Recommendations for action

• The DRC should finalize and submit a detailed and realistic workplan for work to be carried out in 2015–2020 under its second Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline extension request.
• As soon as the security situation allows, the DRC should conduct survey in Aru and Dungu territories.
• The quality of the national mine action database should be significantly improved. The DRC should ensure the national mine action database is accurate, up to date, and owned by national authorities.
• Greater efforts should be made to ensure reporting and recording of mine action data according to International Mine Action Standards (IMAS) land release terminology.

Contamination

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is affected by antipersonnel and antivehicle mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster munition remnants, a result of decades of conflict involving neighboring states, militias, and rebel groups since gaining its independence in 1960.[1]

Mine contamination

The DRC had four confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs) containing mines, covering just under 0.05km², and a further 118 suspected hazardous areas (SHA), covering 1.8km², at the end of 2014, as set out in the table below. Seven of 11 provinces still contained CHAs or suspected mined areas (see table on Contamination by province below). 

Contamination as of end 2014[2]

Note: CMAs = confirmed mined areas

All 11 of DRC’s provinces are contaminated by unexploded ordnance (UXO), including the capital, Kinshasa. Four provinces (Equateur, Katanga, Orientale, and Maniema) remain the most affected.[3] 

Contamination by province as of end 2014[4]

Note: CMAs = confirmed mined areas

When the DRC became a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty, it reported a total of 904 SHAs.[5] This was later found to significantly overestimate the number and size of areas suspected to contain antipersonnel mines, with early survey efforts uncoordinated and unsystematic, and carried out by inadequately trained staff.[6]

In April 2014, the DRC was able to report that 130 SHAs affected by mines remained in eight provinces (Equateur, Kasaï Occidental, Kasaï Oriental, Maniema, North Kivu, Katanga, Province Orientale, and South Kivu) covering an estimated 1.8km2, more than half of which was located in Equateur and Katanga provinces, on the basis of the results of a nine-month-long National Landmines Contamination Impact Survey (NLCS) launched in March 2013 to determine the full extent of mine, cluster munition, and other ERW contamination across the country.[7] The Aru and Dungu territories in Orientale Province, however, were not surveyed due to the security situation.[8]

The DRC used the survey’s results as the basis for its second Article 5 deadline extension request, which it submitted in April 2014. In June 2014, States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty granted the DRC a six-year extension to complete antipersonnel mine clearance on its territory by 1 January 2021. 

In October 2015, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) reported that of the total 135 SHAs, 53 had since been released in ongoing survey and clearance operations, bringing the total number of SHAs remaining to 82. The total number of provinces remaining to be addressed fell from seven at the end of 2014 to six (Province Orientale, Equateur, Katanga, Maniema, North Kivu, and Kasai Occidental) with the completion of South Kivu province following a (Congolese Mine Action Centre) CCLAM mission in early October that cancelled the last remaining SHA.[9] UNMAS stated, however, that several SHAs were newly identified in 2014 and that it expected that further hazards might be identified in the future, especially while conflict continued across the DRC.[10] 

Cluster munition contamination

As of end 2014, the DRC had 17,590m² (0.02km²) of area confirmed to contain cluster munition remnants (see table below).[11] The contamination is located in two of the DRC’s 11 provinces: Equateur in the northeast of the country and Katanga in the south. The DRC identified the five areas, all of which are believed to contain BL755 submunitions, in a national survey conducted in 2013.[12]

Cluster munition remnants contamination by province as of end 2014[13]

It is not known who used cluster munitions in DRC, nor when. In April 2014, the DRC stated that cluster munitions had been used by unspecified foreign armies, both those invited by the government and those “not invited.”[14] Since 2009, small numbers of unexploded submunitions have been found in Equateur, Katanga, Maniema, North and South Kivu, and Oriental provinces.[15] Submunition types reportedly include BL755, BLU-63, BLU-55, ShAOB, and PM-1.[16]

Of the five remaining areas confirmed to contain cluster munition remnants, contamination in the four areas in Equateur province was said to impact upon agricultural activities.[17] The area in Katanga consisted of a cluster munition strike close to a hospital in Moba. In 2014, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) carried out clearance on the strike, but work had to be halted to prevent the closure of the hospital, the only one in Moba. MAG reported that its teams were clearing cluster munition remnants in more heavily populated areas in 2014 compared to 2013.[18]

Other explosive remnants of war and ammunition stockpiles

The DRC is also significantly affected by other ERW, including large quantities of abandoned explosive ordnance, which the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) considers much greater in extent than mine contamination. 

