Summary: Signatory Angola has often expressed its desire to ratify the convention but the government still has not introduced the ratification instrument to parliament for consideration and approval. Angola has participated in all the convention’s meetings and voted in favor of a key UN resolution on cluster munitions in December 2016.

Angola is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions. Cluster munitions were used in the past in Angola, but it is unclear when or by whom. The government has yet to make an official determination and public announcement confirming that all stocks of cluster munitions have been identified and destroyed.

Policy

The Republic of Angola signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.

Government officials have promised swift ratification of the convention since Angola signed the convention, but parliament still has not considered or approved the ratification decision as it is awaiting its introduction by the government.[1] Nonetheless, in June 2016, representatives from Angola’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Defense said the ratification process was at a “very advanced stage.”[2] In August 2016, Angolan officials predicted that the ratification process would be completed within two months.[3]

Previously, in 2013, an official informed the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) that the ratification package had been prepared for cabinet and then parliamentary approval, repeating what another official had said in 2011.[4]

Angola participated extensively in the Oslo Process and, while it did not attend the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008, it signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo in December 2008.[5]

Angola has participated in every Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, including the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. Angola did not make a statement at the meeting, but its delegation told the CMC that the process of ratification was in the final stages and should be completed by the end of 2016.[6]

Angola also attended the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015. Angola has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently in in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in August 2016.[7]

In December 2016, Angola voted in favor of a UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that urges states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[8]

In August 2016, Angola made a statement encouraging African states not party to the convention to accede or ratify without delay.[9] As a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council (UNSC), Angola voted in favor of a June 2015 UNSC resolution on Sudan that expressed concern at evidence of cluster munition use in Darfur.[10] It also voted in favor of a May 2014 UNSC resolution on South Sudan that notes “with serious concern” reports of the “indiscriminate use of cluster munitions.”[11]

Angola is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, and use

Angola is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions.

Cluster munitions were used in Angola in the past, but it is unclear when or by whom. An Intersectoral Commission on Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (Comissão Nacional Intersectorial de Desminagem e Assistência Humanitária, CNIDAH) official who had seen cluster munitions remnants in Huambo province near Caala and Bailundo, probably from the heavy fighting during 1998–1999, said he believed that the Angolan Armed Forces used cluster munitions because only they used aircraft during this conflict, unlike the rebel UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) forces.[12]

Stockpiling and destruction

The government has not made an official determination and public announcement that all stocks have been identified and destroyed.

In 2010, a CNIDAH official said that Angola destroyed its stockpile cluster munitions between 2003 and 2010 as part of a joint initiative by the government and the HALO Trust, and said the armed forces no longer hold any stocks.[13] In addition, HALO’s weapons and ammunition disposal teams found and destroyed 51 abandoned explosive submunitions in warehouses.[14] Deminers in Angola have also destroyed Soviet-made RBK 250-275 cluster bombs among abandoned ammunition.[15]

Contaminated by: landmines (massive contamination), cluster munition remnants (light/unclear contamination), and other unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 Deadline: 1 January 2018
(Eight-year extension requested)

Signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Summary

Landmines: The Republic of Angola submitted its second extension request in March 2017 for the period 2018 to 2025. It reported that 103.97km² of confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs) and 141.06 km² of suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) remained to be addressed. A non-technical survey is ongoing to clarify the extent of the remaining challenge.[1] Land release results for 2016 were only available from international operators. They reported cancelation of 136km², reduction of 1.2km² through technical survey, and clearance of 1.2km². A total of 1,350 antipersonnel mines were destroyed during mine clearance and spot task operations. Funding and capacity for clearance continued to decrease in 2016.

Cluster munition remnants: The extent to which Angola is affected by cluster munition remnants remains unclear. A small threat may exist from either abandoned cluster munitions or unexploded submunitions. Two unexploded submunitions were found in 2016.

