mines, into Somalia in violation of the arms embargo on the country.^[13] This is the second UN report specifically alleging transfers of antipersonnel mines from Eritrea, but the first specific allegation of antipersonnel mine transfers from Ethiopia.^[14]

The November report states that, on 26 July 2006, an IL-76 cargo aircraft flew from Assab, Eritrea to Mogadishu, Somalia with arms including antipersonnel mines of unspecified type. It also states that on 28 July 2006 two IL-76 aircraft landed at Mogadishu International Airport with an arms shipment that included antipersonnel mines.^[15] The report also stated that in September 2006 the Ethiopian military transferred 180 antipersonnel landmines and other unspecified mines to Puntland (whose President, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, is also the TFG President) and to militias of warlord Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid.^[16] It also reported Ethiopian transfers of antivehicle mines and unspecified mines to other Somali entities.^[17]

The November 2006 report of the UN Monitoring Group also alleges a 25 July 2006 shipment of unspecified mines, among other weapons, from the government of Iran.^[18]

The report states that private arms traders brought unspecified mines into the Bakaraaha arms market between August and September 2006.^[19] It alleges that the TFG Minister of Defense, Barre Adan Shire “Hirale,” purchased unspecified mines there between August and September 2006, as did Warlord Col. Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdiid, a former member of the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism.^[20] The report said the SICC purchased mines at the Bakaraaha market in July 2006.^[21]

Eritrea, Ethiopia and Iran all denied the allegations.^[22] The SICC denied it had violated the arms embargo.^[23] The UN Monitoring Group did not receive a response from the TFG. Puntland authorities strongly denied the allegation in a letter to Geneva Call.^[24]

Several signatories to the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment were identified in the report. Jubba Valley Alliance leader Barre Aden Shire “Hirale,” Puntland authorities, and Jowhar Administration Chairman Mohamed Omar Habeb “Dheere” were all alleged to have purchased unspecified mines at the Bakaraaha arms market between August and September 2006.^[25]

In April 2007, during the intersessional Standing Committee meetings, the President of the Seventh Meeting of States Parties, Ambassador Caroline Millar of Australia, expressed concern over the UN reports and said that she had written to the Chair of the Monitoring Group to seek further information.^[26] The ICBL lamented the fact that States Parties have not vigorously pursued these serious and specific allegations as potential violations of the Mine Ban Treaty and strongly encouraged States Parties to seek further information and clarification on this matter from both the UN Monitoring Group and the governments of Ethiopia and Eritrea.^[27]

Use

Landmines have been used extensively in Somalia for many years during a variety of internal conflicts. Since the fall of Siad Barre in 1991, factions vying for power in Somalia have used both antipersonnel and antivehicle mines.

There have been many reports of the use of “landmines” by a variety of combatants in Somalia during 2006 and 2007, but most if not all appear to refer to use of antivehicle mines, command-detonated antipersonnel mines or command-detonated improvised explosive devices (IEDs).^[28] While it is likely that some factions have continued to use antipersonnel mines, Landmine Monitor has not been able to verify any specific instances of use of antipersonnel mines in the armed conflict between Ethiopian/TFG forces and militias of the SICC, or during armed attacks since January 2007 against TFG, Ethiopian and African Union forces, or in inter-clan conflicts.

The Somalia Coalition to Ban Landmines (SOCBAL) registered 61 explosive incidents in the first half of 2007: 28 involved IEDs or bombs, 26 were attributed to explosive remnants of war (ERW) and seven to unspecified mines.

In early January 2007 Al-Qaida deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Somalia’s Islamists to use landmines in their resistance efforts. This may have been a reference to command-detonated explosive ambushes with antivehicle IEDs, which have been increasingly used.^[29]

Landmine and ERW Problem

Landmines and explosive remnants of war– both abandoned explosive ordnance and unexploded ordnance (UXO)–affect many parts of Somalia as a result of a series of internal and international conflicts since 1964.^[30]

Details of the impact of mine/ERW contamination in the south of the country remain sketchy. Contamination in the north has been covered by three Landmine Impact Surveys (LIS) in Puntland and the self-proclaimed state of Somaliland, with fieldwork for phase III was completed on 26 June 2007.^[31] Renewed armed violence in the capital, Mogadishu, which continued into mid-2007, has resulted in greater contamination from both mines and ERW.^[32]

Phases I and II of the LIS covering the Somaliland and Puntland regions of Somalia revealed significant levels of contamination along the Ethiopian border and southern clan border areas, and less contamination in coastal and northern regions. Mudug was found to be the most affected of the three areas covered by the phase II survey.^[33]

