The New Zealand Campaign Against Landmines (CALM) welcomes Somalia’s accession to the international treaty banning landmines. Somalia is the 160th country to join the Mine Ban Treaty and the last member from Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to UN Journal, Somalia deposited its instrument of accession to Mine Ban Treaty with the UN in New York on 16 April 2012, but the action was not published until 22 May due to a verification process. The Mine Ban Treaty will take effect for Somalia on 1 October 2012, making it the 160th State Party.

The Mine Ban Treaty requires States Parties to ban all use, production, and trade of antipersonnel mines, to destroy all stockpiles within four years, to clear all contaminated land within 10 years, and to provide assistance to victims of the weapon.

Somalia’s accession completes the landmine ban movement’s universalization work in Sub-Saharan Africa as all 49 countries have now joined. From North Africa, Algeria and Tunisia are State Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, while Egypt, Libya, and Morocco have yet to join.

Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty will be challenging for Somalia, which is affected by uncleared landmines and unexploded ordnance from decades of conflict. Antipersonnel mines have been used by various factions creating a generation of landmine survivors, including foreign casualties such as American campaigner Ken Rutherford, who says “Congrats to Somalia!” on joining the ban treaty.

In recent years Landmine Monitor has not identified any confirmed reports of new use of antipersonnel mines by government forces or any of the non-state armed groups operating in the country. Armed groups, however, continue to use improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in large numbers and media often refer to command-detonated IEDs and bombs as “landmines.”

Somalia’s accession comes as intersessional meetings of the Mine Ban Treaty get underway in Geneva this week. Representatives from more than 86 states are meeting to discuss implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty as well as how to universalize it. With Somalia’s accession, a total of 36 countries remain outside the Mine Ban Treaty, including two signatories that have not yet ratified (Marshall Islands and Poland). In the past year, four countries have come on board the Mine Ban Treaty: Tuvalu, South Sudan, Finland, and Somalia.

Photo: Members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, including American Ken Rutherford (center), who was severely injured in a landmine incident in Somalia in December 1993  (c) Mary Wareham