Recommendations for action

• Angola should continue efforts to work more closely with operators to improve the national mine action database so as to be able to plan effectively and to report accurately on land release.
• Angola should clarify and empower the management structure of the national mine action program, including the roles, responsibilities, and funding of the two mine action entities.
• Angola should increase its international advocacy to attract donors and reverse the decline in international funding for mine action, and to compensate for the loss of national resources due to the financial crisis following the oil price crash in June 2014. It should update its national resource mobilization strategy accordingly, to ensure timely clearance in line with its Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 obligations.

Mine Contamination

In its latest Article 5 deadline extension request submitted in May 2017, Angola reported a total of 1,461 contaminated areas remaining to be addressed, including 1,074 CHAs covering a total of almost 104km² and 387 SHAs covering an estimated 141km².[2] But the results of the nearly completed nationwide re-survey, which have resulted in the cancelation on average of 90% of SHA, suggest that the 141km² of suspected contamination will decrease to approximately 14km² of confirmed contamination.[3] All 18 provinces contain mined areas.

The new estimate of contamination is a considerable decrease from the last reported estimate of almost 129km² of CHA and 356km² of SHA, dating back to mid-2014.[4]

Angola’s contamination is the result of more than 40 years of internal armed conflict that ended in 2002, during which a range of national and foreign armed movements and groups laid mines, often in a sporadic manner. Historically, the most affected provinces have been those with the fiercest and most prolonged fighting, such as Bié, Kuando Kubango, and Moxico. Landmines affect some of the poorest and most marginalized communities in the country, including those experiencing chronic food insecurity.[5] In 2016, remaining contamination was predominately located in rural, underdeveloped areas.[6] Mines continue to have a significant socioeconomic impact for these communities and impede the return of the displaced and block access to land and water.[7]

Much of the land released by mine action is used for agriculture, which is of critical importance for acutely poor communities reliant on subsistence farming. But the lack of safe land also has implications for larger-scale agricultural production as Angola seeks to diversify its sources of national income. The National Intersectoral Commission for Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (Comissão Nacional Intersectorial de Desminagem e Assistência Humanitária, CNIDAH) confirmed in 2017 that the government was developing a new strategy of economic diversification, including expansion of agriculture, livestock, tourism, and mining industries, and that the presence of mines was a serious impediment across many of these areas.[8]

Historically, humanitarian demining efforts in Angola have focused on urban and peri-urban areas due to security concerns in the countryside during the years of conflict, and in response to the needs of growing town-based populations thereafter. The HALO Trust reported in 2017 that many of the cities and towns in Angola had witnessed significant urban expansion, following reconstruction enabled by mine clearance. At the same time, rural populations have been largely left without support to deal with mine contamination, which for hundreds of communities means living beside minefields, with the daily threat of mines, despite the end of the conflict 15 years ago.[9]

In 2017, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) reported additional pressure on land use in Moxico province due to natural population growth and an increase in reverse migration, wherein people are returning to rural areas from coastal areas and the provincial capital owing to the high costs of urban living. The intent of many is to engage in subsistence farming to improve familial food security.[10] Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) reported that released land in its areas of operations was rapidly being put to use by local communities for agriculture and the construction of housing and communal institutions such as clinics, schools, churches, and police stations.[11]

There is also a significant problem with explosive remnants of war (ERW), especially UXO.

Cluster Munition Contamination

It is unclear when, or by whom, cluster munitions were used in Angola during the decades of armed conflict that ended in 2002.

The extent to which Angola is affected by cluster munition remnants also remains unclear. While there are no areas of confirmed contamination, there may remain abandoned cluster munitions or unexploded submunitions. In August 2016, HALO found two Alpha submunitions in Cunene province, which were reported by local residents to a HALO survey team during re-survey operations.[12] A number of damaged bomb casings were also found but according to HALO, it was unclear if the bombs had been fired at a target in the area or if they were jettisoned after an unsuccessful mission and the bomblets scattered on the ground.[13]

In 2011, HALO and the National Institute for Demining (Instituto Nacional de Desminagem, INAD) affirmed that unexploded submunitions remained in Cuando Cubango province.[14] In May 2017, however, HALO reported that the submunition find in 2016 was an isolated case and that it had not encountered anything similar in more than 20 years of survey across eight of Angola’s 18 provinces,[15] apart from 12 unexploded submunitions found and destroyed in 2012.[16]