UXO contamination is a particular threat to internally displaced persons (IDPs) as well as an impediment to humanitarian access.[19] According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there were 2.7 million IDPs in the DRC in 2014 due to the ongoing conflict in the east.[20]

UXO contamination also continues to have significant socio-economic impact on the country, limiting movement of goods and hindering reconstruction of infrastructure.[21] Released land is used for agriculture and settlement development, in addition to opening up access to markets, water, and firewood.[22]

Insecure weapons and ammunition stockpiles pose a serious humanitarian threat in the DRC. Proliferation of weapons among the civilian population and non-state armed groups exaggerate insecurity, fuel community violence, and lead to unplanned explosions in munitions storages sites. In January 2014, an explosion occurred in a military ammunition depot in the city of Mbuji Mayi, Kasaï Oriental province, killing 21 people and injuring 54, leaving 2,000 homeless, and scattering UXO over a 10km radius.[23] 

Program Management

On 9 July 2011, national mine action legislation was signed into law by the president of the DRC. UNMACC, established in 2002 by UNMAS, coordinates mine action operations through offices in the capital, Kinshasa, and in Goma, Kalemie, Kananga, Kisangani, and Mbandaka.[24] UNMACC is part of the UN Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) peacekeeping mission. In May 2010, UN Security Council Resolution 1925 mandated UNMACC to strengthen national mine action capacities and support reconstruction through road and infrastructure clearance.[25]

In March 2013, Security Council Resolution 2098 called for demining activities to be transferred to the UN Country Team and the Congolese authorities.[26] As a consequence, UNMAS operates two separate projects after splitting its mine action activities between support for the government of the DRC and its in-country team on the one hand, and its activities in support of MONUSCO on the other hand.[27] In accordance with Resolution 2147 of March 2014, demining is no longer included in MONUSCO’s mandate.[28]

CCLAM was established in 2012 with support from UNMACC/UNMAS.[29] In May 2015, UNMAS reported that in 2014 it continued to support CCLAM in its operations and to promote full transition of all coordination activities to the center by the end of 2016.[30]

Strategic planning

The DRC’s national mine action strategic plan for 2012–2016 sets the goal of clearance of all areas contaminated with antipersonnel mines or unexploded submunitions by the end of 2016, as well as for transition of the mine action program from UN management to full national ownership.[31] 

In granting the DRC’s second Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline extension request, States Parties called on the DRC to present a detailed workplan by 30 April 2015 on implementation of its remaining Article 5 obligations throughout its extension period. In June 2015, the DRC informed States Parties that due to difficulties in finding funding it was unable to submit a workplan or finalize its projections by that time. It pledged to provide more information at the next meeting of States Parties in December 2015.[32]

Operators 

Six international operators are accredited for mine action in the DRC: DanChurchAid (DCA), Handicap International (HI), MAG, Mine Tech International (MTI), Mechem, and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).[33] 

At the outset of 2014, HI employed 33 national and five international staff and deployed three mine detection dog (MDD) teams and one mechanical asset. Its mine action operations ended in February 2014 due to lack of funding.[34]

MAG employed one team specifically working on mine clearance in 2014 and one team working on explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) spot tasks for both mines and ERW, which was deployed for five months in 2014.[35] MAG was the only operator to conduct clearance of cluster munition remnants in the DRC in 2014. It deployed two teams to clear cluster munition remnants, one in Equateur and the other in Katanga. All deminers and the two team leaders were personnel from the Congolese armed forces (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo, FARDC), seconded to MAG by CCLAM.[36] In May 2015, MAG reported that both the mine clearance and EOD teams had been demobilized due to lack of funding.[37] 

Mechem initially deployed four multi-task teams (MTTs), one MDD team, and a mechanical asset at the start of 2014; however, also due to a decrease in funding, one MTT was demobilized in June and its MDD and mechanical asset were demobilized in November.[38]

NPA deployed one mine clearance team (MCT) and one MTT in 2014. It also focused efforts on providing capacity development support to CCLAM, including equipment, vehicles, and office construction assistance, as well as trainings on information management, operational efficiency, and gender, in cooperation with the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) and the Gender and Mine Action Programme.[39] 

No national organizations in DRC were accredited to conduct clearance activities. National organizations are responsible for carrying out non-technical survey and risk education.[40]

National mine action standards

Standards

As of October 2015, National Technical Standards and Guidelines for mine action, including 24 national mine action standards, had been developed, but not yet been finalized.[41]

No developments were reported regarding mine action standards or guidelines specific to cluster munition remnants survey or clearance in 2014.

