After more than two decades of warfare, the 176,000 Sq. Km territory of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland is today heavily mined. Systematic surveys started last year have not been completed. Data compiled by the National Demining Agency (NDA) of Somaliland and the UNDP-affiliated Somali Mine Action Center (SMAC) in Hargeisa, suggest that there are 28 mined roads and 63 confirmed and 17 suspected mine fields in Somaliland[1],[2],[3].
Somaliland is one of the poorest countries in the world and landmine victims face enormous difficulties reaching health care facilities or receiving care from the few poorly equipped and inadequately staffed hospitals. Two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide some assistance with mobility devices and physical therapy, but victims receive no other assistance. Landmine casualties have diminished over the past several years as people have started to avoid mined areas. No new mines have been used since the cessation of the last internal conflict in 1995, but the Somaliland national army and some militias have stocks of landmines.
Somaliland’s internationally unrecognized government cannot sign the MBT, but has expressed its intention to abide by all provisions of the mine Ban Treaty (MBT) and its willingness to sign the treaty when it becomes possible to do so[4]. On March 1 1999, on the occasion of the entry into force of the MBT, the Somaliland House of Representatives passed a resolution urging the government to unilateral ban landmines[5]. In a meeting with LM and representatives of the ICBL, the President of Somaliland indicated his desire to see the parliamentary resolution become law[6], so far however that has not happened.
Over the past year, Somaliland has attracted significant donor attention.
January 20, 1999, the Danish Demining Group (DDG)[7] announced that it obtained four million Kroner from the government of Denmark. DDG started a demining project in Somaliland in the spring of 1999.
The United States Department of State has also started funding a multi-year demining program implemented by HALO TRUST and the German government is funding the Santa Barbara Foundation to start a mine clearance project in Somaliland.
In addition, the US State Department and the European Union (EU) are also funding Care International to perform level 1 and level 2 surveys in Somaliland.
Soon after
the fall of the of the Siyad Barre dictatorship of the Somali Democratic
Republic in 1991, Somaliland, which comprised the northern five regions of
united Somalia, proclaimed its independence.
Somaliland, which borders on Ethiopia to the south, Djibouti to the
west, the northeastern regions of the former Somali Democratic Republic to the
east, and the Gulf of Aden to the north, claims the same territory that was
until 1960 ruled by the United Kingdom as the British Protectorate of
Somaliland. Somaliland joined with the
former Italian colony of Somalia after both received independence in 1960[8]. Today, Somaliland remains a de facto state
thus far unrecognized by other countries.
For all practical purposes, Somaliland functions as a separate and
independent country. It has a bicameral
parliament, and an elected president.
Twice in the past eight years, Somaliland has peacefully changed its
governing leadership. It maintains
officially recognized liaison offices in neighboring countries such as Djibouti
and Ethiopia and will soon open a Commercial Relations Office in Yemen[9].
The landmine problem in Somaliland is the result of over two
decades of warfare:
¨ Between 1977 and 1978, The Somali Democratic Republic, which then had the third largest army in sub-Saharan Africa, went to war with neighboring Ethiopia over a longstanding territorial dispute. The war was heavily contested in the frontier area between northern Somalia (now Somaliland) and Ethiopia and the corridor between the Ethiopian city of Dire-Dawa and the border. Both the Somali army of Maj. Gen. Mohamed Siyad Barre and Ethiopian troops of the Mengistu regime heavily mined frontlines, perimeters surrounding military installations and important access routes.
¨ The war between Ethiopia and Somalia also left behind large amounts of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Somaliland. Sixty armed and eighty unarmed Russian SAM3, in various stages of deterioration, are scattered about a former military base outside of Berbera airport and in a farm on the outskirts of Hargeisa. Another thirty-five short-range sea-to-sea marine missiles are in a former Technical Regiment Base near Berbera port lighthouse. There are also large piles of UXOs in Addadley and Dararweine, former camps of the 12th mechanized division of the Somali Army. Unguarded, these pose a serious hazard, especially to young children[10],[11].
