By Thalif Deen
Inter Press ServiceMay 2, 1999
An international coalition of more than 120 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that successfully pressured 135 governments to ban landmines, now wants armed rebel groups throughout the world also to forsake the deadly weapons.
Stephen Goose of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) told IPS that, although the 1997 anti-landmine treaty was only binding on countries, his coalition was conducting consultations with ''non-state combatants'' against the use of landmines. A Working Group, set up by the ICBL, was in negotiations with several rebel groups - including the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the Philippines and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka - for unilateral declarations or bilateral agreements banning landmines.
The negotiations have been conducted either in the respective home countries or with representatives operating outside the countries. Goose said the decision to draw in rebel groups was part of a move towards a total ban on the use and production of landmines. According to a 1071-page report titled ''Landmine Monitor,'' released here, ''the vast majority of armed conflicts today involve non-state, anti-state or stateless actors outside the control of states.''
The report said ''Mines are widely used in such conflicts, and are often also produced not only by states, but also by non-state groups.'' Ironically, some governments still using landmines began to do so when they when they were rebel groups seeking to overthrow the authority in their respective countries. Furthermore, a number of states have linked their own refusal to renounce anti-personnel mines with the use of mines by opposition rebel groups.
''Clearly, an inter-state ban alone is insufficient to stop landmine production, trade, transfer, stockpiling and use,'' the report said. The campaign against landmines directed at states, therefore, needed to be complemented by campaigning work directed at non- state groups, it added The report also said that ''there is growing public agreement - across continents, cultures and political and religious beliefs - that landmine use by anyone is wrong.'' Goose said that although only sovereign states were bound by the landmine treaty, armed rebel groups were bound by customary international humanitarian law, as well as the 1949 Geneva Conventions which laid down the rules governing war.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has fought a separatist war with the government of Sri Lanka for 14 years, has been singled out as a major user of landmines. ''Mines and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) have been used extensively by the LTTE in the (Sri Lankan) conflict.'', the report said, adding that government forces are also responsible for using anti-personnel mines.
''The LTTE was originally trained in use of mines and IEDs by Indian security forces and later used these techniques with great effect against them during 1987-1990,'' it said. The study describes the LTTE as ''among the most skilled in the world in improvised explosives use.'' Sri Lanka, which has refused to sign the treaty, has said it reserves the right to use landmines in order to counter the deployment of such weapons by the LTTE.
The government also said ''it welcomes, in principle, a verifiable ban on anti personnel mines but is not in a position to accede to such a treaty in the near future due to legitimate national security requirements arising out of the current situation.''
According to the report, the Sri Lankan government ''is not thought to be a producer of anti-personnel mines.'' The LTTE, however, has manufactured IEDs and home-made mines in significant numbers, including one known as a "Johnny" or "Jony" mine. The report said that it is likely that the Sri Lankan government has received anti-personnel mines from China and Pakistan while the LTTE has acquired its landmines from Bulgaria and Romania. The ICBL, which is pushing for a total ban, won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its global campaign against landmines.
Although signed by 135 governments, the treaty - officially titled the ''Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines'' - has been cold-shouldered by several key nations, including the US, Russia, China, Cuba, Turkey, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan. As of last week, 81 governments have ratified the treaty making it part of the national laws of these countries. The United States, which has reserved the right to use landmines in its war against Yugoslavia, has said it will sign the treaty in 2006 only if a search for alternatives has been successful. All of the 19 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) nations have signed except the US and Turkey.
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