The
Menace of Landmines in the Horn of Africa
Proceedings
of a workshop held in Hargeisa
November 23-24, 1999

The
Institute for Practical Research and Training
Table
of Contents
List of Participants
2-4
Welcoming Remarks, Sheikh
Ibrahim Sheikh Yusuf
Chairman of the Guurti
5
Opening Remarks
Ahmed Mohamed Adan, Speaker of the House of
Representatives
6
Bashir Haji Hassan Geileh, Vice Minister, MRR&R
7
The International Campaign
to Ban Landmines, Ahmed H. Esa
The Institute for Practical Research and Training
8-10
Assitance to Mine-Affected
Comunities in the Light of Bad
Honnef Guidelines, Abdilkadir Jirdeh, Deputy Speaker of
The House of Representatives
11-13
Landmines
in the Horn of Africa
Landmines in Djibouti, Dahir Osman Omar, L’Association
De Soutien Aux Victimes de Mines (ASSOVIM/Djibouti)
14-16
Landmines in the Sudan, Hagir Mohamed Kheir Mussa,
Sudan Campaign to Ban Landmines
17-18
Landmines in Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mohamoud Issa
Somali Campaign to Ban Landmines
19-28
Presentation by
International NGOs Involved in Mine Clearance in
Somaliland
Care International, Jonathan Karanja
29-32
Danish Demining Group, Mohamed Ali Ismail
33-36
HALO TRUST, Matthew Hovell
37
Victim Assistance
SOYAAL Mine Victim Assistance Program
38-40
Handicap
International/Action Nord Sud
41-42
HAVAYOCO
Mine Awareness Program
43
Mine
Awareness in Somaliland, Ahmed Mohamed Madar, SORRA
44-45
The
Socioeconomic Impact of Landmines, Mohamed Abdi Dhimbil,
Consortium of Somaliland NGOs
46-48
Working
Group Proceedings
Group 1: Press Release of the working group on cooperation among
49-50
Horn of Africa campaigns
Group 2: The proceedings of the working group on mine action
coordination
in Somaliland
51-56
Annex:
Resolution of the House of Representatives on landmines
Passed
on March 1, 1999
57-58
List
of Participants
Hagir
Mohamed Kheir Mussa
Sudan
Campaign to Ban Landmines
Ahmed
Mohamed Adan
Speaker
of the House of Represenatatives
Abdikadir
Jirdeh Ali
Deputy
Speaker, House of Representatives
Somaliland
Campaign to Ban Landmines
Ed
Malcik
Deputy
Chief of Mission
US
Embassy Djibouti
Mohamed
Abdi Dhinbil
COSONGO
NGO umbrella, Somaliland Campaign to Ban Landmines
Ahmed
Mohamed Madar
The
Somali Relief and Rehabilitation Association
Somaliland
Campaign to Ban Landmines
Saed
Shukri
Chairman,
SOOYAAL, The Somaliland War
Veterans
Association, and the Somaliland Campaign to Ban Landmines
Ali
Jama
Action
Nord Sud / Handicap International
Hargeisa
Karen
Perrin
Action
Nord Sud / Handicap International
Florence
Thun
Action
Nord Sud/Handicap International
Horn
of Africa Regional Officer, Lyons, France
Mohamed
Ali Ismail
Danish
Demining Group
Hargeisa
Greenfields
Associates
Bo
Bischoff
Danish
Demining Group
Copenhagen,
Denmark
Erik
Willandsen
Danish
Demining Group
Hargeisa
Jonathan
Karanja
Care
International
Nairobi
Mohamed
Nuh
Care
International and
The
Somaliland Campaign to Ban Landmines
Hargeisa
Mohamed
Abdilahi Gardaf
Care
International
Hargeisa
Bashir
H. Hassan Geileh
Vice
Minister, MRR&R
Abdillahi
Omar Hassan
Director
General, MRR&R
Ismail
Hashi Madar
Director,
NDA, MRR&R
Ahmed
Ali Kahin
Legal
Advisor, House of Representatives and Consultant to MRR&R on
Landmine Policy
Hussein
Abdilahi Dualeh
Consultant,
MRR&R on Landmine Policy
Matthew
Hovell
HALO
Trust
Hargeisa
Abdirahman
Mohamed Sh. Ibrahim
HALO
TRUST
Hargeisa
Nick
Bateman
HALO
TRUST
UK
Mohamed
Osman
HALO
Trust
Hargeisa
Mohamed
Hassan (Jidhif)
SMAC
Mohamud
Issa
Santa
Barbara Foundation
Somali
Campaign to Ban Landmines
Dr.
Romanus Mkerenga
Officer
in Charge, UNICEF
Abdi
Farah Elmi
UNICEF,
Focal person on landmines
Jab
Swart
UNDP
Somali Civil Protection Program
Sahra
Ibrahim Hussein
UNDP,
Somali Civil Protection Program
Dahir
Osman Omar
President,
Association de Soutien aux Victimes de Mines, Djibouti
Peter
Fuyane
Santa
Barbara Foundation
Hargeisa
Brian
Barnes
Saint
Barbara Foundation
Hargeisa
Joe
Anzuino
Terra
Nuova
Francis
Simba
Kenya
Rural Enterprises Programme (K-REP)
Mohamed
Ibrahim Odawa
Mine
Information and Social Awareness (MISA)
Abdikarim
Omar Odawa
Mine
Information and Social Awareness
Osman
Mohamed
Minsitry
of Interior
Nasir
Ahmed Ismail
Mine
Risk Education
Frank
Krause
UNHCT/HABITAT
Hargeisa
Patrick
Mwale
UNHCT/HABITAT
Abdikarim
Ahmed Mogeh
HAVOYOCO,
Hargeisa
Ahmed
Aw Gedi
HAVOYOCO,
Hargeisa
Ahmed
Yassin
Action
Nord Sud/ Handicap
Hargeisa
James
D. Megill
Canadian
Association for Mines and Unexploded Ordnance Security, Montreal, Canada
Ibrahim
Abdillahi Hassan
Ministry
of Interior
Hassan
Abdillahi Jama
Ministry
of Planning
Hassan
Adan Ali
UNICEF
Ali
Ahmed Ismail
FRANSO
IPR STAFF
Ahmed
H. Esa
Omar
Ali Abdi
Khadar
Ahmed
Welcoming Remarks: Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Yusuf Sheikh Madar, Chairman,
GUURTI (Upper House of Parliament)
First
of all, I would like to extend our thanks to you and welcome you to
Somaliland, especially those of you who came from far away countries
and traveled long distances.
Landmines
are among the most dangerous elements that confront human beings.
We, here in Somaliland are confronted with their danger every
day. We, therefore,
applaud your work and we affirm that our communities will work with
you in your efforts. On
behalf of the Somaliland communities, I would like to tell you that we
will cooperate with you in every way.
We
hope and expect also that you will do your work diligently and
responsibly. Thank you and I hope you will have a successful workshop.
Opening Remarks by Ahmed Mohamed Adan (Speaker of the House of
Representatives)
I
know all of you are dedicated to the eradication of landmines and the
horrible consequences of their
use. We in Somaliland welcome your efforts and applaud your important
achievements.
Many
of you here, citizens of Somaliland and friends from abroad, are
actively engaged in the dangerous activity of removing landmines,
demining. We are
especially thankful to you and your work.
Somaliland
is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.
According to numbers compiled by our National Demining Agency,
more than 3000 people have been killed by landmines and many more have
been injured over the past 10 years.
Landmines still pose a daily problem. Just four days ago, a
young boy was severely injured by a landmine explosion at Hargeisa
airport.
Landmines
are particularly troublesome and dangerous for our nomadic society.
Pastorals who tend to their livestock in minefields have no
protection whatsoever. Moreover,
there are often many miles from the nearest urban center and their
mine casualties are often not cared for or recorded.
The
Somaliland parliament is very interested in the issue of landmines.
On the March 1, 1999, on the occasion of the entry into force
of the Ottawa Treaty, we passed unanimously a resolution supporting
the Ottawa Treaty. I
believe copies of that resolution has been given to the participants.
We will continue to be supportive of this process and will
endeavor to make sure that landmines are not used in future conflicts
not in Somaliland but in this region of the world.
Our
government is also supportive of the Ottawa process.
We are not recognized internationally, but our President has
made it clear on the occasion of the signing of the Ottawa treaty that
we are willing to unilaterally abide by the requirements of the Ban
Treaty.
I
thank you all for your efforts and participation in this workshop and
wish you all the best.
Opening Remarks by Bashir Haji Hassan Geileh, Vice-Minister, Ministry of
Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (MRR&R).
Honorable
guests, dear ladies and gentlemen, colleagues and friends, good morning
and thank you for all being here, especially those of you who have
traveled from long distances just to participate in this workshop.
I would also like to thank and congratulate Dr. Ahmed Hussein Esa
of IPR and the Honorable Abdilkadir Jirdeh and their colleagues who have
contributed to this workshop and made it possible.
The
Ministry of Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (MRR&R)
is mandated by our government to formulate policy and guide mine action
in Somaliland. The ministry
has subsequently established a National Demining Agency with the
responsibility for all activities in Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA).
The
NDA’s responsibilities are as follows:
¨
to
implement policies guidelines formulated by the ministry
¨
coordinate
activities and setup strategic plans of action
¨
evaluate
and monitor the financial aspects of all HMA activities
The
Somaliland Mine Action Center (SMAC) was also established as a technical
organ to assist NDA in its role in coordination, evaluation and
monitoring, standardization and quality assurance.
SMAC is also hoped to provide in-puts relevant to the strategic
planning and to perform the following activities:
¨
support
activities of data collection and compilation
¨
Setting
up of a data center and HMA database including such elements as accident
statistics, survey and mapping data, mine awareness training and victim
assistance programs.
To
put these issues together and make it functional has been very difficult
for the ministry as the ministry currently has no resources and since
our government cannot at this stage provide financial or human resource
support. Therefore, we are kindly requesting from the international
communities, UN and international non-governmental organizations to
assist us with the provision of technical assistance, human resource
development and institutional strengthening.
For
your information, our previous experience with the UN or international
agencies on donor provided capacity building has been that those funds
were not properly utilized, and therefore, I hope in the future there
will be better transparency and accountability. Finally I would like to
say thank you for both helping us in the process of policy formulation
and assistance with the restructuring of NDA/SMAC.
I would also like to thank CARE International for their
assistance to us to cover the cost of technical assistance.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Overview:
Ahmed H. Esa, The Institute for Practical Research and Training
Throughout
human history war has been a constant.
Every civilization has witnessed war and man’s cruelty to
mankind. While waging war,
however, combatants have often recognized certain limitations on the
conduct of war. Today,
these limitations are rooted in customary humanitarian practices that
date to the medieval era.
The customary humanitarian principle that military requirements
must be counter balanced with humanitarian considerations was first
formalized in the St. Petersburg declaration of 1868, which stated
“that there are limits at which the necessities of war ought to yield
to the requirements of humanity.”
Under
Customary Law three principles are generally recognized:
·
Parties
in conflict are not unlimited in the way they conduct war.
·
Military
needs must yield to humanitarian considerations.
·
Combatants
must strive to protect civilians from the effects of hostilities, and
therefore, are required to employ means of combat that discriminate
between civilian and military targets.
In
the Geneva Convention of 1949, the need to protect civilians in times of
war was codified in international
treaty. Last year, the
world celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Geneva
Convention with the reaffirmation that “EVEN WAR HAS LIMITS”.
In
subsequent protocols to the Geneva Convention (Protocol I and Protocol
II), protection of civilians in both international and non-international
conflicts and the principle of proportionality were re-emphasized.
In these additional protocols, the world affirmed “ the
principle of proportionality by prohibiting the employment of weapons
that cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering or “methods of
combat” that do not distinguish military objectives and civilians”.
Well
before the Ottawa Convention and international efforts towards a total
ban of landmines, the world community had realized the special nature of
landmines and the havoc they pose in many parts of the world.
In 1980, Protocol II (the landmines protocol) was annexed to the
United Nations Convention on the Prohibition on the use of Certain
Conventional Weapons (CCW) which may be Deemed to be Excessively
Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects.
Protocol II of the CCW (Protocol on the Prohibition or
Restrictions of the Use of Mines, Booby Traps and other Devices) was
modified in 1996 to prohibit the use of mines in a way that “may be
expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians
which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military
advantage anticipated”.
Landmines,
unlike other weapons, lie dormant waiting for a vehicle, a person, or an
animal to explode it. They
cannot discriminate between the foot of the soldier in battle or that of
a small child wandering in the woods many years after the conflict has
passed. They kill and maim, and the mutilations they cause cannot be
corrected or masked by medical intervention.
The use of landmines violates international humanitarian law.
They are indiscriminate weapons.