¨ Between 1981 and 1991, the Somali National Movement (SNM), a rebel army of mostly northern Somali following, waged an armed insurrection against the regime of Mohamed Siad Barre. On May 27, 1988, the conflict between the SNM and the Somali army intensified to a full-scale war. The Somali army, fearing that the population was sympathetic to the cause of the rebels, embarked on a scorched earth strategy. Nearly one million civilians were forced out of northern Somalia into refugee camps in northeastern Ethiopia[12]. Numerous reports by human rights organizations and others describe the indiscriminate use of landmines by the Somali army against the civilian population and their homes, farmland, and water reservoirs[13]. In particular, the army targeted the then regional capital of Hargeisa. Perhaps as many as 100,000 landmines were placed in Hargeisa by the army, around military bases, refugee camps, private homes, and the airport[14]. SNM combatants also used landmines during this civil war. Neither the SNM nor the army of Siyad Barre used landmines systematically.
¨ The most recent use of landmines in Somaliland took place between 1994 and 1995. Militias opposed to the regime of Somaliland President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal and loyalist forces fought fierce battles in Hargeisa (now Somaliland’s capital) and areas south and east of Hargeisa. Landmines were used extensively in this civil war. The two sides have now reconciled. However, landmines planted during this period are making life very difficult in Burao and the surrounding region
It is difficult to
estimate the number of landmines used in these three phases. Most studies, however, put the number of
landmines in Somalia at 1.2 to 2 million.
The U.S. Department of States’1998 estimate is 1 million landmines in
all of Somalia[15]. The United Nations Development Program,
which currently operates the Somali Civil Protection Program and a demining
project in Somaliland, indicates that between 400,000 and 800,000 landmines
were placed in Somaliland soil during the 1988-1991 periods[16]. At least twenty-four types of antipersonnel
landmines from 10 countries have been identified in Somaliland. The 10 countries of origin are: Belgium,
Pakistan, China, the United States, Ex-Czechoslovakia, Former People’s Republic
of Germany, Egypt and the former Soviet Union, United Kingdom and Italy[17].
In 1992, the U.S.
Department of State described the landmine problem in northern Somalia
(Somaliland) as a “very serious problem”[18]
and that of the rest of the country as a general problem. In 1991 the ICRC estimated Somaliland to
have one amputee for every 652 persons, making it the third most severely
mine-affected area. Physicians for
Human Rights in a report published in 1992, also conservatively estimated that
there were then 1500 and 2000 landmine amputees in Somaliland. The population
of Somaliland at the time of the PHR report was estimated at about 1 million,
indicating, therefore, that there was one amputee for every 666 residents. In this period, 60 mine victims were being brought
to the main Hargeisa Group Hospital alone every month[19].
Mine-related
casualties have considerably subsided over the past several years as people
become more aware and avoid problem zones.
Moreover, nomads and local communities especially in the frontier areas
have often hired freelance deminers to demine areas they knew had
landmines. In April of 1998, doctors in
Berbera Hospital indicated that on the average they were treating victims from
one mine accident every month. Most of
the victims in Berbera were from the heavily mined city of Burao, which is
about two hours driving distance from Berbera[20]. However, landmine threat is one of the major
obstacles hindering large numbers of people from returning to their homes or
farm or pastoral lands. More than
70,000 former residents of Burao, the second largest Somaliland City, have not
returned and live in a makeshift camp on the eastern outskirts[21]. Limited demining by a UNDP Somalia Civil
Protection Project has now enabled some sections to be repopulated and the
reopening of important public facilities such as the airport, the bank, a few
schools and a number of main streets.
3.1 Mine Ban Treaty
The self-declared
Republic of Somaliland cannot become a signatory of the MBT until it receives
international recognition as a separate state.
Nevertheless, on the occasion of the signing ceremony of the MBT in
Ottawa, the President of Somaliland, Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, wrote a letter to
Lloyd Axoworthy, the Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs indicating that Somaliland
was willing to sign the MBT (see annex I).
In his letter, Mr. Egal stated “We would be grateful to be accepted as
participants in the conference and to sign the treaty banning landmines as an
autonomous territory in full control of its destiny and the management of its
affairs…” Somaliland authorities give every indication that they are
willing to unilaterally observe the MBT and all of its requirements, including
the expeditious destruction of landmine stocks of its national army.
