Landmines| A threat still lingering
  • Norwegian People's Aid in Western Sahara:
    Mine Awareness in a Refugee Setting, By Justin Brady
    Mine Action Information Center at James Madison University
  • Landmine Monitor Report
  • Western Sahara: ICBL Landmine 2003 Report
  • Western Sahara: ICBL Landmine 2002 Report
  • Morocco: ICBL Landmine 2002 Report
  • Western Sahara: ICBL Landmine 2001 Report
  • Western Sahara: ICBL Landmine 2000 Report
  • Morocco: Landmine Monitor Report 2000
    Morocco has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. It was one of twenty countries to abstain on the vote on UN General Assembly Resolution 54/54 B in support of the Mine Ban Treaty in December 1999. Morocco explained its abstention by saying that "it could not become a signatory for the time being, due to security issues in its southern province [Western Sahara]."
  • North African Countries Urged to Ban Landmines | Jan 1999

    There are about 100 million anti-personnel mines spread around the world; over one million of them are found in Western Sahara.

    The 10 countries with the most land mines - Source: Associated Press, 1997


    The biggest concentration of landmines in Western Sahara is found along the defensive berm built by the Moroccan Army. This berm divides Western Sahara in two parts, one controlled by Morocco and the other by the Polisario Front. The red line in the map shows the approximate location of the defensive wall.



    Types of mines planted in Western Sahara

    Mine Type Detonator Type Made in
    VS-50 Plastic detonator A/P/C Italy
    M412-P5-SB-33 Plastic detonator A/P/C Portugal, Spain,Italy
    M35 Plastic detonator A/P/C Great Britain
    M2 Fragmenting A/P USA
    M15 Mineral detonator A/P USA
    M19 Plastic detonator A/P USA
    PRB M3 Plastic detonator A/P Belgium
    M453-SB81 Fragmenting A/P Portugal, Italy
    Source: Sahara Press Service (SPS)


    "Landmines are blind weapons that cannot distinguish between the footfall of a soldier and that of an old woman gathering firewood. They recognize no ceasefire and, long after the fighting has stopped, they can maim or kill the children and grandchildren of the soldiers who laid them."
    -From Landmines, A Deadly Legacy