In
spite of the international treaties and protocols designed to restrict
the use of landmines according to tenants of international humanitarian
law, landmines have been used widely throughout much of the world in the
past four decades. Today,
the world faces a landmine crisis.
There may be as many as 100 million unexploded mines buried in
countries around the world, including Angola, Mozambique, Cambodia,
Somaliland, Vietnam, Afqanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, parts of the former
Yugoslavia, El Salvador, and the Democratic Republic of the Gongo.
Mindful
that the landmine crisis cannot be addressed by measures short of a
total ban on the use of landmines, a handful of international NGOs
banded together in 1992 to lobby and actively work for a total ban.
The handful of NGOS that started the International Campaign to
Ban Landmines have now been joined by more than 1400 other NGOs
throughout the world, including the Somaliland Coalition against
Landmines. The work of the
ICBL was immensely advanced by several like- minded governments such as
Canada and. As you all may know, On Dec 2, 1997, 122 countries gathered
in Ottawa to sign the Mine Ban Treaty (Ottawa Convention) on the
Prohibition on the Use, Production, Stockpiling and Transfer of
Landmines. Today, 140 countries have signed the Ottawa Convention and 80
countries have ratified it through local legislation.
It entered into force on March 1, 1999, after 40 countries had
ratified it. In 1998, the
world honored the ICBL and its coordinator, Jody Williams, by awarding
them the Nobel Peace Price.
The
ban on landmines has been effective thus far.
A number of major countries, including the United Kingdom and
France, have already destroyed all their stockpiles of landmines.
Ukraine has started destroying some of its 11 million landmines.
Other countries, including non-signatories, have instituted
moratoria or total ban on transfer of mines to second parties.
The
Ban Treaty has certain deficiencies that must be addressed.
It does not ban anti-tank mines or anti-handling devices.
It does not bind non-state actors and some of the major landmine
producers such as China, the United States, Russia and Pakistan have not
joined the ban.
One
of the reasons that the Ban Treaty has been so successful has been the
conclusion by many military experts that landmines were not particularly
useful weapons. Studies by
the ICRC, which covered some 26 conflicts between 1940 and 1995,
concluded that use of landmines did not change the outcome of the
conflict.
Several studies commissioned by the US Defense Department also
came to the conclusion that landmines were only marginally useful.,
Landmines
are, however, extremely useful as weapons of terror.
In deed, the landmine crisis we face today is largely due to the
use of landmines as weapons to terrorize civilian populations.
They have been used in fields, around water reservoirs, inside
cities and villages, on farmland. In Somaliland, landmines were used by army of the regime of
Siyad Barre essentially to harm the local population. In 1991, refugees coming back to their homes after three
years in refugee camps found almost every house booby trapped and mined.
Casualties mounted quickly.
Between November 1990 and April 1991, two to three landmine
victims were being brought every day to Hargiesa Group Hospital alone.
The casualty rate has significantly diminished now, thanks in
part to some demining work, but primarily because people have learned to
live with landmines, knowing where to avoid.
The
problem is, however, far from over.
While we advocate for more funds for demining and mine action, we
ought to realize the importance of eradicating this “terror” once
and for all. The Somaliland
community must show the world that it is also willing to do its part by
joining the world and committing to the total non-use of landmines and
destruction of all stocks. It
is important to remember, that in the 1994-1995 civil conflict, it was
not an enemy force that planted landmines in the streets of Burao, but
members of our community.
It
is heartening that the government of Somaliland and the Somaliland
Parliament have both shown a willingness towards a sensible policy on
landmines and a willingness to join the world community in a total ban.
I know that Somaliland, as a country not recognized
diplomatically cannot sign the treaty, but are heartened by its
willingness to do so unilaterally as evidenced by a letter the President
of Somaliland wrote to Mr. Llyod Axoworthy, the Foreign Minister of
Canada, on November 26, 1997 on the eve of the Ottawa Convention signing
ceremony.
While
almost all the countries of the Horn of Africa face severe landmine
crisis, only Djibouti and Uganda have signed and ratified the treaty.
Sudan, Kenya, and Ethiopia have signed but not ratified the Ban
Treaty. There are
allegations of new use of landmines in a number of countries.
It is very important and critical for the Horn of Africa
communities to join the rest of the world community and work towards a
mine-free world. It is also
important for the ICBL to focus on the Horn of Africa, where more than
155 million people face the daily threat of landmine explosions.
Assistance to Mine-Affected Communities in the Light of Bad Honnef
Guidelines
Abdilkadir
Jirdeh, Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and member of
SCAL
Bad Honnef guidelines
presented for aid progarmmes addressing the threat by mines are based on
the experience gathered by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at
project level. Until recently mine action has meant mine awareness,
surveying, marking and demining mine-infested areas.
Subsequently, this term was expanded to include mine victim
assistance and long-term development. Mine Action programmes, as they
are called here, consist of the following components:
¨
Mine
awareness, surveying marking and demining.
¨
First
aid and physical rehabilitation for the injured.
¨
Socio-economic
and psychological rehabilitation of individuals and families.
¨
Reconstruction
and development of mine-affected communities.
¨
Empowerment
and training of local workers to carry out the progammmes.
There
are three sets of issues that will have to he addressed first:
a)
The impact of
landmines on the community
b)
The community in the mine action process
c)
The organization of humanitarian mine
action
The Bad Honnef guidelines are based on the conviction that
improved assistance to mine-affected communities must start with a
deeper understanding of local responses to landmines.
Rather
than viewing people in those communities as passive victims it
acknowledges their importance as active subjects. The implications are
far reaching; lasting results are most likely to come form a combination
of outside assistance that is sensitive to local capacities with
empowerment of the mine affected in their relation with technical and
relief organizations.
A
The Community Impact of Landmines
While
there is general perception that landmines have a severe community
impact, this is not very well documented. Existing documentation based
on survey data establish individual level effects but do not examine how
landmines affect the social fabric of communities, although it is clear
that an understanding of the inter-related social dynamics would be
vital for any successful intervention. Similarly it is important to look
into the extent that mine clearance triggers local social and economic
development.
Communities
build their own capacities to cope with landmine problems, for example
by developing informal information channels to risks related to
landmines, through economic adaptation to the mined environment or even
undertaking their own mine action. Such local capacities should by no
means be seen as a justification for withholding external assistance,
and in some instance the self-help activities are so risky that they
should be discouraged. Nevertheless it remains imperative for the design
of intervention that community capacities are properly understood. It is
common knowledge from disaster research that the degree to which
external interventions build on local capacities is decisive for their
long-term success.
Living
with landmines means living with risk. This is the core concern for
landmines policy. Mine clearance progammes must seek to minimize the
risk to the civilian population in mined areas while ensuring local
involvement and responsibility. This is important because we know from
other disaster situations that the most effective coping mechanisms
develop locally.
Simultaneously,
it remains imperative that the best possible security conditions be
maintained for those engaged
professionally in mine- action.
The
aim to empower those who are “hosting” mine action progammes poses
new challenges for risk management as well as for technical and
humanitarian aid policy.
b)
The
community in the mine action process
The
slow pace of mine action is cause for increasing frustration among
donors, deminers and mine-affected communities .So far the search for
solutions has largely concentrated on more and more advanced technology.
However a different approach to increase mine action capacity has
entered the agenda. This explores the ways local communities can be
involved in the operation. One moderate form of community involvement,
currently applied is the use of local informants in the survey process.
A
far-reaching community involvement would, like in all other relief or
development projects, enhance sustainability.
There
have been instances, where demined communities in Southern Somalia laid
new mines, in order to attract another mine action exercises with all
its support functions. People who have spent years in war can develop a
large tolerance for arms and danger, perhaps their participation is one
way of preventing new mine use. The challenge is to propose ways in
which the social dynamics in which mine action agencies work can be
integrated positively into the mine action process.
A
related set of problems center on mine action priorities. While
prioritization schemes today try to take into account the community
impact, operational performance is still measured in square meters
cleared. There is a need to look further into ways of measuring mine
action progress that are more sensitive to the social significance of
mined area. This will improve the process of making priorities.
C.
The
organization of humanitarian mine action
The
way to increasing efficiency in mine action has been primarily seen to
be through developing new technologies. Research on a range of
sophisticated technologies for dealing with landmines is on- going.
However, there is less discussion of how mine action is organized. This
is of utmost importance for increasing sensitivity to local capacities
and thus enhancing not only the short-term efficiency of mine action
progarmmes but also their long term sustainability.
Military competence has formed the core of mine action agencies,
which has often implied a conventional military model of organization
with relatively little flexibility. At the same time, it cannot be
forgotten that mine action is fundamentally a dangerous task
Any
organizational practices that add to flexibility at the cost of
increased risk are thus unacceptable. We must look at the internal
organization of agencies, assessing what organizational forms can
improve their sensibility the social and physical environments in which
they work while emphasizing overall security in what is fundamentally a
risk environment for all parties.
Humanitarian
demining, as other humanitarian missions and development in general
virtually presuppose getting involved in local even regional politics.
There is no separation between humanitarian issues and political ones.
Making these connections entails improving our understanding of the
local and national context in which demining agencies work, a context
that is characterized by the steady weakening of state authority and
governance in Africa in general and the Horn in particular. This poses a
difficult dilemma whether these agencies should act in lieu of local
authorities and structures and perhaps in the process perpetuate the
vacuum.
The
point here is to operate in a way that humanitarian demining does not
override the democratic humanitarian right to sovereignty, empowerment
and national development.
Remember
the lessons learned from disaster relief;
never attempt to play ’ GOD’ however tempting that might be.
Landmines in the Horn of Africa
Landmines in Djibouti
Association de Soutien aux
Victimes des Mines (ASSOVIM)
Dahir
Osman Omar, President, ASSOVIM
Presentation
to the Workshop on the Menace of Landmines in the Horn of Africa
November
23-24, Hargeisa
Before
I embark on the theme of the seminar, I would like to first of all thank
the government of Somaliland and all the representatives of local and
international organizations present here and particularly to Dr. Ahmed
Hussein Esa, who invited me here today.
I
am profoundly touched by the warm welcome and the efficient organization
of this seminar in a country ravaged by landmines.
To
return to theme of the seminar, I would like to present briefly on
behalf of the Association des
Souteins aux Victimes de Mines, its goal, mission and objectives and
its organizational structure.
L’ASSOVIM,
a non-governmental non-profit organization, has its headquarters in
Djibouti and will soon have branches in the four districts of the
country (TADJOURAH, OBOCK, DIKHIL and ALI-SABIEH).
ASSOVIM’s
plan of action is geared towards the prevention of the use of landmines,
bringing to justice those who use landmines illegally and cause harm to
victims and the management of cases of victims of mines.
1.
Prevention: In
our strategy to fight against the use of landmines, ASSOVIM is engaged
in activities towards
¨
The
eradication and elimination of the use of landmines
¨
The
sensitization of the public against the use of landmines
¨
The
elimination of existing stocks
¨
The
ratification of treaties and conventions prohibiting the use of mines
¨
The
mobilization towards a “culture of peace”.
2.
Legal Recourse:
¨
ASSOVIM
believes that those who lay landmines, these agents of death , whoever
they are, must answer to the victims and to their families in a court of
justice, therefore, ASSOVIM will provide the
victims and their families legal assistance for the management of
their individual cases, and
¨
ASSOVIM
will provide material support to help open a judiciary process within
Djibouti and even outside of Djibouti against those who commit theses
acts.
3.
Management of Landmine Victim Cases
¨
ASSOVIM
will intervene each time the laying of landmines causes injury or death
in Djibouti
¨
ASSOVIM
will conduct research into the socioecominc impact of landmines on
victims and their families,
¨
ASSOVIM
will help victims and their families learn new activities, which help
towards gainful employment ,
¨
ASSOVIM
will help victims with the acquisition of prosthetic devices.
While ASSOVIM’s goal is to fight against the use of landmines,
its immediate objectives are to help the victims of landmines.
Ladies
and Gentlemen: many of the organization present here today are engaged
in the gigantic activity of demining. We salute your efforts
wholeheartedly. In our case, our experience thus far is that we are not
confronted with a problem that requires large scale demining.
We are, however, working in a situation were landmines are being
posed actively.
4.
Conflict and Belligerence Context
Djibouti,
a small country in the Horn of Africa, facing Bab el-Mendeb on the Red
Sea has been the scene of a civil conflict during 1991-1994, between the
government and the rebels of the FRUD (Front
de Restauration de l’Unite a Djibouti).
A
peace accord was signed at the end of 1994 to end the conflict and to
return the entire country to a peaceful climate.
After some reprieve from war, and with start of the conflict
between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a faction of the rebels has found new
opportunities in Eritrea and has returned to wage a rebellion.
The new rebellion appears to be different from the previous
one. Mines that were not
used much in the earlier conflict appear to be used frequently, not by
government forces, but by the rebels.
4.1.1
The Mines
Mines
being used in Djibouti are essentially large anti-tank mines.
