Summary

Non-signatory Morocco adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008, but says it cannot join until its long-standing dispute over Western Sahara is resolved. Morocco hasparticipated in meetings of the convention, most recently in May 2022. It abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.

Morocco says it has never produced or exported cluster munitions, but has imported them and used cluster munitions against the Polisario Front in the past. Morocco possesses a stockpile of cluster munitions, but has not shared information on the quantities and types.

Policy

The Kingdom of Morocco has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Morocco has repeatedly stated that the situation in Western Sahara prevents it from joining the convention.[1] In April 2020, Morocco acknowledged the convention’s humanitarian rationale and said that it voluntarily complies with key provisions, but cannot accede to the convention until its dispute over Western Sahara is resolved.[2]

Morocco participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008, but did not sign it.[3]

Morocco has attended all of the convention’s meetings as an observer, most recently the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021. Morocco also participated in the convention’s intersessional meetings in May 2022.[4]

In December 2021, Morocco abstained from voting on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution, which urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[5] Morocco has not explained why it has abstained from voting on the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Morocco has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions condemning use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6]

Morocco is not party to the Mine Ban Treaty. Morocco is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

Morocco told the Monitor in 2011 that it has never produced or exported cluster munitions.[7]

Morocco has imported cluster munitions and possesses stocks, but has never shared information on the types and quantities stockpiled. Morocco received 2,994 CBU-52, 1,752 CBU-58, 748 CBU-71, and 850 Rockeye cluster bombs containing a combined total of nearly 2.5 million submunitions from the United States (US) between 1970 and 1995.[8]

Morocco also acquired 12 300mm PHL-03 multi-barrel rocket launchers from China in 2009–2010.[9] It possesses Grad 122mm surface-to-surface rocket launchers, but it is not known whether they include versions with submunition payloads.[10]

Use

Moroccan forces used artillery-fired and air-dropped cluster munitions between 1975 and 1988, against the Polisario Front in the disputed territory of Western Sahara. The Royal Moroccan Air Force (RMAF) used cluster bombs made in France during attacks on Akka, Guelta Zemmour, Hausa, and Messeid in 1980–1981.[11] RMAF attacked the Bu-Crag area with US-supplied cluster bombs in March 1982.[12]

Western Sahara is contaminated by cluster munition remnants, including US-made CBU-71 cluster bombs with BLU-63 submunitions, and M483A1 155mm artillery projectiles with M42 and M46 dual-purpose improved conventional munition (DPICM) submunitions.[13] Neighboring Mauritania was also affected by these same types of cluster munitions used by Morocco in Western Sahara.

Policy

The Kingdom of Morocco has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Officials from Morocco have repeatedly stated that the dispute over Western Sahara is the only obstacle preventing Morocco from acceding.[1] At the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional meetings in 2019, Morocco stated it is committed “to the convention and its humanitarian principles” of the treaty, and has been voluntarily active in its obligations to clear minefields and destroy stockpiles.[2]

On 5 December 2018, Morocco voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 73/61 calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty, as in previous years.[3]

Morocco regularly submits voluntary Article 7 reports, including in 2019.[4] Morocco also regularly attends Meetings of States Parties, most recently the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in November 2018 and the intersessional meetings in Geneva in May 2019.

Morocco is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines. Morocco is not party to CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war, nor is it party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

Use, stockpiling, production, transfer, and retention

Morocco reiterated at the Meeting of States Parties in 2018 that it has never produced or transferred antipersonnel mines.[5]

Morocco has acknowledged extensive use of mines in the past, most notably at the berms (defensive earthen walls) it built from 1982 to 1987 to secure the northwest corner of Western Sahara. There have been no confirmed instances of mine use since that time.[6]

In May 2009, in response to a Monitor questionnaire, “Does Morocco reserve the right to use antipersonnel mines in the future?” Morocco replied, “Non.”[7] Morocco also stated that it stopped the use and stockpiling of antipersonnel mines in 1987 and that it has never produced antipersonnel mines.[8]

In May 2009, Morocco told States Parties that it still possesses antipersonnel mines that are used for training its army for participation in peacekeeping operations.[9] Its Article 7 report submitted in March 2017 does not provide the number of mines retained.[10]

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.

No new mine/explosive remnants of war (ERW) casualties were recorded for the Kingdom of Morocco in 2017.

Previously, in 2015, 14 antivehicle mine casualties were identified by the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and the Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (SIPRI) antivehicle mines project.[1] 

For 2017, Morocco reported 19 mine/ERW casualties.[2] No information was provided as to whether these casualties occurred in Morocco or in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. However, the Monitor has reported 19 casualties recorded in the area of Morocco-controlled Western Sahara, west of the berm. Therefore, these casualties have not been included in the global casualty data for Morocco. (See the Western Sahara casualty profile for 2018.)

The total number of mine/ERW casualties in Morocco is not known. For the period between 1975 to the end of 2017 Morocco reported a total of 2,652 mine/ERW casualties (848 persons killed; 1,804 injured) in various voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 reporting.