Quality management

MAG, Mechem, and NPA reported that external quality management activities were very limited in the DRC in 2014.[42] UNMAS stated that a quality management system was in place and that quality assurance activities were normally carried out on a monthly basis per team/organization in 2014. However, it said that in 2015 very few quality assurance activities were being carried out in the field “due to both logistics and funding constraints.”[43] 

Deminer Safety

No demining personnel were killed or injured as a result of mine action accidents or incidents in the DRC in 2014.[44] However, three employees of a private company contracted by a demining unit of MONUSCO were kidnapped in North Kivu province in April 2015.[45] 

Land Release (Mines)

The total mined area in the DRC released by clearance in 2014 was 0.23km², compared with 0.1km² in 2013.[46] An additional 0.36km2 was released by survey in 2014.[47]

Survey in 2014 (mines)

In 2014, operators cancelled a total of 0.03km² of suspected mined area through non-technical survey and reduced a further 0.33km² through technical survey. An additional six areas covering 0.06km2 were confirmed as mined on the basis of technical survey.[48]

After General Mine Action Assessment (GMAA) and General Mine Action Survey (GMAS) activities carried out in 2009–2012 were deemed to be too slow, inefficient, too difficult, and expensive to implement on a territory the size of the DRC, the DRC decided to discontinue the GMAA and GMAS, establishing instead the NLCS in 2013, which also included a survey of cluster munition remnants.[49] This change in survey methodology resulted in much more efficient results to clarify the extent of contamination remaining and enabled substantial reduction in the size of SHAs.[50]

Survey in 2014

Clearance in 2014 (mines)

The total mined area cleared in 2014 was 0.23km² (225,484m²), with the destruction of 43 antipersonnel mines, 10 antivehicle mines, and over 7,300 items of UXO in the process.[55] This was compared to the release of 0.1km2 (110,961m2) by clearance in 2013, with the destruction of 76 antipersonnel mines and six antivehicle mines.[56]

In June 2015, the DRC informed States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty that over the course of 2014 through the first half of 2015, a total of nearly 0.42km2 (418,854m2) had been cleared, and 52 antipersonnel mines, 167 antitank mines, and 68,615 items of ERW destroyed.[57] 

UNMAS reported that the deployment of an integrated mechanical and MDD team by MECHEM in 2014 contributed to the increase in clearance output in 2014, however there was a decrease in the total number of teams (four operational across all operators) in 2014 due to funding constraints. It reported that as of October 2015, however, 13 teams were operational in the DRC.[58]

Mine clearance in 2014

Land Release (Cluster Munition Remnants) 

The total amount of cluster munition-contaminated area released through clearance in 2014 was 65,510m². In May 2015, MAG reported that the cluster munition contaminated areas it worked on in 2014 had yet to be completed and therefore, the land cleared in 2014 had not yet been released by the coordinating authorities.[64]

Survey in 2014 (cluster munition remnants)

No survey activity related to cluster munition remnants was carried out in 2014. Non-technical survey was conducted by MAG in Katanga and Equateur provinces as part of the National Landmine Contamination Survey in 2013, which was completed by NPA, HI, DCA, and MAG, in cooperation with national NGOs. The areas where MAG deployed teams to clear cluster munition remnants in 2014 had previously been confirmed as contaminated and no further technical survey was conducted.[65] 

Clearance in 2014 (cluster munition remnants)

MAG cleared a total of 65,510m² of cluster munition contaminated area in 2014. Most (46,280m²) was in Equateur province, with 19,230m² in Katanga province (see table below).[66] 

As noted above, the Katanga team was deployed to a cluster munition strike at Moba hospital. The area had to be extended from the original suspected area as more submunitions were found. Other areas were covered by non-technical survey and visual search. It was agreed that the hospital team would report any further suspicious items spotted in non-suspect areas in the future.[67] In June 2015, MAG reported that its team would continue to work in the same province for several months and was ready to return and clear any explosive hazards, should the hospital request it or if assigned by UNMAS.[68]

Work on clearance of cluster munition remnants was halted for three months following a devastating explosion in an ammunition depot in the city of Mbuji Mayi, Kasaï Oriental province in January 2014. MAG redeployed the team working on cluster munition remnant clearance in Katanga to Mbuji Mayi for three months.[69] 