Their target is all the traffic in the northern regions.
Anti-personnel mines have not been detected.
Mines
appeared for the first time in Djibouti in November 1997, when mines in
the southern district at Ali-ADDE hit two vehicles, one of them a
civilian truck. Two persons
were killed and 5 were injured. No one claimed responsibility.
A
year and half later, mines again appear at the beginning of 1999, this
time in the north of country. Successive
events between March and October 1999 have caused 30 deaths and more
than 50 injuries. In the month of April alone, we witnessed 4 mine accidents in
the districts of OBOCK AND TADJOURAH.
4.1.2
The targets
70%
of the victims have been civilians, mostly in civilian vehicles.
Military victims have been rare.
Of 40 people that died, 32 have been civilians, including
children women and old people.
In
conclusion, I would like the participants of this workshop to consider
and diffuse the message of the RED CROSS on the occasion of the 50th
anniversary of the Geneva Convention of 1949 that
EVEN
WAR HAS LIMITS
Landmines in The Sudan
Hagir
Mohamed Kheir Mussa, Sudan Campaign to Ban Landmines
To
begin with I would like to thank IPR and the Somaliland Coalition
against Landmines for inviting me here and to meet all of you.
I consider it important to meet and share experience regularly.
The
landmine problem in the Sudan, as many of you know, is a severe problem. The problem can be divided into two types: that in southern
Sudan and that of the north of the country. I am from the Sudan Campaign
to Ban Landmines in the north of the country, but I know that I have
colleagues in the south who are working hard on this problem to try and
find solutions to this problem. I
hope to meet them soon in the next year or so to share our experience
and to work together to find solutions to secure the lives of many
innocent people.
Before
I start on landmines, I want to mention to you that Sudan is one of the
countries of the Horn of Africa. It
is a large country, which has borders with nine other countries.
Most of the bordering countries have frontier conflicts. Sudan
obtained independence from British and Egyptian administrations in 1956,
but throughout most of the years since independence Sudan has had civil
conflicts. During most of
those years the internal conflict was confined to areas in southern
Sudan. However, in recent years the conflict has expanded to parts
of northern Sudan, in Jubba in the west and in Kasala state along the
border with Eritrea. The
war is causing many problems other than landmines.
Large numbers of people have been uprooted and are now internally
displaced and there are also large numbers of refugees from conflicts in
other countries. These
people face severe humanitarian problems.
Sudan is a poor country economically and cannot cope with these
problems while at the same time waging a war.
The landmine problem is, therefore, just one problem among many,
exacerbated by the economic sanctions imposed by the United States.
The
problem of landmines in the Sudan is just being recognized and
addressed. The Sudan Campaign to Ban Landmines is also newly-born and
began only in 1998. Sudan
is one of the signatories of the Ottawa Convention, the Mine Ban Treaty,
but has not ratified the treaty. While
the government is indicating a willingness to ratify the treaty, it
claims that it cannot do so in view of the fact that it is surrounded by
many non-signatory countries and while it is faced with an internal
opponent, the SPLA, a non-state actor not bound by the treaty. The
government of the Sudan also claims not to have used landmines over the
past year. On the other
hand, the SPLA also indicates a willingness to stop the use of
landmines. Nevertheless,
there is evidence of a lot of new landmines, whose source we cannot
confirm. The number of
casualties is rising. In
the last assessment in Kasala State, we found that on the average there
were two landmine accidents per day, which is very high.
Our
Campaign to ban landmines works in three thematic areas:
·
Mine
Awareness and Training
·
Advocacy
and Lobbying with the government and public opinion towards ratification
of the Ban Treaty, and
·
Victim
Assistance, which is for us the most important area of concern.
Casualties are increasing and as all of you may know, artificial
limbs are expensive and difficult to obtain especially for poor people.
The provision of artificial limbs to victims is not a high
priority for the government considering all the other problems it has.
There is also very little international assistance.
There is one national center that makes prosthetic devices run by
the government and by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Sudan is a huge country with poor infrastructure and roads.
Victims are most often from rural areas many hundreds of miles
from the nearest treatment center. In addition, in southern Sudan, there are very few facilities
that can take care of the victims.
When victims reach urban health centers, they are often lost as
they come from rural areas.
We
are working on two projects: Mine Awareness and assessment for
clearance. In Kasala state
We
have a pilot mine awareness project.
In
these projects, we have different activities:
·
Raise
awareness of teachers and development workers and other community
members,
·
To
train the children, through child to child interaction,
·
To
teach children how to recognize the danger of landmines, avoid danger,
keep away from dangerous objects,
·
To
teach children to spread the message about landmines through their
villages,
·
Provide
promotional material to trainees, and
·
Moreover,
we try to create national resource groups to work in all areas of mine
action and to act as counterparts to international experts who join our
work.
We
did assessment for mine clearance in two areas: Kasala State and Malakai. Kasala is the eastern state bordering Ethiopia and Malakai is
the capital of the upper Nile Region in southern Sudan, but under the
control of the government. We
would like to replicate our experience in areas in Juba.
As
I mentioned, our work on landmines is newly born, but we are trying hard
to organize our work and to establish the basis for future work.
We know it is going to be a long time to achieve landmine
eradication, so we are trying to collect as much information as possible
about landmines and we are also trying to sensitize the public and to
achieve community participation and contribution to this important work.
Landmines in Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia
Mohamoud
Issa
Somali
Campaign to Ban Landmines
General Information
Executive Summary
Border
disputes and internal conflicts have devastated the Horn of Africa for
more than a century. Landmines were widely used in these conflicts.
Since World War II this has been one of
the most troubled regions in the world.
2.
The Horn of Africa is one of the worst mine-affected nations in
the world. There is no in-depth assessment on this issue, and limited
records were accessible or recorded for the stockpile, clearance,
incidents and victims.
3.
IGAD is the sub-regional economic development and political club
for the Horn and East Africa; it compromises 7 Nations (Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia/Somaliland, Sudan and Uganda). All of
them are mine affected - except Kenya and all except Somaliland and
Kenya have armed opposition. Therefore, non-state actor compliance with
the convention is very important to a population of around 155 million.
There are several international humanitarian laws like the Geneva
Convention which most of the NSA in IGAD states abide by to some extent.
4.
Ethiopia and Eritrea are fighting over a border dispute. The OAU
is trying to end this conflict. Eritrea accused its eastern neighbor
Djibouti for supporting Ethiopia, and Djibouti in retaliation for the
accusation ended its relationship with Eritrea. There is renewed
fighting in central and southern Somalia.
5.
Eritrea
did not sign The Mine Ban Treaty. There are
allegations that they have used landmines in the current conflict. The
stockpile, production and transfer are not known.
6.
Ethiopia signed the MBT, and
says that it will ratify the MBT soon. It
does not produce landmines. Does possess stockpiles. Has publicly expressed support for a global ban. No current
legislation.
7.
Somalia has no central government, ruled by a dozen regional
administrations and armed factions. There is no Mine Action Programs
(MAP). Most of the UN Agencies, EU and International and Local NGO and
regional administrations there are willing to support the Ottawa
Convention, MAP and Landmine Monitor.
8.
Somaliland has National Demining Agency and several international
demining agencies are in the country. The UN is interested in a MAP,
UNDP established Somali Civil Protection Program
(SCPP) which works in mine action.
Introduction
Background Information of the region
The
Horn of Africa lies the north-east part of Africa, it is a region of
4,387,385 square kms., inhabited by about 100 million people. It is a
region 18 times the size of the United Kingdom with immense natural
resources. It covers Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan.
Other Nile Valley countries such as Kenya and Uganda (the later 2
nations has an estimated population of 55 million) are inseparably
linked to the Horn in many aspects and together they are part of Inter
Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD) the sub-regional social,
environmental, economic and political club.
The
strategic position of the region becomes much more important because of
its proximity to the rich Gulf region which contains half of the world's
oil. The Horn lies the straits between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea
which most of the world trade passes. With its ancient Judaeo‑Christian
and Islamic legacies, the region has for centuries provided a unique
bridge between sub-Saharan Africa and the old traditions of the Middle
East and Europe.
The
end of the cold war led to the fall of dictatorial regimes of Ethiopia
and Somalia in early 1991 and the subsequent independence of Eritrea and
disintegration of the Somali State.
The
countries of the Horn of Africa are related geographically, historically
and demographically. For the past two decades, these countries have all
suffered from tragic events of civil wars, influxes of refugees,
displacement of population, drought, famine and disease.
Current Situation
Ethiopia and Eritrea are fighting over a border dispute. The OAU
is trying to end this conflict. Eritrea accused its eastern neighbor
Djibouti for supporting Ethiopia and Djibouti in retaliation ended its
relationship with Eritrea. Somalia
has no central government, the NWR has established the Somaliland
Republic; NER has established an autonomous administration Puntland
State; and there are recurrent clashes in central and southern part of
the Somalia.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia
is Federal Republic consisting 9 autonomous states based on ethnic
lines, (est. pop. 60 million), 471,776 sq. mi. (1,221,900 sq. km), NE
Africa, formerly known as Abyssinia, bordered by Eritrea (N), Djibouti
(NE), Somalia (E and SE), Kenya (S), and Sudan (W).
Ethiopia
has a serious problem with uncleared land mines. Eritrea and Tigre
fought for independence over a thirty-year period and in 1964 and
1977-88 Ethiopia battled Somalia for the Ogaden. There are five to 10
mine casualties each week. Due to the current war in the
northern part of the country. We have selected to conduct the field
research in the Eastern part of the country.
The
Somali National Region State lies the eastern part of Ethiopia (it has
an estimated size of 300,000 sq. Kms.) and is
more than quarter of the size of the country. It has a long time
history of conflict, from colonial legacies, border disputes and
internal conflicts has made this region the worst landmine-affected part
of the country. Its 1600 kms border with Somalia is also heavily mined.
I.
BANNING ANTI‑PERSONNEL LANDMINES
BANNING
Ethiopia
signed the MBT, and expresses willingness to
ratify it in the coming months.
Has publicly expressed support for a global ban. No current
legislation.
Ottawa
Group Signatory. [ref. 06/17/96]; UNGA Resolution Co‑sponsor
[ref.10/28/96]
Voted
'YES' on UNGA Resolution 51/45 S [ref. 12/10/96]
OTHER
MINE TREATIES
non‑signatory
of the Inhumane Weapons
Convention.
PRODUCTION:
Does
not produce landmines.
Does
not license production of its APM to another country. Does not transfer
technology to produce. Does not produce Claymore mines.
It
is not a known producer, or conductor of research and development on any
munitions which might function like APM; or components (e.g. casings,
fuses, detonators etc.) that are designed to use in APM.
TRANSFER
There
is no Moratorium on the export of anti‑personnel mines. There are
allegations that they supply small arms to factions opposing USC/SNA in
Somalia.
STOCKPILING
AND DESTRUCTION:
Ministry
of Defence (MOD) is in charge of stockpiling. There are 3 non-state
actors who use landmines and
who have stockpiles: The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), The
Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Al-Itihad Al-Islam.
USE
In
the Somali State of Ethiopia ONLF and Al-Itihad used landmines several
times against government vehicles including an ambulance.
II
HUMANITARIAN MINE ACTION
FUNDING
US
Involvement
The
US provided support to Ethiopian Demining Project (EDP) with demining
funds, training for deminers and mine awareness. This
EDP has cleared only 129,601. Provided sufficient mining equipment and
funding, the demining project work in Ethiopia could be completed within
the next three years. Funding to mine awareness is very limited
or almost non-existent now. There is unconfirmed news that
the US has renewed it’s funding to EDP for mine clearance.
German
Involvement
The
German Government provided 150,000 DM worth of equipment in l997 (mine
detectors, vehicles, etc), and there was more dialogue between Ethiopia
and German Foreign Office for further support in terms of demining
equipment. From 1999 on, Ethiopia will be inscribed on the German supply
list (entitled to receive equipment from the German Government). The
German NGO Saint Barbara Foundation was in contact with the Ethiopian
Government to launch a level one survey in May 1998. They got permission
but, due to a lack of money, they postponed it.
French
and Canadian embassies are both assured their support for a UN
initiative.
MINE
CLEARANCE -- SURVEY/ASSESSMENT:
The
local population, mainly the nomadic people will benefit mostly for the
clearance of the mines in eastern Ethiopia. The only agency doing
demining is the EDP.
Mined
Areas
Ethiopia
has a serious landmine problem on three fronts:
The
East: Ogaden along with Somalia border (1626 km) are mined due to
insurgencies since Somalia got independence in 1960 and the 1977-1988
Somali Ethiopian war.
The
north: is mined around Gondar and Dessie, the North Shewar region and
along the Awash to Djibouti road due to the 30 years war by the
Eritreans and Tigre against former governments.
The
west: has minefields in Welega and West Arosa.
