Country & Territory Reports - Landmine Action

Official statistics on the ERW/mine situation in the DRC, as of
May 2004, are updated monthly in the IMSMA database. 434
The system is operated by the MACC and is presently the sole
source of the database for mine related information in the
DRC. The database contains detailed information, and goes
back as far as 1964. In 2004 there were 19 victims of
MOTAPM, ERW and APM. Amongst the total recorded
casualties since 1964 where the type of device was known,
most have been attributed to UXO (46 per cent) 435 , with antipersonnel
mine accounting for 42 per cent. Some 46
casualties (5 per cent) 436 have been recorded from MOTAPM
and 89 casualties (nearly 10 per cent) have been attributed
to cluster munitions. 437
Impact
ERW and MOTAPM contamination presents a risk to refugees
and IDPs planning to return to their homes in the DRC. This
concerns approximately 3.4 million IDPs, 438 200,000
refugees in the DRC 439 and 380, 000 Congolese refugees in
neighbouring countries. 440 In order to respond to the ERW
and mine risk, the Mine Awareness Trust (MAT) and the
International Rescue Committee (IRC) in support of UNHCR,
conducted a three-month mine risk education (MRE)
campaign. 441 MOTAPM also present a risk for peacekeepers
and humanitarian workers, and hamper development
activities. 442 According to the IRC, MOTAPM are laid on bush
roads by insurgents to blow up vehicles and are a threat to
the humanitarian staff. 443 The Swiss Foundation for Mine
Action (FSD) reported that only three of the 19 NGOs in Bunia
were prepared to leave the city by road without being
escorted by UN troops, due to the perceived threat of mines.
In many cases, humanitarian aid still cannot be delivered
safely to those in need. 444 Several NGOs had asked the FSD
to verify the practicability of routes, roads, and airstrips in
Ituri and elsewhere in the country. 445
Efforts to address these problems
Through Security Council Resolution 1291 (2000), MONUC
has the mandate to coordinate mine action activities in
DRC. 446 MONUC has established a Mine Action
Coordination Centre. MONUC concentrates its activities in
eastern DRC, and has identified the reopening of major
roads as a key priority. The Mechem company of South
Africa is still continuing verification and clearance of the
Bunia-Beni road (Ituri): the operation was due to be
completed by mid-May 2004. Mechem will then address
additional requirements as identified by MONUC in Ituri,
starting with the road from Ika Barrier to Fataki (Ituri). 447
Locally recruited deminers of the FSD mobile emergency
mine/UXO clearance teams started working at the end of
January 2004 in the Bunia area (Ituri District). 448 In a
clearance operation in August 2003, MONUC EOD advisers
in the eastern town of Kindu destroyed 45 items of AXO,
each with 35kg of explosives, found in the open at the
national police training camp in Kindu. 449
In July 2004, MONUC deployed a South African engineering
team to help clear key locations in eastern DRC of ERW. It was
reported that several rocket-propelled grenades, hand
grenades and mortar bombs had been destroyed, a large
number of which had been abandoned in schools following
fighting in Bukavu. Outside Bukavu, ERW were also reported
in Adikivu, close to the South Kivu airport to the north. 450
MONUC has been working in collaboration with other UN
agencies, most notably UNMAS and UNICEF. 451 UNMAS
conducted a mine action fact-finding mission to the DRC, and
developed a mine action programme to deal with ERW and
landmines in the country in order to assist MONUC and the
MACC. UNICEF’s main activities in the DRC for 2004 were
mine clearance and mine risk education. 452 UNICEF
conducted MRE training for Mechem and FSD staff in April
2004, and on community liaison and data collection. 453
Mechem has been involved in three main clearance
projects, under the auspices of MONUC: 454 in the Kindu
and Kisangani airfields, in La Forestiere and Manono
airfields, and in and around airfields and roads in Bunia.
Legislation
congo, democratic republic of 49
The DRC has been State Party to the Ottawa Convention
since 2 May 2002. The Government of DRC has not signed
or ratified the CCW.
421 Carter Dougherty, “Making gems work for peace -not war”, San Francisco Chronicle (20 November 2003), D1.
422 Les Roberts, “Mortality in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Results from Eleven Mortality Surveys”, International Rescue Committee Health
Unit, 2001.
423 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for the Democratic Republic of the Congo 2003, 19
November 2002.
424 Annual Report 2002 for the Programme Mine Action Assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, http://www.mineaction.org/misc/resultdisplay.cfm?doc_ID=1056
425 According to Marco Kalbusch, Mine Action Liaison Officer, MONUC, telephone interview 13 September 2004, referenced in Landmine Monitor 2004,
p. 346.
426 “DRC: Survey of Landmines and Unexploded Ordinance Urgently Needed, Swiss Group Says”, Nairobi, All Africa news agency, 14 April 2004; United
Nations Security Council , Twelfth report of the Secretary-General on the UN Organization Mission in DR Congo, 18 October 2002.
427 Bernard Hacourt and Tony West, “Kisangani Evaluation Report”, Handicap International, 28 June to 12 July 2000 (M15 and TM46); for the other
MOTAPM types see Landmine Monitor 2004, p. 348 (also based on HI information).
428 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, DRC: The district of Tanganyika – threatened by the presence of mines, 16 July 2004.
429 Bernard Hacourt and Tony West, “Kisangani Evaluation Report”, (Brussels: Handicap International, 28 June to 12 July 2000).
430 Handicap International, “Kisangani: Evaluation Report”, Brussels, HI Belgium, 28 June to 12 July 2000.
431 Mine Action Support Group Newsletter, New York: Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations, April 2004.
erw and motapm – global survey 2003–2004