Note: ERW = explosive remnants of war.

Contamination

The exact extent of contamination of the area of Western Sahara controlled by the Kingdom of Morocco, on the west side of the Berm,[1] is not known. In the past, Morocco declared, highly improbably, that a total of 120,000km² of area was contaminated,[2] although the threat is undoubtedly significant.

Morocco’s contamination is a result of the conflict between the RMA and Polisario Front forces over Western Sahara. Morocco has reported having registered and mapped the minefields it has laid, and has pledged to clear them as soon as the conflict over Western Sahara is over.[3]

In April 2013, Morocco had identified 10 areas as having been mined by the Polisario Front since 1975: Bir Anzarane, Douiek, Gerret Auchfaght, Gor Lbard, Gor Zalagat, Hagounia, Idiriya, Imlili, Itgui, and Tarf Mhkinza.[4] It repeated this list in a voluntary Article 7 report it submitted for calendar year 2017.[5] From 2015, the area of Glibat Jadiane, which had been listed as contaminated in earlier years, was no longer included on the list of mined areas.[6]

Program Management

Morocco does not have a national mine action authority or a mine action center.

Legislation and standards

Morocco has not adopted national mine action legislation or standards, but reported, most recently in 2013, that “normal safety and environmental protection standard have been followed.”[7]

Operators

Morocco initiated major demining efforts in 2007, following an increase in the number of incidents. All mine clearance in Morocco is conducted manually by the RMA. In 2017, it reported that 16 demining modules and 89 demining detachments were operational and responded to 175 interventions during the year.[8]

In March 2016, it was reported that United States (US) Marines were providing training to build the demining capacity of the RMA. US instructors covered ordnance identification, safety, basic demolition, and basic combat casualty care.[9] In a voluntary Article 7 report for 2017, Morocco reported receiving humanitarian demining training from the National Guard of the US State of Utah and that six senior government officials, including from the Ministries of Health and Solidarity, the Royal Armed Forces, and the Moroccan Red Crescent visited the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC).[10] The Utah National Guard previously reported providing landmine clearance training to Moroccan military officials through the State Partnership Program in April 2015.[11]

The UN Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) has been coordinating mine action activities with both parties to the conflict. In March 2016, however, Morocco required that MINURSO international civilian personnel “leave the Kingdom of Morocco within three days.”[12] This included all international staff overseeing the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS)-managed demining project within MINURSO, resulting in the suspension of all demining activities east of the berm from 20 March 2016–15 September 2016, when the MINURSO Mine Action Coordination Center resumed its operations from Tindouf, where it had been relocated.[13] Morocco demanded the staff leave because UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had used the term “occupation” to describe the situation east of the Berm during a visit to the region.[14]

Land Release

Morocco has not reported with any detail on its release of mined areas in recent years. In a voluntary Article 7 report for 2017, Morocco reported release of 232km², with the destruction of 69 antipersonnel mines, 82 antivehicle mines, and 595 items of ERW.[15] This is an apparent decrease from 2016, when Morocco reported release of 283km² with the destruction of 288 antipersonnel mines, 170 antivehicle mines, and 1,899 ERW.[16]

Morocco reported that since demining efforts began and as of end March 2018, a total of 96,451 mines, including 49,087 antipersonnel mines, and a further 19,618 items of ERW had been destroyed during “release” of 5,127km².[17] It also reported that, as at November 2017, a total of 4,987km² over the previous decade with the destruction of 4,833 antipersonnel mines and 16,813 antivehicle mines.[18]

In his 2018 report to the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary-General noted that the RMA had reported “clearing” nearly 145km² of land to the west of the Berm with the destruction of 1,121 items, including 1,008 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO), as well as 57 antivehicle and 56 antipersonnel mines during the period 10 April 2017 to 29 March 2018.[19] No further details were provided.

In April 2016, Morocco was planning to launch a new effort to clear mines from the Berm that divides Western Sahara into the Moroccan-controlled area and the Polisario-controlled area. The units to be deployed were reportedly those trained by the US Marines.[20]

The Monitor acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review (www.mineactionreview.org), which has conducted the primary mine action research in 2018 and shared all its country-level landmine reports (from “Clearing the Mines 2018”) and country-level cluster munition reports (from “Clearing Cluster Munition Remnants 2018”) with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.