The
Number & Types
The
US State department estimated that there are 500,000 (Anti Tank 100,000,
AP 400,000) mines in Ethiopia.
The
manager of Ethiopian Demining Project, in his report to one day workshop
said, “of the total 1.5 million mines estimated to be planted in
various parts of Ethiopia, 1.4 million remain uncleared”.
Demining
The
Government has established the Ethiopian Demining Programme/Project (EDP)
- the only demining agency in the country which is under Ministry of
Defence (MOD). The manager
of the Ethiopian Demining Project, said the demining projects
established in three parts of Ethiopia are able to demine only 129,601
antipersonnel, anti‑tank and other kinds of explosives. He
ascribed the low performance to limited resources and the
inaccessibility of some mine fields. “Provided sufficient mining
equipment and funding, the demining project work in Ethiopia could be
completed within the next three years” siad the EDP manager. Records
of mined area exist and held by MOD-EDP and they are totally accessible.
The safety procedures were not ensured for the deminers, there was no
ambulance and medical materials on the site.
MINE
AWARENESS EDUCATION
EDP
carried a limited awareness campaign, and HI carried mine awareness at
the Somali refugee camps. Trained 9 educators and about 100,000mine
awareness. The mined area is not marked for the exclusion of civilians.
III. MINE ACTION: LANDMINE VICTIM/SURVIVOR
ASSISTANCE
LANDMINE
CASUALTIES
HI
recorded 67 casualties between 1997 to 1999, some of the victims injured
inside of Somalia and transported to the refugee camps in Ethiopia for
medical assistance. There is no landmine casualty reporting at the
public hospitals in the affected areas. There is no landmine incident
and casualty reporting. “We
use WHO coding system and we haven’t specific record keeping for
landmine casualties” Dr. Ahmed Mohamed.
“Even medical teams are not spared from landmine
casualties; one of the two functioning ambulance in the state was hit by
landmine in Aware and the driver was amputated; the doctor of Qabridahar
Hospital was killed by landmine at Jijiga-Qabridahar road; and the
National Polio Immunization Campaign Team’s vehicle was hit by
landmine and nurse and a driver were injured, all happened in the last
12 months” Dr. Abdirahman Abdullahi, Director of Health Service and
Training, Health Bureau, Somali State.
PROVISION
OF VICTIM/SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE
There
is no victim/survivors assistance in terms of vocational training, job
and economic opportunities.
Medical
and Surgery
In
the Somali State of Ethiopia (which is 10 times the size of Belgium)
there are only 3 hospitals, and only
one hospital has capability to perform surgery,.
The region has health posts and clinics but has a limited medical
services, they are not capable of to stop bleeding, resuscitate from shock with fluids, relieve pain, and
arrange for transport to a surgical facility. One of the 2
functioning ambulances was one hit by a landmine. There is no counseling
service, orthopedic center, and blood bank in the State. There is no
psychiatric counseling in the state. Most of the casualties were
children, it takes 12 to 24 hours to reach a medial facility.
Rehabilitation
The
ICRC continued to support three orthopaedic centres in Debre Zeit, Addis
Ababa and Mekele. HI
provided support to several physical rehabilitation centers, run by
local NGO called RADO.
Somalia
CURRENT
SITUATION
The
Somali state collapsed in 1991 after a decade of civil strife, the
southern part descended into civil war and the north has maintained
stability. NWR has established the Somaliland Republic.
The NER has established Puntland State of Somalia - an autonomous
regional administration. The central and southern regions were busy
establishing regional administrations. Central Regions: Benadir
Administrations was established by the two major factions, but was
rejected by dozen of small factions.
SWR: there are continuous clashes between forces of USC/SNA and
RRA. SER: has recurrent
clashes between SPM and SNF over the Kismaio port.
Geographic
Coverage: This report mostly covers north-east and central parts of
the country, unless noted otherwise. The current situation southern
Somalia and parts of central Somalia does not permit field research and
mostly was documentary research.
I.
BANNING ANTI‑PERSONNEL LANDMINES
Non-State
Actors Policies and Actions on Landmines
Several
major administrations and political factions have issued policy
statements or letters of intent to ban.
Puntland
State of Somalia (NER) has issued a Landmine Policy, established office
in charge of demining called Department for Disarmament, Demobilization
and Re-integration under the Office of the President.
USC/SNA
which is the main faction in central and SW regions has issued a letter
of intent.
SPM
which is the main faction in SE regions/Jubaland has issued a law
banning the use, production and transfer of APM, victim assistance and
humanitarian demining and called assistance for the victims.
PRODUCTION:
There
is no APM production, there is anti-tank mines recycling for civilian
use (mainly digging for stones to construct houses.
TRANSFER
Movement
of small arms including landmines has become routine import export
business. There are some allegations that some of the regional countries
are suppling small arms, including landmines to some of the factions.
In
Puntland State of Somalia, there is arms trade between Somalia and
Yemen, through the coasts of Bari region. The deputy chairman of Bari
region authority told me that the arms traders use remote natural ports
and the Bari region authority does not have the capacity and resources
to patrol their long coast.
Head
of the Bosaso port security told me that SSDF banned import/export of
arms through Bosaso port, put, there is businessmen who use small
natural ports both in the east and west side of the town. These weapons
mostly go to central and southern Somalia; and some end in the
neighboring countries.
The
proliferation of weapons is a potential destabilizing factor for public
security. Already arms abound in the Northeast (and other parts of the
country) as a result of the prolonged civil strife against the large
armies of the tyrannical regimes in Somalia and Ethiopia and the civil
war in neighboring Yemen. The problem is further compounded by the free
trade in arms and ammunition with other areas of conflict.
STOCKPILING
AND DESTRUCTION:
After
the central government collapsed in 1991, large amount of stockpiles
were looted and are in the hands of the local people or in private
business warehouses; still there are large stockpiles in the hands of
major factions and administrations in the country.
USE
The
past use of landmines
The
Somali-Ethiopian border (1626 km) is mined over the Ogaden War (1962-64,
and 1977-88) and the subsequent support for each other countries armed
oppositions.
NER:
SSDF fought against the government in Mudugh and West Galguduud regions
from 1978-1990, and fought against Al-Itihad Al-Islam in Nugaal, Bari
and East Sanaag in 1992. The whole of Mudugh region is mined and
Nugaal’s border with Ethiopia. Al-Itihad mined roads linking Bari and
Sanaag regions, and around Bosaso and Elayo districts.
Central
regions: USC fought
against government forces in Mudugh, East Galguduud and Hiiraan Region
from 1978 to 1990. In the civil war between Darod and Hawiye clans in 1990-1993,
landmines were used in Mudugh and Galguduud regions. The civil war
between Hawiye clan in Mogadishu is still ongoing.
Mogadishu, Galguduud and part of Hiiraan region are mined.
Southern
regions: SPM fought against Government forces in 1989-1990.
Present
Use of the landmines
Since
the centeral government collapsed, there has been interclan warfare in
centeral and southern Somalia. Landmines were used extensively. The
height of this civil war was 1991-1993. Currently there are recurrent
clashes in Bay, Bakool,
Lower
Juba and Gedo regions; and the capital Mogadishu.
The
civil war between forces loyal Gen. Mohamed Farah Aided and Mohamed
Hersi Morgan in Lower Juba has been going on from 1991 up to now.
RRA
continues to fight against forces loyal to Hussein Aideed’s USC in
Bakool. Access roads to
major towns in the in . Bay, Bakool, Gedo and Lower Juba Regions
are mined. Therefore the
whole of Somalia is mined, and sporadic clashes in the capital and
southern part of the country are making the situation worse.
Number
of Mines
It
is estimated that there are 2 million mines in Somalia and half of it
are in the Somali Ethiopian border.
II.
HUMANITARIAN MINE ACTION
Socioeconomic
Consequence
Mines
were laid at all important locations: Hospitals, public buildings,
schools, residences, watering places, farms, grazing land, main and
access roads. They pose a great threat to human life and their
socioeconomic impact is immense. It obstructs the free movement of goods
and services; hinders rehabilitation and development in the rural areas;
it reduces the farm and animal production, and hampers commerce.
Agriculture
Farming
and livestock is the backbone of the economy. The grazing land and the
wells needed by the livestock were mined, and livestock losses are
heavy. Some of the farms in middle and lower Juba were mined. Access
roads leading to farms or market for villagers were mined.
Trading
routes
Some
of the roads linking major towns or the neighboring countries were mined
specially along the border regions with Ethiopia and Juba valley
regions.
FUNDING
UNDP
is interesting to carry some projects under its Somali Civil Protection
and Rehabilitation Program (SCPRP). European
Union will support total eradication of landmines in Somalia and
humanitarian mine action but it will go through through European NGO or
organizations. MSF-Holland , which now supports the Galcaio hospital
told me they are interesting in supporting MAP. Care
Somalia/Southern Sudan and UNESCO were also interesting MAPs in Somalia
, specially mine awareness.
MINE
CLEARANCE -- SURVEY/ASSESSMENT:
Demining
"Of
all the tasks involved in setting a nation on a new road to peace and
prosperity, perhaps none has the immediate urgency of mine clearance
.... No attempt to restore a sense of community and security can
succeed without effective land-mine removal."
Boutros
Boutros Ghali, UN Secretary General, Report on the Work of the
Organization, September 1993.
There
are no demining projects in Somalia.
SCPP/UNDP is examining how to start MAP in northeast Somalia and
sent several assessment missions. In the past, during the UNOSOM II
operation, a total of 32,511 mines and 72,000 UXOs were cleared by
UNOSOM contractors in the south, and by Rimfire International
(contracted by UNHCR & MSF) in the north-west.
UNOSOM
clearance programmes provided for demining operations and the
development of an indigenous clearance capacity. Security concerns
delayed the arrival of expatriate staff. By September 94,
11 Somali firms, under UNOSOM sponsorship, had cleared 438 km of
roads, 127 km2 of
pasture land, and destroyed a total of 2,223 AP mines, 5,300 AT mines,
and 20,150 pieces of UXO.
UNOSOM
operation failed because its enforcement powers contradicted its
assistance mandate and a combat phase interrupted its development
effort. There were 70
demining projects pending when UNOSOM withdraw on 31 march 1995.
The
UN identified that there is demining possibilities in the stable
northern regions (NWR/Somaliland and NER/Puntland); even some of the
troubled central and southern regions have a demining possibilities,
such as Galguduud, Hiiraan and Gedo region, there is some sort of
normalcy in few of these regions.
The
Problems of Unexploded Ordinance (UXO)
There
is very serious UXO problems in Somalia. Some of the regions have more
UXO problem than the landmines. All military installations were looted
when the central government collapsed in 1991 and the civil war started,
people felt it is an opportunity or security to have some stock of small
arms including UXO. UXO Cleared: 72,749.
MINE
AWARENESS EDUCATION
Currently,
there is no awareness programs in Somalia.
UNESCO
PEER (Programme for Education for Emergencies and Reconstruction) had a
mine awareness program.- A
road-show and kit which includes a low-cost video on mine awareness. A
total population of about 70,000 was covered.
Handicap
International (HI) has mine awareness program in the Somali refugee
camps in Ethiopia. HI has a
well designed Mines Risk Education (MRE) curriculum for schools in
Somali language.
RECONSTRUCTION
& DEVELOPMENT OF CLEARED AREAS
Most
of the inhabitants of Galcaio town told me that they came back to the
town after peace accords were reached and most of the mine cleared by
local NGO with the support of the UN. Galcaio is a trade center between
northern and central/southern regions and between Ethiopia and Somalia.
III.
MINE ACTION: LANDMINE VICTIM/SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE
LANDMINE
CASUALTIES
Casualty
reporting limited to the Referral Hospitals, which
are usually situated at the Regional Headquarters. All casualties
reported to the hospital are those injured, because those killed were
not transported to the hospital and were buried at their villages.
Reported cases are victims around the major town. Due to lack of
medicine, the few stocks available are not free and victims have to be
even for services (medication and surgery). That is why nomadic people
usually try to self medicate with traditional medicine, and usually
report to the hospital after the person’s health deteriorates or the
victim needs surgery.
Handicap
International is doing casualty reporting at the Somali refugee camps in
Ethiopia. Most of the victims are injured in Somalialnd and transported
to the refugee camps for medical assistance.
In NER Somalia there is casualty reporting limited to the
Referral Hospitals in the capitals of the regions. A surgeon at Galcaio
hospital told me that ICRC helped them for the casualty reporting. There were 5 to 12 victims every month for 1998 under the
landmine injuries record; but - he
showed me the record - that some of the landmine casualty are
recorded under the burns and severe burns, because some of the blasts
made burns. ECO - a local
demining NGO - is doing incident and casualty reporting, but
is confined to the
area around the town, when I asked the reason they did not cover the
whole region , they told me that lack of resources hampers the
operation.
PROVISION
OF VICTIM/SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE.