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) believed that the impact of landmines in Somalia was not as severe as has sometimes been claimed, and that the greater threat comes from ERW.^[34] In a March-April 2007 evaluation of European Commission (EC)-funded mine action in Africa, the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) concluded that “UXO plus abandoned munitions (AXO), official stockpiles, and private stockpiles of munitions are very widespread and, through most parts of the country, constitute a greater threat than do minefields.”^[35]

Mine Action Program

In the absence of stable government in Somalia the UN has focused support on regional initiatives, primarily the Somaliland Mine Action Center and the Puntland Mine Action Center (PMAC). An interministerial commission is responsible for overseeing and advising PMAC in matters relating to mine action operations.^[36]

PMAC continues to use version 3 of the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA); version 4 was installed in May 2007 but, according to the GICHD, it would only be fully operational when phase III of the LIS was completed in Somaliland and would include all the data from the survey.^[37]

A new UNDP Chief Technical Advisor for Somalia with responsibility for the mine action component of the Rule of Law Program began work on 1 June 2007. This was followed by an interagency mine action assessment of mine/UXO contamination in south central Somalia, from 25 June to 1 July. The mission was co-led by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and UNDP Somalia; preliminary findings indicated the need for increased survey activities with explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) response capability in the south and center of the country to fully gauge the ERW problem. The mission also called for support to new national structures. UNDP also called for funding for the destruction of stockpiles of weapons, ERW and mines held by African Union forces and in centralized stockpiles.^[38]

In addition, despite resource shortages, UNDP planned to establish a South Central Mine Action Center before the end of September 2007. The new center, PMAC and the Somaliland Mine Action Center will be coordinated under the UNDP Somalia Mine Action Coordination Center (SOMACC) in lieu of a national, countrywide structure.^[39]

Evaluations of Mine Action

In early 2007, GICHD conducted a mission to Somalia as part of its regional evaluation of EC-funded mine action in Africa.^[40] The draft report made several recommendations, including:

UNDP/UNOPS should assist PMAC in revising its mine action strategy, continue capacity development of core local capacities and formulate an exit strategy; and

HALO Trust should consider initiating mine clearance in Puntland focusing on the larger minefields in the border regions of Northern Mudug.^[41]

Demining

In 2006-2007, as in 2005, the main demining operator in Somalia outside Somaliland was PMAC. However, no sustained mine action was possible in south central Somalia due to the ongoing conflicts. In Puntland also, no formal mine clearance was conducted in 2006, only EOD of “visible ammunition;” the quantities involved were not reported.^[42] Some spot clearance in and around Mogadishu was reported as being carried out by Ethiopian and Ugandan troops.^[43]

In mid-2007 it was reported that Ugandan AMISOM troops in Mogadishu had detonated “massive accumulations of diverse weapons in Muriyo concave near Halane army training compound in south of the Somalia capital.”^[44] On 31 July 2007 UNDP and UNMAS personnel delivered equipment, including personal protective clothing and mine detectors, to African Union troops in Mogadishu.^[45]

Two police teams from Jowhar were sent for basic EOD training at the International Mine Action Training Centre in Nairobi in late 2006, but as of mid-2007 they had not been able to function.^[46]

Mine Risk Education

Puntland Mine Action Center reported that its EOD teams continued to provide limited mine risk education (MRE) during 2006; 10 communities benefited, two in Burtinle district, Nugaal region, and eight in Galdogob district, Mudug region.^[47]

In January 2006, GICHD provided MRE training to PMAC staff in Garowe on behalf of UNICEF; as of mid-2007 there had been no follow-up activities.^[48] Handicap International, which had prepared MRE materials for Puntland mine action teams in 2005, planned to resume activities in September 2007 as part of a project based in Somaliland.^[49]

The Somali Demining & UXO Action Group Center (SOMMAC) reported that it provides training programs to minimize the dangers of mines and UXO in some areas while in others it uses mass media. SOMMAC also collects information on contaminated areas and informs local communities.^[50]

The Somalia Coalition to Ban Landmines reported that it has carried out an MRE program to raise awareness in the Somali community residing in Banadir region including the capital Mogadishu.^[51]

UNICEF broadcast MRE spots on radio stations covering Mogadishu and surrounding areas in mid-2007. It also supported training of community-based child protection advocates by Handicap International and provided technical support to UNDP in establishing a mine action center in southern Somalia.^[52]