On March 1, 1999,
the Somaliland House of Representatives, passed an amended version of the NDA
policy that in Article 1 decrees:
“The State shall undertake to destroy or
ensure the destruction of all stockpiled antipersonnel mines it owns or posses,
or that are under its jurisdiction or control, as soon as possible”[22].
In its
preamble to the March 1 resolution the House of Representatives recalls the
Ottawa Declaration of 5 October 1996 and the Brussels Declaration of June 27,
1997 urging the international community to negotiate an international legally
binding agreement prohibiting the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of
antipersonnel mines.
The government has
passed not other legislation and the above parliamentary resolution has not
become law.
3.2 Other Mine Treaties
Somaliland has not
unilaterally agreed to abide by any other treaty related to landmines.
3.3
Somaliland
Campaign to Ban Landmines
Until recently
there was no organized campaign to ban landmines in Somaliland. NGOs or concerned individuals active in the
victim assistance or mine awareness arenas often wrote advocacy papers or
undertook research on the landmine problem in Somaliland[23].
On August 26, 1998, SOYAAL, the Somaliland Veterans Association issued a
statement at the conclusion of its 2nd General Congress calling on
the government of Somaliland to ban all landmines. SOYAAL’S statement in part read
“ SOYAAL calls on the
Somaliland government and the peoples and governments of this planet to
prohibit the production, commercialization and exploitation of all types of
mines… ”[24].
In January the
Somaliland Coalition against Landmines (SCAL) was formed. The new coalition is composed of SOYAAL, the
Somaliland Red Crescent Society, The Somaliland Relief and Rehabilitation
Association (SORRA), and the Institute for Practical Research (IPR). IPR acts as the secretariat for SCAL[25].
SCAL
organized a workshop on the menace of landmines in the horn of Africa, November
23-24. During the workshop, the
Chairman of the Guurti, the upper house of parliament, affirmed his community’s
willingness to cooperate with international organizations on landmines. This affirmation was echoed by the Speaker
of the House of Representatives speaking during the opening session of the
workshop[26].
3.4/3.5
Transfer/Stockpiling and Destruction
The Ministry of
Defense of Somaliland claims that the national army has not purchased or
transferred any landmines, but admits that they have stocks inherited from the
Somali army or various demobilized militias[27]. The government has not programmed the
destruction of its landmine stocks[28].
Somaliland does
not appear to be a transit point for landmines.
4.0
Background
The gravity of the
landmine situation became apparent in 1991 soon after the fall of Siyad Barre
as large numbers of residents returned to their homes in Hargeisa. Mines were found everywhere in Hargeisa and
casualties quickly mounted. In 1991,
the U.S. State Department’s Office of Refugee Programs funded a proposal by
Medecins Sans Frontiers of Belgium to start a demining program in
Hargeisa. The project was later
expanded with further input from the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR). UNHCR was responsible
for the care of nearly 800,000 former residents of Somaliland as refugees in
northeastern Ethiopia. Rimfire, a British firm, was contracted to start
demining in and around the city of Hargeisa.
According to some reports, Rimfire’s demining program had serious
organizational and technical shortcomings.
Some reports indicate that more than thirty of its local deminers were
killed. However, Rimfire’s program and parallel local efforts resulted in the
removal of 21,000 from Hargeisa before Rimfire closed its project in early 1994[29],[30].
The early demining
by local teams[31] and Rimfire
enabled the re-population of the city of Hargeisa, whose residents now number
an estimated population of 250,000 to 300,000.
Mine explosions are now rare in Hargeisa. However, there are a number of mine fields in its vicinity.
Between 1994-95 an
internal conflict in Somaliland made humanitarian demining difficult, and no
new programs were initiated. In fact,
new mines were laid in the contested areas.
As described previously, most severely affected by these new mines is
the central city of Burao, which had been the scene of heavy fighting.
4.1
Funding
Between 1991 and
1993 the United States Department of State and later the United Nations Funded
a commercial demining project in Somaliland.
In 1998 the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) spent $202,000 on a training and assessment
project by Mine-Tech of Zimbabwe (see below).
On 20 January
1999, the Danish Foreign Ministry awarded 4 million Kroner (approximately
U$600,00) to the Danish Demining Group (see below). During a meeting on March 5, 1998 in Copenhagen, DGG indicated
that the funds were for a pilot project that may be expanded in the future[32].