Compounding
Somalia's land mine crisis is the almost complete absence of appropriate
medical facilities to treat mine casualties: "In 1991, two women,
one Somali and one Dutch refugee worker, had their legs torn off by land
mines, only to find that aspirin was the only pain killer available once
they reached the hospital in the area." (Susan Ruel, 'The Scourge
of Land mines', DHA News, Sep‑Dec 93).
Most of the hospitals lack medicine, surgery equipment and
surgeons.
Mr.
Rutherford says that if there is such a thing, then he counts himself as
the world's luckiest landmine survivor since he has benefited from
superb medical care ‑‑ something most African victims will
never receive. That is why
he now says it would be a waste if he did
not work to help
others who have fallen prey to what he calls these cruel weapons. (Ken Rutherford - an American who lost both legs in a
1993 landmine explosion in Somalia, where he was leading a relief
project. A leader of
"The Landmine Survivors Network", -
Eritrea
Eritrea
(est. pop. 4 million), c.48,000 sq mi (124,320 sq km), bordered by the
Red Sea (NE), Djibouti (SE), Ethiopia (S), and Sudan (NW). Eritrea
fought for three decades to free itself from Ethiopian rule until full
independence came in 1993. It has
a critical problem with landmines.
I.
Banning Anti‑personnel Landmines
BANNING.
Eritrea
did not sign The Mine Ban Treaty.
Voted 'YES' on UNGA Resolution 51/45 S [ref. 12/10/96](Source:
Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
OTHER
MINE TREATIES
non‑signatory
of Inhumane Weapons Convention
PRODUCTION
No
Information
TRANSFER
No
Moratorium on the export of anti‑personnel mines, and there were
allegations that they supply small arms to Ethiopian armed opposition
through one of the main factions in Somalia, no information whether APM
were included.
STOCKPILING AND DESTRUCTION
There
is no data available.
USE
There
re allegations that they have used mines in the current conflict with
Ethiopia.
II HUMANITARIAN
MINE ACTION
FUNDING
There
is secondary information from Italian demining company that Italy has
funds for MAP in the Horn of Africa.
MINE
CLEARANCE:
There
is no information on demining,
Mined
Locations
Areza, northern Sahel, roads in northeastern Eritrea
III.
MINE ACTION: LANDMINE VICTIM/SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE
LANDMINE
CASUALTIES
No
records were available for incidents.
In
December 94 the Norwegian Save the Children lost a car and a driver
while doing some work in refugee repatriation in Mehemet, northern Sahel.
A bus with 39 passengers
drove on a mine close to Ailet the 2nd of September 1993. Three adults
and two children were killed immediately and could not be identified.
Two adults died later because of injuries. 31 persons were treated for
smaller injuries. This road was formerly declared free from mines.
Authorities suspected that an anti tank mine could have been washed onto
the road by heavy rainfall.
PROVISION
OF VICTIM/SURVIVOR ASSISTANCE.
Rehabilitation
At
the orthopaedic workshop in Asmara a total of 503 prostheses
in 1993, and 520 patients were fitted with orthopaedic devices.
In addition, 138 pairs of crutches were made, and 428 major repairs to
orthopaedic appliances were carried out.
SOCIOECONOMIC
CONSEQUENCES
Livestock
and pastures
Incidents
usually occur to shepherds and wood collectors, large grazing land were
not used due mine contamination.
Conclusion
and Recommendations
Horn
of Africa Region
1.
The countries of the Horn of
Africa are related ethnically, linguistically, geographically,
historically and demographically. They
share common cultures and they share common problems. Therefore, the
problem must be looked at regionally
and cross-border operations are needed
in some cases. Thus,
there is need to support sub-regional focal points for both ICBL and LM,
as the region is inter-related in all angles.
2.
Public awareness and mine risk education are needed in the
region.
3.
Continue field research and integrating MAP with the
rehabilitation and development programs.
4.
To organize seminars, workshops, conferences and symposiums for
deminers, medical staff, field workers for NGOs and regional/district
administrations.
5.
To examine how democratization, peace building and human rights,
can support total elimination of landmines and support a forum for
negotiations and conflict resolutions for warring states and non-state
actors or both.
6.
To support local initiatives, especially incident and casualty
reporting, awareness, campaign, monitoring, victim assistance, etc.
7.
In-depth assessments are needed throughout the region.
8.
To continue the campaign for a ban throughout the regional
governments and with the dozens of non-state actors.
Ethiopia
1.
There is needed to support the EDP for its demining efforts.
2.
To push the ratification and/or moratorium for transfer.
3.
Since Ethiopia is large country and has a federal system of
government, it is important for MAP based in the states and zones; and
community participation should be encouraged.
4.
Hospital, medical centers, and clinics need
institutional support for incident and casualty reporting.
5.
In the Somali State of Ethiopia there is urgent need to support
the medical services:
i. The 9 zones of the state need first aid medical supplies and
basic surgery equipment, ambulances, and rehabilitation services.
ii. Upgrading the Jijiga Referral Hospitals surgery theater to
handle seriously wounded patients, and blood bank.
iii. Prosthetic Center preferably at a location at the center of
the state.
iv. Ambulances are needed for the evacuation from rural and
remote areas and/or most of the zones with no surgical facilities.
v. Health posts and clinics are need capacity to provide
firs-aid; to stop bleeding, resuscitate from shock with fluids, relieve
pain, and arrange for transport to a surgical facility.
Somalia.
1.
There is need for demining in and around the major urban centers
at central regions, such as Galcaio, Galgodob, Dhusamareeb, Beletwein,
and if security permits in the near future for southern towns of
Mogadisho, Kismaio and Baidoa.
2.
Other mine action programs (MAP) are needed through out of the
country, especially awareness and victim assistance.
3.
Database base should be
established inside Somalia.
4. Proper casualty and incident recording needed,
local NGO, hospitals, clinics, health center and PHC/MCH center can be
used.
5.
More demining support to northern regions is very appropriate.
6.
Support to SCBL to work for non-state actors compliance to MBT
(globalization of the convention), mine awareness and networking.
Eritrea
1.
National campaign should be established in Eritrea.
2.
The continuity of the
LM work in Eritrea is very essential.
Presentations
by International Agencies Involved in Mine Clearance and Surveys
CARE INTERNATIONAL IN SOMALILAND
Workshop Presentation 24TH
November 1999
Subject:
Landmine Activities in Somaliland
Background
Information
An
estimated 110 million landmines are sown in 68 countries around the
world. CARE has development programmes in 46 of the 68 countries.
In this respect CARE cannot ignore the problems that landmines
present to participants in CARE programmes, therefore CARE must promote
and improve upon its development efforts by including landmine action
programmes as integral components to rehabilitation and development
programme initiatives.
CARE
addresses the global landmine threat with three separate strategies
namely:
Mine
Action Programming
CARE’s
institutional capacity to combine technical expertise in mine action
from Angola, Bosnia and Mozambique with over 50 years of development
programming strategically places CARE in a strong position to implement
a responsive and appropriate programme in Somaliland.
Safety
CARE
has developed a landmine safety programme for its employees in areas
where they risk injury to carry out programme initiatives that help meet
the needs of at risk communities. An important component of the landmine
safety training is CARE’s landmine training handbook which is now in
English and Portuguese and will soon be translated into Khmer,
Serbo-Croatian and French.
Advocacy
CARE
has and will continue to advocate for a total ban on the production,
sale and use of landmines.
CARE
Involvement in Landmine Activities in Somaliland
Background;
Landmines
and Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) such as rockets, mortars and bombs are a
significant threat throughout Somaliland. The United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) estimates that approximately 1 - 1.2 million mines are
scattered throughout the country.
These mines are primarily found in areas of strategic
significance such as road junctions, bridges, water points, and along
zones of inter-clan conflict. The UNDP report further states that Somaliland has one of the
highest concentrations of landmines.
Somaliland
is now is a state of development and rehabilitation, and the people of
Somaliland are in the process of resettling and re-establishing their
lives, resuming traditional agricultural and livestock practices,
establishing small enterprises and rehabilitating community
infrastructure. However,
these resettlement initiatives are adversely affected by the threat of
landmines and UXO. Naturally,
communities are hesitant to resettle in areas that are perceived to be
mined, given the threat that UXOs pose, particularly for women and
children, who are traditionally responsible for herding of livestock and
collecting water and make up a large proportion of landmine victims in
Somalia. As such, there are
tracts of land and parts of communal land that remain uninhabited and
unused.
In
response to this, CARE Somalia developed the Somalia Mine Action
Programme (SOMAP) with the primary objective of improving
the household livelihood security for mine affected communities in
Somaliland by reducing landmine casualties through the identification
and mapping of mine fields.
SOMAP aims to achieve this objective through a multi-faceted yet
integrated approach of mine awareness education and campaigns,
identification of mined areas and defining and marking boundaries of
identified mined areas.
Two
donors fund the SOMAP project:
·
USA (United
States Government Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military
Affairs) - Initially it was planned that the part of SOMAP funded by the
US would be a complementary project of the EC funded part. Since the
funding of the US-SOMAP came much earlier in October 1998, this part was
used as a pilot phase to test the set-ups of the SOMAP proposal.
·
EC
- The main SOMAP project is funded by EC. Proposal for this project was
approved in August 1999 for a period of one year.
Activities
completed with US funds
1.
Technical Surveys
Level
1 Surveys
38
level one surveys were conducted in five targeted areas, Sahil, Togdheer,
Galbeed, Sool and Awadal regions. The objective of these surveys was to
quantify the extent of landmine problem and it's impact on local
community.
Level
2 Surveys
Two
level 2 surveys were conducted at Berbera Airport and at the Missile
site in Berbera. During the surveys three anti-tank landmines were
unplanted and disposed of professionally.
2.
Community Mine Awareness
The
following activities have been accomplished
·
Community
awareness facilitators were trained in Burao (Toghdeer Region) and
Berbera (Sahil Region).
·
Eight
Regional Demining Officers were trained on community mine awareness
education.
·
Community
mine awareness campaigns were carried out in Berbera, Burao, Hargeisa
and Borama. These campaigns involved acrobatic shows, songs, poems,
poetry and drama.
3.
Medical Training
Medical
training on trauma management for three Somaliland nationals (deminers)
and five clinical staffs was carried out.
The deminers identified by SMAC will in future work with demining
agencies whereas the clinical officers will work at the PHC in Burao.
4.
Primary Health Care Facility Upgrade
Improvement
of the capacity of one Primary Health Care facility in Burao is on
going. This activity involved procurement of essential equipment and
materials, rehabilitation of the water system and training of clinical
staff. The activity is expected to be complete by the end of November
1999. When complete it is expected that it will cater for landmine
victims and the community.
5.
Cross-border Mine Awareness
Preparation
for cross-border mine awareness are at an advanced stage. CARE intends
to undertake the exercise with two Hargeisa based NGOs.
Lessons learned during the pilot phase
For
efficient implementation of mine action activities the following should
be considered.
1.
No formal policy for mine action implementation in Somaliland.
National Strategy for Humanitarian Mine Action needs to be established.
2.
There is need to formalise co-ordination among demining groups,
with regard to defining operational standards, areas of outputs and
maintenance of records/information/data.
3.
Data/Information management:
Lack
of central data management unit - resource centre. Each demining group
seems to have its own data/information management system. There is a
danger that with the departure of Demining Groups Somaliland may loose
most if not all the work that has been done.
4.
Lack of appropriately scaled maps for mapping identified sites
and for the establishment of a centralized data collection and mapping
system.
5.
Lack of standardised Format for Data collection. The agencies
involved in mine action activities are so far not in agreement on a
standardised format for data collection.
6.
The limited capacity of Somalis working in mine action
activities: Capacity building is a core component of mine action
activities and in integral for the sustainability of long term
interventions. The Somalis
are desperately lacking in computer skills, data interpretation and data
management skills. Capacity
building in mine action should embrace training and skills development
in management, office procedures, logistics; minefield database training
and implementation, as well as minefield prioritization assessments.
7.
Prioritising of mine action tasks/activities:
·
For
Target areas/groups: justification, social impact, priority ranking
·
Prioritisation
of mine action activities according to target areas/groups
·
Delegation/demarcation
of tasks and responsibilities
8.
Lack of efficiency: The current NDA/SMAC has not been
particularly effective.
9.
Misunderstanding of the meaning of Capacity building
10.
Lack of Sustainability:
The
future of SMAC/NDA unknown. For them to be sustainable, they should be
independent of transient international experts or NGOs that come and go.
Landmines and associated problems will remain for a long time and
Somaliland needs to establish a strong demining policy (National
Strategy for Humanitarian Mine Action) to be implemented by a strong
national body NDA/SMAC.
11.
Donor Co-ordination:
Limited
donor co-ordination with respect to sharing of resources and technical
expertise. In the present set-up, possibilities of duplication of
activities cannot be ruled out.