Clearance of cluster munition-contaminated area in 2014[70]

Note: * MAG reported that the land had yet to be formally released

MAG reported destroying a total of 38 submunitions during clearance of cluster munition remnants in 2014.[71] CCLAM reported the destruction of a further 17 submunitions in 2014 as a result of explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) tasks in areas not identified as contaminated with cluster munitions by the 2013 national survey.[72]

Progress in 2015 (cluster munition remnants)

In June 2015, CCLAM stated that three submunitions had been destroyed between January and June 2015 during clearance of a further 16,165m² in the five known remaining cluster munition-contaminated areas identified by the survey. Two other submunitions were found outside these areas in the first half of the year.[73]

According to CCLAM, as of June 2015, a total of 159 submunitions had been cleared in the DRC since 2011: five in the first half of 2015, 55 in 2014, 21 in 2013, 55 in 2012, and 23 in 2011.[74] CCLAM reported that the types destroyed were BL755, BLU-63, and PM-1.[75] CCLAM reported on another occasion that ShAOB submunitions were destroyed in Lubumbashi in 2012.[76] 

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the six-year extension request granted by States Parties in June 2014), the DRC is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 January 2021. In October 2015, the DRC appeared to be in a position to meet this deadline as early as 2017, provided sufficient funding is maintained.[77]

The purpose of the six-year extension period is to “(a) conduct technical surveys and clear the 130 identified mined areas; and (b) conduct non-technical and technical surveys as well as clear and/or release areas in the territories of Aru and Dungu in the Orientale province.”[78] 

Previously, in March 2011, the DRC submitted a request to extend its initial Article 5 deadline of November 2012 by four years.[79] This first request largely blamed poor survey by demining operators for the failure to meet its deadline, although poor management and insufficient national ownership of the program were also major factors. In June 2011, however, at the Standing Committee meetings the DRC informed States Parties it was seeking only an interim two-year extension and that it would present a definitive extension request in 2014.[80] It subsequently requested a 26-month extension that States Parties approved at the Mine Ban Treaty Twelfth Meeting of States Parties in December 2012. While clearance operations continued during the extension period, the main activity was the national survey, which aimed to provide the DRC with the information needed to submit another extension request in 2014.[81]

On 7 April 2014, the DRC submitted a second request to extend its Article 5 deadline, starting in January 2015. The extension indicates that at least 30% of the total mined areas can be released through technical survey, indicating that some 1.3km2 would need to be cleared.[82] The extension request estimates that on average 0.21km2 will be cleared each year.[83]

The extension request includes annual projections of progress to be made during the extension period, though without providing a detailed workplan with a monthly breakdown of activities for each operator in each area in order to achieve these.[84] It also foresees expenditure of US$20 million, of which some $19.4 million will go to demining the 130 mined areas, while the remainder will be spent on survey and clearance in Aru and Dungu.[85]

Since 2010, demining organizations have cleared a total of nearly 1.3km2 of mined areas (see table below).

Mine clearance in 2010–2014 (m2)[86]

As of 1 October 2015, the DRC had not submitted a detailed workplan on the implementation of its extension request targets nor its updated annual Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report, due by 30 April 2015. 

The DRC has reported that challenges in implementing its current extension request plan milestones include funding and logistics, the security situation, and geographical obstacles, including dense vegetation and heavy rainy seasons. In its extension request, the DRC estimated that on the basis of it’s operational and financial capacity for demining in 2009–2013, mine clearance could be completed within four years; however additional time would be needed to conduct survey and clearance in the Aru and Dungu territories, thereby totaling the six years requested.[87] In June 2015, the DRC reported to States Parties that after six months of implementation of its second extension request, it had concerns over declining international funding and consequences for its ability to achieve its extension targets.[88] 

In May 2015, UNMAS stated that it was optimistic that the DRC could meet its extension request targets and clearance deadline of 31 December 2020, provided that international funding remained stable for operations on a yearly basis. It noted, however, that the ongoing security situation in the east of the DRC remained a serious concern and could delay the DRC’s achievement of its clearance targets, making it difficult to estimate when the DRC could complete its Article 5 obligations.[89] As noted above, UNMAS reported that new SHAs were identified in 2014 and believed that further hazards would be identified in the future, especially while conflict continues.[90]

Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 4 Compliance

As of 1 July 2015, the DRC was a signatory but not yet a State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. As such, it does not have a treaty-mandated deadline for clearance.