Landmine/ERW Casualties

In 2006 there were at least 401 new mine/ERW casualties (76 killed, 283 injured; 42 unknown) in Somalia, a significant increase (45 percent) in casualties from 2005 (276 casualties) and nearly four times more than 2004 (102 casualties). However, it is likely that the 2006 data do not represent the full picture as some collectors were unable to provide casualty data for 2006 and the quality of collected data is variable. Within the 2006 total, PMAC recorded 42 casualties in the Puntland region.^[53] SOMMAC recorded at least 359 new mine/ERW casualties (76 killed and 283 injured). At least 52 of the casualties were children. Only eight casualties were caused by landmines and 351 were caused by ERW (73 killed, 278 injured). There was at least one antipersonnel mine incident and two antivehicle mine incidents; three incidents were caused by abandoned explosive ordnance. Casualties were recorded throughout southern and central Somalia, including Banadir (Mogadishu), Lower and Middle Shabelle, Bay, Galgadud and Bakool.^[54]

In addition, in 2006 SOMMAC reported 51 casualties caused by “bombs” including 17 killed and 34 injured; these incidents were probably not caused by victim-activated devices.^[55]

ISHA, a human rights NGO in Baidoa, Bay province, recorded four casualties (one boy killed and three injured) in three ERW incidents.^[56] Landmine Monitor also identified one man killed by a landmine in Middle Shabelle province.^[57] Insufficient detail was available to know whether these incidents were recorded by SOMMAC.

The Somalia Center for Research and Documentation (SOCRED) did not report casualties for 2006.

Casualties continued to be recorded in 2007. PMAC recorded 60 new mine/ERW casualties in Puntland in the first six months of 2007; the sharp increase compared to 2006 is due to expansion of data collection to Sool and Sanag regions through the Landmine Impact Survey.^[58] The Somalia Coalition to Ban Landmines classified 439 casualties (176 killed and 263 injured) as being caused by landmines, ERW and IEDs in 61 incidents in the first six months of 2007.^[59] There was a significant increase in casualties in May and June when SOCBAL recorded 344 casualties, mostly in and near Mogadishu, due to changed tactics by Islamists insurgents in 2007 during escalating violence against Ethiopian and government troops and officials.^[60]

Several incidents reported as mine/ERW incidents were likely caused by command-detonated landmines and IEDs assembled from unexploded or abandoned ordnance and used in targeted ambushes. These are not specified as such in the media articles SOCBAL uses to collect casualty data. Landmine Monitor analysis of SOCBAL data and media sources determined that at least five of the incidents SOCBAL listed were caused by victim-activated devices. These primarily were children tampering with ERW or IEDs which failed to explode or had not yet been activated.^[61]

Media sources listed 10 additional incidents reportedly caused by landmines, victim-activated IEDs and ERW. As of 6 July 2007, 91 civilian casualties (27 killed, 63 injured, one unknown) occurred in 15 incidents. One antivehicle mine incident injured four UN workers in their vehicle on 20 March 2007.^[62]

Data Collection

Mine/ERW casualties are not systematically recorded in Somalia; the number of casualties is likely to be inaccurate and underreported for some parts of the country. SOMMAC receives some casualty reports from the field and collects information from the media.

In 2007 UNDP reported that IMSMA was operational in the northern Somali region but that there was limited or no coverage in the southern and central regions due to the security situation. UNDP reported that in addition to setting up a mine action center in the south, the quality of casualty data will be assessed and data collection issues will be addressed by November 2007.^[63]

Not all recorded casualties were due to mines/ERW and some were victims of inter/intra clan fighting or gunshot casualties.^[64] The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that, “Most of the time, what is reported as ‘landmine incident’ is related to remote control explosions,” and that incidents reported as mine incidents might have been caused by IEDs or ERW, as a result of artillery fire on Mogadishu in the first half of 2007.^[65]

The total number of mine casualties in Somalia is not known. Between 1995 and 2000, 4,357 landmine casualties were recorded in Bay and Bakool regions, including 2,626 people killed and 1,731 injured, and between 2001 and 2003, more than 533 mine/UXO casualties were reported. Phase II of the LIS completed in 2005 recorded 682 mine/ERW casualties (268 killed and 414 injured) in Bari, Nugaa, and northern Mudug in Puntland.^[66] The phase III LIS completed in June 2007 recorded 89 “recent” casualties (30 killed and 59 injured) in Sool, Sanaag and Buuhoodle district in Todgheer, areas claimed by both Somaliland and Puntland.^[67]

PMAC has recorded 202 casualties since 2004: 73 percent were male, and the highest at-risk group was people aged between 15 and 29 years “traveling, herding and tampering” (60 male, 12 female).^[68]

Survivor Assistance

Conflict which escalated in 2006-2007 and severe flooding impacted the already severely limited healthcare system and services for people with disabilities in Somalia. According to Islamic Relief, the ongoing conflict increased the difficulty in providing relief and aid supplies to people, many of whom were displaced from their homes due to conflict.^[69]