DANISH
DEMINING GROUP, SOMALILAND
Mohamed Ali
Ismail
1.
Background
Danish
De-mining Group was
founded in 1997 as a consortium by three Dnish
Humanitarian
organizations; ASF Danish Peoples Aid,
Caritas Denmark and Danish
Refugee
Council.
Danish
De-mining Group is presently implementing programs within humanitarian
mine clearance in Afghanistan and Somaliland. A Mine Awareness Programme
is in the process of being implemented in Kosovo in cooperation with
UNICEF.
The
idea behind DDG is to implement HMA programmes in conjunction with
development programmes implemented by one of the three partner
organizations. This in order to seek integration of Humanitarian
Demining in development work, whereby the social impact of the mine
clearance activities will be enhanced.
Through
the founding partners and their network DDG has established strong ties
to Norwegian Peoples Aid, with whom DDG cooperates with regard to
training, development of standards and exchange of information.
Furthermore, the DDG is working closely together with the Danish Army,
with regard to secondment of personnel, training and logistical support
2.
Organizational setup: Phase I
DDG
initiated a 10-month demining programme in Somaliland in January 1999
with funding from Danida. This programme, which is to be viewed as a
pilot project, will be continued and expanded if operational conditions
so facilitate
During
phase I (pilot project), from January 1999 -
November
1999, the DDG Somaliland will consist of the following units (see
organigram for further details).
Administration
and support staff 14 persons
1
Demining team: 40 persons
1
EOD team 7 persons
1
Mine Awareness/Survey cell: 2 persons
DDG
is operating a counterpart system with the teams being supervised
respectively by Danish and a Somali supervisor. The overall aim of this
on-the-job training is to qualify Somali Nationals to work independently
as Demining Supervisors. DDGs policy is to minimize the organizational
need for international specialist by replacing these with qualified
Somali Nationals for reasons of capacity building and cost
effectiveness.
3. Operational plans
Situation
From
a base in Hargeisa, DDG intends initially to focus on Adadley, a town
situated app.
90 kilometers to the East of
Hargeisa. Adadley, whose population figure is currently
estimated
at about 2-3.000 inhabitants, used to have as many as 10 000 inhabitants
Adadley is a strategically important town, with a large garrison, why it
was demolished and heavily mined during the years of conflict The
gravity of the mines and UXO problem in Adadley is so, that the town has
been declared a national priority by the National Demining Agency (NDA).
The
town is growing because of returning refugees and needs to have the
large mined areas surrounding the village cleared for farm land and
grazing areas To this end, the roads connecting Adadley respectively
with Hargeisa, Burao and Berbera should be cleared to facilitate access
to the area. Finally, Adadley is heavily contaminated by UXO due to hard
fighting in the area and the existence of two large ammunition bunkers
on the outskirts of the town, which were blown up during the civil war;
scattering unexploded Ordnance over large areas.
The
number of landmine and UXO accidents in Adadley is staggering Over a 5
year period more than 22 people, mostly children, have been killed or
maimed in landmine or UXO accidents
The
Danish Refugee Council has carried out a rehabilitation project for a
school in Adadley, as well as a water and health project in cooperation
with UNICEF DDG hopes that clearance operations will help facilitate
further development of this area
Plan of Action
DDG
is presently in the process of training deminers and Somali supervisors
in clearance techniques and operations When training is finished at the
end of July 99, the teams will deploy to Adadley to a semi-permanent
field camp.
As
the size and nature of the task calls for a long term holistic approach
DDG will conduct a concerted number of sub-operations. These are as
follows
Level
1 and 2 Surveys of Adadley.
Battle
area clearance (removal and disposal of UXOs) in and around the boarding
school (Military HQ during the conflicts).
Battle
area clearance in and around the former military camp
Clearance
of the inner antipersonnel/antivehicle/anititank minefield surrounding
Adadley
-Clearance
of the outer antitank minefield.
-Clearance
of the roads connecting Adadley with a) Berbera/Mandera b) Burao/G’o)
Hargeisa
Community
Mine Awareness training will support these operations and data gathering
While conducting operations in Adadley, DDG intends to support the local
MCH with a fully equipped trained nurse/Paramedic
Furthermore,
the EOD team will be operating as a rapid reaction team responding to UXO
finds
and emergency clearance operations in the whole region Likewise; the DDG
paramedics will provide medical support in the case of mine accidents
DDG survey reports will be
issued a reference number, entered onto an hard copy/computerized (UNDOS)
operations map as “Clearance Tasks” and filed for later clearance
Survey reports will be handed to the NDA and the SMAC on a monthly basis
for registration A standardized Survey report format needs to be
introduced in Somaliland to enhance data discipline and facilitate
clearance operations by other parties
Clearance Operations
Tasks completed by the DDG, be
it Mine Clearance, Battle Area Clearance or EOD operations, will be
reported in a completion report, which will be entered onto an hard
copy/computerized (IJNDOS) operations map as “Clearance Tasks” and
filed Completion reports will be handed to the NDA and the SMAC for
registration The introduction of a standardized completion report in
Somaliland would ease centralized mapping, strengthen Quality
Assurance and help investigations of eventual accidents on “cleared”
land
DDG strongly
supports initiatives, which will bring about the implementation of an
effective centralized and standardized mapping system. DDG should be
able to find contributions to this end.
4.Future
phases
Depending on
the funding situation DDG plans to employ the following units in Phase
II from November 1999-November 2000.
Administration and support staff 15 persons
3 Demining teams 120 persons
2 EOD teams/light clearance teams 16 persons
Mine Awareness/Survey team: 6 persons
Mechanical Clearance Team 4-8 persons
The
mechanical clearance team will consist of 1-2 Hydrema Mine Flails.
In phase
III, from November 2000 —
November 2001, the organizational structure and the units
employed will depend on an evaluation of the need. It is likely that the
DDG will
Increase its
manual clearance capacity and employ further mechanical assets combined
with sniffer dog teams.
Mapping
and information Management
Gathering and registration of
data relevant to HMA operations is a three stage process, including.
-
Pre-operational Data Gathering
-
Survey operations
-
Clearance operations
It is imperative that data is
gathered, validated, processed and mapped in a uniform way, why
standards needs to be introduced in the Somaliland area of operations.
The DDG Procedures are described below:
Pre-operational Data Gathering
DDG views data gathering as
critical for operations. The analytical foundation on which the
prioritizing of areas and the consequent tasking of survey, clearance
and CMA assets rest, is the systematic gathering of solid data with
regard to;
-
Mine or UXO accidents
-
Areas suspect of being mined
-
Areas with an identified threat of mines
-
Areas contaminated by UXOs
Experience shows that this
type of data is normally obtained via the conduct of operations, when
teams/personnel are exposed to the local communities. Often these data
are however not gathered or processed through the internal information
system in a standardized or systematic way. This is why all DDG
supervisors, regardless of function, receive training in Data Gathering
and the conduct of surveys. Furthermore standardized reports have been
introduced to all teams
For this purpose DDG is
working closely together with the SRCS/Norcross Rehabilitation center
with regard to Victim information and the Veterans Association
“Soyaal” with regard to mine data.
Reports of this type will be
categorized, numbered, entered onto an hard copy/computerized (UNDOS)
operations map as “Survey Tasks” and filed for later survey Normally
this information will not passed on to other parties until surveyed
Survey Operations
Survey operations (level 1
& 2) are normally based on data gathered from the following sources
-DDG
data gathering
-Local
authorities
-Regional
Mine Officers/SMAC
-The
National Demining Agency
-International
NGOs
HALO
TRUST
MATTHEW
HOVELL
THE
HALO TRUST SOMALILAND BRIEFING NOTES
FOR
TILE
SOMALILAND COALITION AGAINST LANDMITNES WORKSHOP
Background
-
The HALO Trust was formed 11 years ago and now removes landmines
and UXO from nine countries around the world. Other countries, such
as The Sudan, have been surveyed and are awaiting funding being raised
for clearance projects. Some programmes have associated HALO medical
programmes running alongside them and most have heavy mechanical
mineclearance support. The HALO Trust employs approximately 4,000 local
staff and 25
expatriate staff worldwide. No programme has ever been cut
short either for security or funding reasons. The programmes in
Mozambique and Abkhazia will be the first to be completed in
approximately three years time.
Somaliland
- The
Halo Trust conducted their initial reconnaissance in 1998 with a
confirmatory visit in April of this year. The set up programme started
in July and will run until the end of this year by which time three
demining teams of 20 lanes each will have been established.
Currently
the HALO Trust has two demining teams conducting clearance at Dara - Weyne military camp 35 km NE of
Hargeisa. A survey team is working in Awdal region. When training of the
third team is complete in December clearance operations will start in
Gabiley and Boroma.
Next
year a fourth twenty lane team will be trained and deployed in January
along with a dog team for area reduction and route verification.
This
set up and subsequent years programme is being funded by The United
States Department of State.
The
Future - The
British Ministry of Defence has donated four front loaders and four 30
tonne bulldozers to The HALO Trust for use in Sornaliland. When funding
has been secured for their armnouring and transport they will be used
for large-scale route clearance arid mechanical mineclearance. This will
also mean additional employment for 50 deminers, mechanics and drivers. They
will be employed using techniques pioneered by HALO around the world.
UK
OFFICES: THE HAlO TRUST 804 DRAKE HOUSE, DOIPI IIN SQUARE, LONDON SW IV
3NW
TEL.0044
171 821 9244 & 00441848331100 FAX. 0044
1718340198 &
0044 1X4X331122
MINE
VICITIM ASSISTANCE IN SOMALILAND
SOOYAAL
Mine Victim Assistance Program
Dr.
MOHAMED AHMED ABDI “ARABETE”
GENERAL
SURGEON, HARGEISA GROUP HOSPITAL &
CHAIRAMN
OF SNM WAR VETERNS EVALUATION COMMITTEE
INTRODUCTION
Sooyaal,
the Somaliand War Veteran’s Organization, was founded in 1991 and
mandated to assist the veterans and war-affected groups and also to
assist vulnerable social groups with re-integration programs. Sooyaal is
involved in many activities including humanitarian demining and mine
action. Many of its Somali
National Movement ex-combatants are quite knowledgeable and experienced
and have first hand information on mine locations and mine fields.
Sooyaal is, therefore, often called upon to provide manpower.
SOOYAAL
VICITIM ASSISTANCE STARTEGY
2000
– 2003
Soyaal
considers mine victims as disabled and handicapped who encounter
numerous obstacles in their environment and unable to access many of the
social programs available to others.
We
have the following practical approach:
Ř
Education,
training and skills development leading to employment opportunities
Ř
Social
organization and networking
Ř
Lobbying
and advocacy on behalf of victims
Ř
Community
based rehabilitation
Ř
Medical
intervention
Ř
Residential
care and counseling.
Before
I give my recommendations to the workshop, I would like you to consider
the following statistics about landmines and Somaliland.
Ř
In
1991 the ICRC estimated Somaliland to have one amputee for every 652
person’s which makes Somaliland the their most severely affected area.
Ř
Physicians
for human rights reported that there were between 1500 and 2000 amputees
in Somaliland in 1992.
Ř
Sooyaal
estimates Somaliland to have one amputee for every 753 inhabitants and
that there may be as many as 2.5 million pieces of mixed types of anti
personnel and anti-tank mines in the soil waiting to maim more victims.
Ř
IPR
reports that while its difficult to estimate the number of Landmines in
Somaliland, between 1 to 2
million mines are thought to have been planted in Somaliland during
three conflict phases
.
·
Phase
I = 1977-1978
war between Somalia and Ethiopia
·
Phase
II = 1981-1991 war
between Siad Bare regime and the Somaliland National Movement
·
Phase
III= 1994-1995 war
between Somaliland loyalist forces and forces opposed to the government
of Mohamed Ibrahim Egal.
Ř
UNDP
in a 1998 report indicated that 400,000 to 800,000 landmines were placed
in Somaliland soil including 24 types of anti personnel landmines from
10 different counters during the 1988-1991 conflict.
From these reports, it would appear that:
We
have nearly 2 amputee for every 1.000 inhabitants.
With 2.5 mines in the soil this number is likely to increase
substantially and we can imagine the adverse socioeconomic impact in
this poor, internationally unrecognized country.
Demining
projects and increased awareness by the affected communities have
lowered casualty rates in recent years, but very little has been done in
the important area of victim assistance.
Somaliland has suffered through decades of conflict and
instability. Its entire
health care infrastructure has been ruined and the majority of health
care staff has migrated and has not yet returned.
Hargeisa Group Hospital, the national referral hospital, has an
operating theater with no anesthesia equipment and no oxygen.
Often times suturing material and bandages are not available.
Therefore, victims throughout of Somaliland face horrendous
prospects. The obstacles and difficulties faced by mine-victims in
Somaliland are most clearly illustrated by our most recent victim.