In 1998, Care
International received $343,817 from the US Department of State’s Bureau of
Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) to start a level II survey in
Somaliland and to support NDA and SMAC capacity building[33]. Care’s project was slated to start on March
1, 1999.
In
1999, the US State Department started funding HALO TRUST to start a multi-year
demining program in Somaliland. The
first year was funded at a level of $ 1.250 million, while the budget for the
second year is expected to be approximately $1.9 million[34]. Approximately $250,000 of HALO TRUSTS
initial funding was earmarked for capacity building of the NDA. In addition the British Ministry of Defense
has donated four front loaders and four bulldozers to HALO for use in
Somaliland[35].
The
Santa Barbara Foundation with funding from the German Government and foundation
support is under taking a $500,000 demining project in the Gabiley district
west of Hargeisa.
Both
the United States Department of State and the European Union are also funding a
Care International program of surveys and mine awareness campaigns. The Care program, funded at a level of
US$600,000 for year 2000 is contracted to Mine Tech Zimbabwe.
The
Somali Mine Action Center (SMAC) managed by The Somali Civil Protection Program
of UNDP is also spending US$ 400,000 for mine action, mine action coordination
and mine action policy formulation[36]. SMAC is currently negotiating with the
donors for further funding of US$ 4.25 million for comprehensive level I and
Level II surveys and mine clearance projects in Awdal and Togdheer regions and
the clearance of missiles and bombs from around Hargeisa and Berbera.
4.2
Mine-Survey/Assessment
In 1997, the
Somaliland government constituted a National Demining Agency (NDA) to
coordinate all demining, mine awareness and victim assistance programs by the
government and national and international NGOs. At about the same time, The United Nations Development Program
established a Somali Mine Action Center (SMAC) to coordinate its landmine
activities in Somaliland and began a limited training and demining program in
Burao City. The UNDP program also
started compiling field data for a Phase I Study.
According to SMAC,
There are 28 mined roads in Somaliland.
Most roads in Somaliland are unpaved.
The only exception is one major route that connects several of the major
towns and cities. Consequently, it had
been relatively easy to block roads with landmines. There have been several mine incidents on the coastal road
between the port city of Berbera and neighboring Djibouti, and a section of
this road just east of Berbera has at least one minefield of undetermined
size. Sections of the regular
Djibouti-Jidhi-Borama road are also mined and traffic has been diverted into
alternate routes for the past eight years.
The regular unpaved road between the largest towns of Somaliland, Burao
and Hargeisa has been abandoned, in part due o landmine threat.
There are also
more than 80 minefields in Somaliland.
Sixty-three of these fields have been confirmed by SMAC. The majority of mine fields are found near
the Ethiopian/Somaliland border[37]. These minefields were designed to protect
the army of Siyad Barre’s regime from SNM incursions during the 1988-90
conflicts. Somaliland is a pastoral
society and the frontier area is the most important grazing area for Somaliland
livestock. Each season, tens of
thousands of nomads and their herds cross the border in search of water and
pasture. These nomads are extremely
vulnerable as they travel on foot and often in large numbers. There are no paved roads in the area and no
hospitals or health care centers. No
systematic demining has taken place in this frontier area.
4.5 Mine Clearance/Current
In 1998,
UNDP funded a three-month commercial demining project to begin the demining of
Burao. Mine Tech of Zimbabwe was contracted to do a feasibility study using
previously trained Somali deminers.
Mine Tech trained Somali deminers (63), two mine detection dogs and
expatriate technical advisors, have now cleared approximately 73,000 Sq. meters
of Burao removing 107 antipersonnel mines, 15 anti tank mines and 63 UXOs at a
cost of $2.75 per square meter and a total cost of US $202,000. Under a separate contract from HABITAT, the
team also cleared a 1.5 km road leading to the water reservoir of nearby Sheikh
town.
On January 20, 1999, the
Danish Demining Group (DGG)[38]
announced that it would begin a demining project in Somaliland in the spring of
1999. DGG received a grant of 4 million
Kroner from the Danish Foreign Ministry for a demining, detonation of UXOs and
victim assistance. According to press
reports, DGG will establish headquarters in Hargeisa and will train up to 45
local deminers[39].