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), access to and quality of healthcare at the end of 2006 remained inadequate to meet the needs of the population. It reported that there were only 39 qualified doctors per one million inhabitants, and that these doctors were mostly concentrated in urban areas, leaving remote areas unserviced.^[70] War-injured people in rural areas often die or suffer unnecessary complications because of the lack of services or because they cannot afford treatment.^[71] Somalia has no functioning public health services, and healthcare is provided by international and local NGOs or the private sector, where services are not free.^[72] By April 2007 UNICEF, providing support to basic healthcare facilities, was no longer able to reach its medical supplies in Mogadishu.^[73]

The two main referral hospitals are Keysaney Hospital in Mogadishu North, run by the Somali Red Crescent Society (SRCS), and the community-run Medina Hospital in Mogadishu South, both supported by the ICRC. There are two rehabilitation centers providing physiotherapy and prosthetic/orthotic devices run by the SRCS with Norwegian Red Cross (NRC) support; they also operate a center in Somaliland.^[74] SOMMAC reported in 2006 that many people in Somalia suffer from trauma caused by mine/ERW incidents and conflict more generally.^[75] Psychosocial and economic reintegration programs for survivors or people with disabilities are nearly non-existent.^[76]

In the absence of a functioning state, there is no disability legislation in Somalia. Associations of people with disabilities have reported numerous cases of discrimination against people with disabilities to the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights in Somalia. The Ministry of Health in Puntland reportedly has legislation to protect the rights of people with disabilities.^[77] As of 31 July 2007 Somalia had not signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol.

Survivor Assistance Strategic Framework

The UN identified the building of national MRE and mine victim assistance capacity as a priority for PMAC in 2006, and elsewhere in the country, security situation permitting. As of July 2007 no actions have been taken to improve survivor assistance.^[78]

In 2006 at least 6,137 people, war-injured people and people with disabilities were assisted by SCRS with the support of ICRC and NRC. The number of mine/ERW survivors receiving assistance is unknown. Emergency medical care was provided to 2,070 war-injured people (including 50 identified as “mine” casualties).^[79] Physiotherapy was provided to at least 2,965 people (including 870 new patients), mobility devices to 651 and prosthetic/orthotic repairs to 451.^[80]

From January to July 2007 ICRC-supported hospitals provided medical care to 2,420 war-injured people, including 31 identified as mine casualties. The ICRC provides assistance to war-injured people by supporting hospitals, medical clinics, and roadside first-aid posts; it supported 23 of the 42 clinics run by the SRCS in central and southern Somalia. In 2006-2007 the ICRC expanded the capacity of the Keysaney and Medina hospitals from their normal 65-bed capacity to 200 to accommodate the large number of war-injured.^[81] It also provided first-aid kits, surgical equipment and medicines; an expatriate surgical team performed 21 operations.^[82]

Other organizations providing medical care in Somalia include International Medical Corps, Médecins Sans Frontières and INTERSOS. UNICEF provides assistance to psychosocial support.^[83]

The Somali Red Crescent Society runs two rehabilitation centers in Gaalkacyo and Mogadishu with support from the NRC and the ICRC Special Fund for the Disabled (SFD).^[84] As a result of SFD administrative workshops and the development of a standardized staff appraisal form, the centers are managed more effectively. The number of devices produced and people assisted in 2006 increased. The centers work according to a cost-sharing model, and those patients who can afford it contribute a small amount towards their mobility devices.^[85] The ICRC reported that while the rehabilitation centers occasionally treat war-injured people, the majority of patients were involved in road-traffic incidents.^[86]

Funding and Assistance

In 2006 international funding of mine action in Somalia totaled US$1,751,145 (€1,393,891), as reported by two countries and the European Commission (EC).

Canada provided C$110,000 ($96,998) to UNDP for support to PMAC; Canada provided the same amount in 2004 and 2005.^[87] Sweden contributed SEK5,500,000 ($746,350) to the Danish Demining Group for unspecified mine action.^[88]

The EC provided $894,795, consisting of $189,630 to UNDP for EOD in southern Somalia, and $705,165 to UNDP for mine clearance and capacity-building of the Puntland Armed Forces.^[89]

The 2006 end-year review of the UN’s Portfolio of Mine Action Projects reportedthat Somalia/Somaliland received 54 percent ($2,615,383) of funds requested through the appeal process in 2006, comprising $974,795 for projects in Somalia and $1,640,588 for projects in Somaliland. The review reported that conflict had reduced program capabilities and funding requirements in 2006, but more funding was needed to ensure the sustainability of PMAC and police EOD operations.^[90]