On November 19, just three days ago a mine explosion near
Hargeisa Airport grounds injured a 5-year old boy.
This is less than 5 miles from the Hospital in downtown Hargeisa.
The boy suffered multiple life-threatening injuries, burns and
lacerations. In spite of
the proximity of the accident to the town center, it took the boy’s
family nearly five hours to get him into the hospital.
The boy received no first aid assistance even from the airport
staff and upon arrival at the hospital, we could provide him with very
minimum care.
The
Somaliland Red Crescent Society and Handicap International provide
postoperative assistance comprised essentially of the provision of
mobility devices. There are no training programs or programs to enhance the
employment potential of mine victims.
In
1999 Sooyaal was asked by the government of Somaliland to register
war-affected veterans as well as civilian victims.
In the following table we illustrate data compiled by this
registration program during its first three months.
SNM
Veterans Disabled by War Registered the 1999 Registration and Evaluation
Program in Hargeisa
Percent Wounded by Mine 61%
|
Patients
|
Place of Injury
|
Mine
|
Bullet
|
Accident
|
Other
|
Total
|
|
Male
|
Lower
Limb
|
171
|
63
|
23
|
4
|
261
|
|
Female
|
Lower
Limb
|
6
|
2
|
1
|
2
|
11
|
|
Male
|
Upper
Limb
|
70
|
80
|
15
|
1
|
166
|
|
Female
|
Lower
Limb
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
|
Male
|
Mental
Patients
|
10
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
14
|
|
Female
|
Mental
Patients
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Male
|
Eye
& Ear
|
53
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
57
|
|
Female
|
Eye
& Ear
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
Total
|
313
|
150
|
40
|
10
|
531
|
RECCOMENDATION’S
In
view of poor capacities of the existing health centers, which are
already over-burdened, it will be difficult for such institutions to
cope with the necessary victim assistance programs.
Therefor
we are proposing to the donors and humanitarian demining agencies to
address this issue in more a comprehensive way, and we suggest the
following:-
a)
Support and upgrade
existing health care institutions.
b)
Upgrade the skill of
the health staff.
c)
Develop new institutions for victims through collective
responsibility and funding, and
d)
Improve
information sharing among the demining organizations and victim
assistance programs by establishing database resource center and
increasing interaction through workshops and regular discussions and
consultations.

The
Rehabilitation Center Established &
Supported
By
Handicap International/Action Nord Sud.
Ali
Jama
Workshop
on the Menace of landmines in the Horn of Africa.
November
23—24, 1999.
Handicap
International/Action Nord Sud opened this Rehabilitation Center in 1992.
The day to day activities of the center are managed by the national
staff. The center, which is based in Hargeisa — opposite Hargeisa
Group Hospital, deals with all the disabling pathologies, including mine
victims. It receives both children and adults and is composed of three
departments:
-
Orthopedic Workshop
-
Physiotherapy unit
-
Children department.
1.
Physiotherapy unit:
Three
physiotherapist assistants have been trained by HI/ANS in collaboration
with Ministry of
Health
& Labor. In 1996, the physiotherapist assistants obtained their
diplomas recognized by
Ministry
of Health & Labor of Northwest Somalia.
The
physiotherapy activities are done in the center, in Hargeisa Group
hospital as well as home- visits.
Moreover, the trained
PTAs train presently other PTAs from the regional hospitals of Northwest
Somalia. The ratio of the trainees per region is as follows:
* Two trainees from Hargeisa hospital, two from Burao, one from
Berbera, one from Borama and one from Erigavo.
This
physiotherapy training started in October 1998 and will last two years
(October 2000).
The
goal of this training is to make physiotherapy activities available in
the regional hospitals. In line with this physiotherapy training, a
program of establishing physiotherapy departments in the regional
hospitals has been started. The
aim is to enable the trainees in physiotherapy to have work place in the
hospitals and to have at their disposal the necessary equipment in terms
of physiotherapy treatment. So far, equipping physiotherapy department
in Hargeisa & Burao hospitals has been implemented and the plan is
to undertake this task in the other regional hospitals in the future.
2.
Orthopedic Workshop
ANS/HI
also trained 7 orthopedic assistant technicians who obtained their
certificates in June 1999. The orthopedic assistant technicians are able
to competently produce the different orthopedic devices.
Other
orthopedic workshops are not established in the regions, as their
sustainability in the long term is a difficult thing to guarantee.
Besides the required equipment and tools, an orthopedic workshop needs
daily consumable raw materials.
3.
Assistance to the Landmine victims.
Physiotherapy
can help the Landmine victims in different ways:
·
Physiotherapy exercises for amputees to prepare the stump for
taking artificial limb.
·
Gait training when patients are fitted with artificial limbs
·
Psychological support.
The
orthopedic workshop, in the rehabilitation center, produces the
following appliances to assist the Landmine victims:
·
Walking Aids (crutches, elbow canes, walking frames, parallel
bars ...)
·
Orthopedic shoe and splints for foot amputations.
·
Wheelchairs & tricycles as a second solution for above knee
double amputations, which is a very difficult thing to fit with
artificial limbs.
A
great deal of data about Landmine victims in Northwest Somalia is
available in the rehabilitation center.
HAVOYOCO MINE AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
About the NGO
The Hargeisa Voluntary Youth Committee (HAVOYOCO)
founded in 1992 as a response to the problems that confronted the
Somaliland population as a result of the war. HAVOYOCO is a local
development organization that is addressing primarily the needs of
youth, children and women by working through grassroots mobilization,
participation and advocacy. Since its inception HAVOYOCO implemented 52
projects towards its vision with different donors.
Our role towards the menace of landmines
The role that we currently play on the national
on-going anti-mine programs is the awareness sector. One of the
reasons that we selected this role is that the Circus Project is one of
the programs that HAVOYOCO runs. The Circus is a suitable tool for
community education and awareness campaigns. Therefore, we built our
land mine awareness activities on the Circus Project.
Methods
To submit message to the community the Circus
performance group displays their Circus skills including the pyramids,
acrobatics, and other gymnastics in an open area. This attracts
thousands of audience, then the required messages are submitted to the
audience. Submitting the messages, Circus normally uses poems and
dramas, the sole language that Somalis understand very well.
Achievements
HAVOYOCO has conducted several community awareness
activities, through the Circus, with different international
organizations including CARE International, UNICEF, UNDP, ANS (Action
Nord Sud) and the Institute for Practical Research & Training about
different topics such as mine-awareness including counseling of personal
trauma of land-mine victims. In addition, there were other messages such
as peace, child rights health and other social issues. CARE
International is felt that Circus is a very potential tool for
Anti-landmine awareness campaigns. We have done with them (CARE) several
mine awareness activities in Burao, Berbera, and Borama. We are planing
to conduct the first cross-boarder visit to the Somaliland refugees’
camps in Ethiopia with CARE International. The objective of this cross
boarder visit is to increase the awareness of the returnees about the
problems of the land mines.
MINE AWARENESS AND
HUMANITARIAN MINE ACTION
Ahmed
Mohamed Madar
The
Somali Relief and Rehabilitation Association
It
is a new concept, which is an integrated approach to removing landmines
from the ground and reducing their disastrous impact on mine affected
communities. For the time being we do not know the exact numbers of
mines there are in the ground which is not very relevant, what is
relevant is how many people are affected by the presence of mines, which
are obstacles to post-conflict reconstruction and socioeconomic
re-development.
Humanitarian
Mine Action is a comprehensive, structured approach to deal with mine
& UXO contamination. It includes survey assessment, mine clearance,
mine awareness, victim assistance and socioeconomic development.
These
activities are carried out to reduce the threat posed by landmines to
individuals & communities in mine infested areas, as well as to
assist mine victims. Humanitarian mine action should also work to create
indigenous capacity in mine affected communities as part of their
long-term development.
Mine
Awareness:
Mine
awareness involves information Programme to reduce the threat of
landmines to affected communities. In order to reduce the number of
landmine victims, we better use various educational mechanisms that
focus in changing risk behaviour and teaching safety measures Mine
awareness is needed in mine affected areas, prior & parallel to
demining programs. In
heavily mined countries like Somaliland demining can take years to
complete. So the local population must learn how to live their daily
lives in mine- & UXO-infested areas until the threat is removed.
There
are some common elements noticeable in mine affected communities through
out the world but more significant are the differences. Mine awareness
campaign must be adapted to local needs, culture and traditions. In
order to adopt the content & the form of massage to the needs of the
local population, fieldwork must precede development of any mine
awareness campaign.
While
specific content vary, universal points to any awareness campaign must
include knowledge of the threat, means of protecting ones self and how
to react if you unknowingly enter into a minefield.
International
guideline for landmine & uxos awareness education:
It
is divided in to four steps
·
Feasibility
Study: (Is mine/uxo awareness really needed?)
·
Needs
Assessment: (Who is at risk and why?)
·
Programme
Planning: (what kind of mine /uxo awareness is likely to reduce injuries
and death?)
·
Monitoring
& Evaluation (How to tract both progress & change & to
determine the value of the intervention?)
The
Community Based Mine Awareness Programs
A
community approach:
Faced with the problems of landmines and Uxo, the ultimate solution
remains, purely & simply, the physical clearness. In Somaliland,
given the amplitude of the problem and the present political status of
the Republic of Somaliland (lack
of international recognition) makes the solution costly & slow.
Despite the efforts of the international & UN agencies in demining
activities, it will take a long time before Somaliland population can
live normally & safely again. But in the mean time it is highly
indispensable to reduce the number of deaths and mutilations caused by
these deadly hidden weapons. Such is the main objective of the program
of the public awareness of the dangers of the mines & UXO.
Objectives
& Strategy: -
The
objectives of the (CBMAPS) are to limit the dangers of the number of
accidents & to put into place structures at the town, village and
community level, which will handle the problems of land mine & UXO
accidents: -
The
program is composed of three parts.
·
Recruitment
and the essential role of the trainers.
·
Raising
the mine and UXO awareness of the population & establishment of
committees. (Volunteers).
·
The
establishment of a network that collects & diffuses information. A
methodology suited to the very special & political context is
indispensable.
Methodology:
The
dominant and the most effective method for mine awareness is through
direct contact with affected communities. This means training of local
trainers who can reach different places where people can be gathered to
participate in training courses, be it the interior, villages, schools,
mosques etc.
Normally
materials include dummy mines & Uxos, posters with mine awareness
massages & illustration, leaflets, brochures, photographs, audio
tapes, & videos, mine awareness massages can also be incorporated in
theater, games, dances, poetry, songs in which the target groups can
actively participate. Mass media like TV, Radio and News papers has the
advantage of reaching out a vast number of people at relatively low cost
and best function as a support to a community based approach.
THE SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT OF LANDMINES IN SOMALILAND
Mohamed
Abdi Dhimbil
CONSORTIUM OF
SOMLAILANF NGOs, SCAL
Universally,
Landmines have become a major threat to human beings and their welfare.
For more than half a century devastation from Landmine explosions and
their aftermath spread to all levels of society, individuals,families,
communities and entire nations. Individuals, along with their families,
suffer the physical and psychological trauma caused. The burden of the
care and maintenance always fall on the shoulder of the families or
relatives of those affected. Mine-infested
areas are avoided by the communities who live close to it. The fear,
danger and stress involved develop into phobia of not knowing when to expect
the next explosion.
Rural areas where
people or societies depend on pastoral or agrarian livelihood experience
loss of their livelihoods, they lose their land because of mine
infestation and lose their livestock.
Muscle power in
rural means survival and thereby any amputee due to mine explosion is
reviewed as more mouth to feed since his/her contributions are lost and
it adds to the depletion of production.
The Republic of
Somaliland is one of the countries mined heavily in Africa. There are
about 28 mined roads. 63 confirmed
another 17 and minefields suspected, in accordance with sources from the
MRRR of Somaliland. Estimates by the same source indicate that there are
over one million land mines infested in all regions of the country.
Such a scenario
creates a major impact on the socioeconomic activities of the nation.
The major backbone of the economy of Somaliland is livestock. About 60% of the population depend on livestock rearing and trading. The
pastoralist mode of living where camels, cattle, sheep and goats do
natural grazing, hence moving from one place to another in search of
water and pasture is still the main activity for the majority of people.
Such nomadic practices are risky when surrounded by mine fields and loss
of human life becomes common. Generally
livestock rearing is labor intensive requiring the participation of all
males. Grazing them, water giving, milking and calving are all physical
activities that men are required to do.
Mine victims cannot participate in these activities, and hence
there is loss of manpower.
In the aftermath,
male amputees in pastoralist areas often move to villages nearby,
becomes depressed and finally become professional beggars depending on
handouts. Wives of such destitutes may often abandon them and hence the
family disintegrates. This environment creates orphans and abandoned
children. In poor societies, the burden of care falls on the relatives,
as municipalities or central governments cannot provide care.