DDG has a base camp 70 Km west
of Hargeisa at Adadley. They have
started a level I and Level II surveys around Adadley, a former military camp,
and clearance of a minefield around the camp.
DDG is also involved in rehabilitation work of a boarding school and a
health post in the same village. Care International has completed 38 levels I
and II surveys, trained medical personnel, and started a mine awareness project
with a voluntary youth group. Thus far DDG has completed the clearance of
2-battle field clearance at Adadley and the disposal of UXOs at the two
sites. DDG has also cleared the
following sites: the road to the stone
query at Dheenta, the Dhobato bridge, the Haleya Bridge, the Makhayada Inanta
Culvert and the Abdalla Culvert. The
DDG work covered a total of 178426 sq. meters of battle area clearance,
including the abandoned Adadley boarding school, and a total 23156 sq. meters
of mine clearance. Twenty-nine AP mines
and 1 AT mine and 15495 UXO pieces were destroyed.
HALO TRUST started a multi
year mine clearance program in September 1999.
After an initial phase I survey and mapping in March of 2000, HALO TRUST
started deploying 5-mine clearance teams (totaling 62 demining lanes in important
grazing and cultivation areas. HALO
TRUST has thus far destroyed 570 mines and completed a level I survey of the
Awdal region.
5.0
Landmine Victim-Survivor Assistance
Somaliland, which
even in normal times had few health care or other social service facilities,
has suffered through two decades of conflict and instability. Its entire infrastructure remains in
ruins. The majority of health care
workers, like other skilled professionals, have left to escape the insecurity
and have not yet returned. In 1991, at
the height of mine explosions, there were only 8 general surgeons and two
orthopedic surgeons in the whole country.
There is no evidence that the picture has changed at all. There are only three hospitals capable of
providing surgery in Somaliland, and they are all poorly equipped.
Data on landmine
accidents or casualties are not collected systematically. The United Nations Development Program
(UNDP) estimates that between June and December of 1997 there were 70 landmine
accidents involving 40 fatalities and the loss of 50 heads of livestock in the
Toghdeer region alone. NDA compiled
mine victim statistics for the past 10 years.
The data compiled by NDA show that over 3500 people where injured by
landmines. In addition, landmine
accidents resulted in significant loss of livestock (see below for details).
Currently, two
NGOs provide some post-operative assistance to landmine victims. The Somaliland Red Crescent Society (SRCS),
with funding from the Somaliland government, and the Norwegian Red Cross
provides plastic lower limb prosthesis to amputees. Handicap International (HI) also provides prosthetics, crutches
and other walking aids, and runs a physical therapy clinic for amputees and
other handicapped individuals[40]. Both centers are located in Hargeisa, and
except for occasional travel to other districts, their patients are confined to
victims who can seek assistance in Hargeisa.
Table 1: Number of Prostheses
Delivered by the Somaliland Red Crescent Society
Hargeisa Rehabilitation Center
1994 to May 1999
|
Patient |
|
Mine |
Bullet |
Accident |
Other |
Total |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Male |
|
300 |
400 |
90 |
110 |
900 |
|
Female |
|
58 |
32 |
8 |
38 |
136 |
|
Child |
|
24 |
6 |
2 |
14 |
46 |
|
TOTAL |
|
382 |
438 |
100 |
162 |
1082 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Source
SRCS, Hargeisa
Between 1993 and May 1999, the SRCS rehabilitation center
provided prosthesis to 1082 patients.
Forty percent of the patients were mine victims. On the average, the center makes plastic
prosthetics for 13 to 15 patients each month.
Handicap international, which makes low-cost wood mobility
devices, also runs a wheelchair-making workshop. Notably,
The Somaliland Handicapped Persons Association does some of
the work on wheelchairs. Twenty percent of HI’s patients were amputees,
however, the number of landmine amputees is not specified. In 1999, HI/Action North South assisted 382 patients including 22 amputees and
provided the following aides:
¨
124 long and short braces
¨
253 orthopedic shoes
¨
21 wheel chairs
¨
973 walking aids
¨
97 technical aids
¨
10 other pieces of equipment.
While most mine victims are now assisted at the Somaliland Red Crescent
Society Handicap Center in Hargeisa, HI provided three below knee mine victim
amputees in 1999.