Pastoralists, through experience, often suspect areas mined and often
tend to avoid grazing near it, but unfortunately the livestock often get
attracted to places where the pasture is better and desirable, the end
result is the loss of livestock.
In agrarian
societies mines always take away land from the poor peasant. Land means
survival to him and once someone abandons his farm, the family always
migrates to urban centers where they have no skills to sell and often
become laborers. Their
children, when they arrive in urban areas, do not attend schools and
become delinquents and street children.
The socioeconomic
impact on the community is exacerbated by closure of the roads that are
mined. The movement of trade and commerce is impaired and the cost of
goods rises. Farming
communities bringing their produce to market also are often forced to go
through suspected mine areas. While
they quickly learn where to avoid, rainfall and floods often expose and
move landmines. Danger is always there and they live with the
realization that accidents may happen anytime.
Refugees hoping to
come track to their homes after the conflict is over, as is the case in
Somaliland, must rebuild their houses and rehabilitate their villages,
find new pasture and farming areas. They will need roads to new markets.
All their socioeconomic activities will be impacted by the constant
threat of landmines. In the
event of accidents and casualties, these communities may abandon the
area. The community
disintegrates. They move to other places or move their relatives. The
ability of such a community to rebuild its economy is often doubtful.
Furthermore, in
under developed, rural dominated countries where mine infestation is
heavy, the development of agricultural and pastoral endeavors are
significantly reduced. Countries without industrial base will have a
major negative national economy.
REPATRIATION
AND REINTEGRATION
Refugees
who sought asylum from neighboring and other countries will definitely
return home after the conflict. In Somaliland some refugees have already
repatriated spontaneously others are returning through organized
repatriation. These refugees feel less secure when they are at the camps
because of information they receive regarding the mines. This fear
remains one of the reasons that they always give for prolonging their
stay in the camps.
The estimated number
of Somaliland refugees who have not been repatriated is approximately
200,000 people. Most of these refugees have rural background. But, they always register themselves on repatriation form
that they are from urban places. One of the reasons for this is the fear
that they may be returned to mine-infested area.
ASSISTANCE
The number of mine
affected victims is relatively very high. These include the physically
disabled, the traumatized, the socially handicapped and the economically
deprived. Assistance towards this has been very limited. However two
agencies Handicap International and Somaliland Red Crescent have
provided some artificial limbs and crunches. The programs of these two
organization do not cover the whole country.
Conclusion
Having highlighted briefly the problem and constrain
posed by landmines and their impact on the sociio-economy of the country
Having
briefly without any extensive study on the effect landmines refugees and finally
touching slightly on the problem of victim assistance the. The paper
advocates the following to be taking
Now that the international
community is coming forward with the new approach of humanitarian
de-mining, we strongly suggest.
1.
that the socioeconomic impact of landmines be studied and integrated
from the policy formulation level to the project formulation and
planning.
2.
to develop and assist local institutions who will undertake studies on
the
subject through the use of IPR in order to
quantify the magnitude of the issue.
3.
to expand the reintegration project for the refugees and this calls for
more assistance towards development which will make their livelihood
sustainable.
4.efforts
towards victim assistance should be expanded and increased
Working Group 1: Cooperation Among Regional Campaigns
PRESS
RELEASE:
Horn
of Africa Anti-Landmine Campaigners Gathered for a Workshop on
Landmines
Call upon IGAD Countries to Sign and Ratify the OTTAWA
CONVENTION
(MINE BAN TREATY).
Workshop on the
Menace of landmines in the Horn of Africa
November 23-24,
1999, Hargeisa
The
Somaliland, the Somali, the Sudanese and the Djibouti Coalitions against
Landmines jointly held a 2-day workshop on the menace of landmines in
the horn of Africa in Hargeisa (Somaliland). The workshop was held in
collaboration with the Somaliland Ministry for Resettlement,
Reintegration and Reconstruction (MRR&R).
The
workshop was attended by representatives of the UN and international
agencies including UNDP, UNICEF, UNHCT (Habitat), CARE International,
Handicap International and the Norwegian Red Cross, and local
non-governmental organizations. The Demining groups of HALO Trust, the
Danish Demining Group (DDG), Santa Barbara, Greenfields Associates and
the Canadian Association for Mine and Explosive Ordnance Security with
active programs in the countries of the Horn also participated in the
workshop.
The
Horn Region anti-landmine campaigners expressed grave concern that
landmine deployment continues in some countries of the Horn of Africa. Of the 7 countries in the IGAD sub-region (Intergovernmental
Authority on Development), only Djibouti and Uganda have ratified the
Mine Ban Treaty. Yet, the region of the horn is one of the most heavily
mine-affected regions in the world. The coalitions gathered at this
workshop urge all IGAD countries to join the rest of the world and work
towards a mine-free HORN OF AFRICA. Recent declarations by the Kenyan
government that Kenya was proceeding towards ratifying the treaty are
encouraging and the coalitions gathered at the workshop urge the Kenyan
government to more quickly and ratify the Ban Treaty.
In
opening remarks, Sheikh Ibrahim Sheikh Yusef, the Head of the Guurti
(Council of Elders), affirmed the commitment of his community towards
the eradication of landmines from the region. Later, during the first
session of the workshop, Ambassador Ahmed Mohamed Adan, Speaker of the
House of Representatives expressed the strong intention of Somaliland to
abide by the Ottawa Convention even though Somaliland could not sign the
treaty as a State party. Landmines left behind by two decades of war
terrorize Somali communities everywhere and the Coalitions, taking note
of these remarks, hope that landmines will not be used in future
conflicts in this region.
With
respect to mine action, participants indicated the dire need for more
funding for mine awareness, demining and victim assistance programs and
the need for coordination and collaboration in mine action. In a
dramatic testimony on the difficulties faced by mine victims, doctors
from the Somaliland War Veterans Association, presented the case of the
latest mine victim in Somaliland, a five year old injured in a mine
explosion in the morning of November 19, 1999. Although the accident
took place just 7 miles outside of the city of Hargeisa, more than four
hours elapsed before the victim was finally brought to a health care
facility.
Given
the gravity of the landmine problem in the Horn of Africa, the
anti-landmine coalitions call upon countries of the IGAD sub-region
presently holding their 7th Heads of State Summit in Djibouti to view
the problem of landmines with urgency and to sign and ratify the Ottawa
Convention. Further, the coalitions urge IGAD countries to convene a
States conference to search for solutions and consensus to the problem
of
landmines in the Horn of Africa.
Coordination of Mine Action in Somaliland
Working Group Proceedings
Chair: Abdillahi Omar
Hassan (DG, MRR&R) Co-Chair: Bo Bischoff (DDG)
Abdillahi Omar Hassan
This is working group 2, Coordination of Mine
Action in Somaliland, as indicated in the workshop schedule.
In order to improve coordination in mine action, particularly
demining, MRR&R formed a working group composed of representatives
of the demining agencies,
one from each agency, and also a Technical Coordinating Board (TCB).
This was about June. The
group has so far presented a draft proposal.
I cannot read the whole proposal, but the group proposed terms of
reference for the formulation of a new policy and also a format for
restructuring the National Demining Agency (NDA) and the Somali Mine
Action Center (SMAC) so that they can better perform their functions.
After the proposal was submitted to the Ministry, we, that is I
and the Vice-Minister, took what we thought were applicable and have
given those to the TCB to produce a first draft.
That was what we presented this morning.
Now this is an open discussion so if you have any comments or
questions, welcome.
Bo Bischoff: If I may add on the background of all
these documents. This work
was initiated in July or August, and the reason why the TCB undertook
this initiative is that we were cooperating, given the lack of resources
within the NDA, to define what the working relationships within
humanitarian mine action should be, and basically analyze the weaknesses
and strengths, opportunities and threats that face humanitarian demining
in Somaliland today. Some
of these points have been brought up again today, and one of these is
lack of trust. Another described clearly is lack of communication and
information between communities directly involved, lack of ownership and
commitment to the problems
and solutions, and also,
the weakness of the NDA, the weak regional foundation of the NDA and
SMAC.
Abdilkadir Jirdeh (SCAL): What I would like to say is
that the question of Sovereignty is not part of the problem in
coordination. Some people
may explain it that way, but that issue has been taken care of. The international NGOs have all signed agreements with the
line Ministry that were approved by the Council of Ministers, so no one
is questioning the authority of the State.
However, there are turf issues.
The role of the NDA is not well defined, that of SMAC is not
defined, that of the Ministry is not clearly defined.
And in the background, I think, there is a problem of
personalities, and in this, maybe we are all part of the problem.
Said Shukri (SOOYAAL, SCAL): When we talk about
coordination, what exactly are we talking about? Coordination is a wide issue.
Are we talking about structural coordination, coordinating the
work of the Ministry and NGOs, or are we talking about policy
coordination of the demining groups or coordinating their work and
efforts. Let us be more
specific before we go any further, this may give us a gateway for the
discussion.
Bischoff: The document produced is basically a policy
paper to achieve stronger coordination at the strategic level.
We have been quite intensively working on this document.
We all have a lot of information in our heads and there are a lot
of parallel initiatives - that is quite handicapping.
All these parallel initiatives are trying to achieve coordination
of mine action in the context of Somaliland.
As we all know, SMAC is now back in town and will be hopefully
revitalized soon and that might change things.
Hopefully, SMAC will have the resources to rectify the situation.
There are also initiatives in Nairobi that may affect what we are
trying to achieve here in a smaller scale.
But, we should not wait for Nairobi, we should continue to do our
work here.
Abdillahi Omar Hassan: If I may add, I agree with Bo,
complete and better coordination is necessary so that we can work
successfully together.
Jab Swart (SCPP/UNDP): I assume that we accept that
line ministry responsible for mine action is MRR&R, and I assume we
are in agreement that the policy making body is the NDA. What we are writing programs for is the executing body. Am I
right? What we are trying
to develop resources for is at the level of execution, the body that
will coordinate and execute mine action on behalf of the government and
on behalf of the NDA, and that is SMAC.
We in the UNDP would like to make it clear that we are not SMAC,
we are advising or rather will be advising and capacitating SMAC.
We see it important that SMAC consist of an information cell and
operations cell, a training and standardization cell and a support cell. We also at the UNDP are going to retract from actual mine
clearance, but will concentrate on the operational level.
We believe the core of mine action should be SMAC and we are also
confident that we will have the resources to back the program.
Mohamed Abdi Dhimbil (COSONGO, SCAL): When we are
discussing coordinating mine action, who are we doing the program for?
Are we doing it for the people of Somaliland or does the
ownership belong to the UNDP, DDG or HALO Trust? Definitely it is for
the people of Somaliland. If
we are doing this for Somaliland, the policy making body of Somaliland
is the Cabinet. A member of
the Cabinet is the top policy-making person and that is the Minister of
RR&R. If the Ministry
delegates that responsibility to the NDA, then all the agencies should
be working and coordinating with NDA, but if NDA decides that SMAC is
the technical arm of NDA, then all technical questions should go through
SMAC. But there have been
questions about SMAC. I am
glad that the SCPP now says that SMAC is for Somaliland.
If it is a national institution, the UNDP, HALO, or DDG or
whoever comes down can help it do its work better.
I have one question; we have been hearing that SMAC and NDA have
been assisted by the UNDP, what are the results?
Do they have the maps, the database, have SCPP brought SMAC to
the level where it can function independently?
We should benefit from the lessons learned during the past year
when SMAC has been assisted by the UNDP.
Swart: If
I may answer, SMAC degenerated and almost did not survive.
I think it was also because UNDP got hands on involvement in
actual mine clearance operations. We would like to confirm that UNDP
would revert to our traditional role of capacity-building of national
institutions. To answer the
question further, we actually do not favour a permanent NDA; we favour a
Council of Ministers that will convene whenever necessary or quarterly,
to confirm policy and priorities. But
if Somaliland chooses to have a permanent body who should be doing the
work of the government of writing and confirming policy, we will of
course go along with it. But
definitely, SMAC should not be seen only as the technical arm of NDA,
but the executing arm of the NDA, which is the body that should concern
itself with the important part, and the basis of mine action, and that
is formulating policy, confirming policy and making priorities.
Yes, we are committed, SCPP will be managed from Hargeisa and we
are very positive that we will have the resources to capacitate SMAC in
all respects, including the management information system for mine
action.
Abdilkadir Jirdeh: Let us first look at the history
of NDA. NDA has been
established by law. Law
number 1780/1996. That
law stipulates that it is a government agency with autonomous management
power and it comes under the ministry of RR&R under whose policy
guidelines the agency should operate.
The law stipulates that the Director should be appointed by the
President with the advice of the Minister of RR&R.
That fixes for us NDA. What
it is, what its functions are, under whose responsibility it functions.
Now what we have to do is define SMAC in a similar way. What it is, what are its roles, who runs it and so forth.