As of April 2017, the majority of clearance operators had not found cluster munition remnants in more than nine years.[17] In May 2017, NPA and MAG confirmed they did not encounter any cluster munition remnants in their operations in 2016.[18] In June 2016, Menschen gegen Minen (MgM) reported that it had not encountered cluster munition remnants in nearly 10 years of operations, including near Jamba, an area in the southeast of the province where contamination might have been expected.[19]

More typical of cluster munition remnants destruction has been the disposal of old or unserviceable cluster munitions identified by HALO’s Weapons and Ammunition Disposal (WAD) teams in military storage areas, some of which were earmarked for destruction by the Angolan Armed Forces. Between 2005 and 2012, HALO WAD teams reported destroying a total of 7,284 submunitions.[20] In May 2016, HALO indicated that it had not been asked by the military to do any further destruction of cluster munition stockpiles since 2012.[21]

Program Management

Angola’s national mine action program is managed by two mine action structures. The National Intersectoral Commission for Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (Comissão Nacional Intersectorial de Desminagem e Assistência Humanitária, CNIDAH) serves as the national mine action center, reporting to the Council of Ministers. It also accredits NGOs and commercial demining companies. Under the vice-governor of each province, CNIDAH’s 18 provincial operations offices determine annual objectives.

The other mine action body, the Executive Commission for Demining (Comissão Executiva de Desminagem, CED), was established in 2005 to manage Angola’s national development plan and is chaired by the Minister of Social Assistance and Reintegration. It supports mine clearance in areas where development projects are a priority and is the coordination body for activities conducted by the national public operators (the Armed Forces, the Military Office of the President, the National Demining Institute (Instituto Nacional de Desminagem, INAD), and the Police Border Guard).[22]

In 2002, in order to separate coordination and operational responsibilities, Angola established the INAD, which is responsible for conducting demining, verification, and the provision of training under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Assistance and Reintegration.

Strategic planning

In May 2017, Angola submitted a request to extend its Article 5 deadline for a further period of eight years, until 2025. The extension request does not contain a detailed workplan or annual clearance targets, but it suggests that clearance could gradually phase out, with clearance of less-contaminated provinces completed first.[23]

Previously, following a request by the Twelfth Meeting of States Parties, Angola elaborated a workplan for 2014–2017 based on the preliminary results of its national survey, which projected that 327 confirmed mined areas covering about 35.5km² would be cleared by the end of 2017.[24] From March 2012 to April 2017 Angola reported the clearance of a total of 303 areas over 23.8km² and 717km of road by humanitarian operators.[25]

Operators

Three international NGOs conducted humanitarian demining in Angola in 2016: HALO, MAG, and NPA.[26] National NGOs included the Association of Mine Professionals (APACOMINAS), Demining and Humanitarian Assistance Organization (ODAH), Union for the Rights to Education, Health and Safety for the Unemployed (UDESSD), and Associação Terra Mãe (ATM).

According to HALO, from 2008 to 2016, the total number of operational personnel of international and national operators fell by 89%.[27] In 2016, the loss of funding from the European Union (EU) Development Fund for demining impacted all international operators with demining effectively coming to a halt in five provinces (Bié, Benguela, Cunene, Kwanza Sul, and Kwanza Norte).[28]

HALO’s operations have focused on clearing mined areas in four provinces: Benguela, Bié, Huambo, and Kuando Kubango. In 2016, however, its demining activities were largely confined to the central province of Huambo and around the heavily mined town of Cuito Cuanavale in Kuando Kubango province, due to reduced funding and capacity.[29]

In 2016, NPA continued to work in rural, underdeveloped areas of Malanje and Zaire provinces. After the completion of its EU-funded project in Zaire in May 2016, NPA’s operations continued in Malanje only. A landmine incident affecting four children in the vicinity of Malanje town led to five previously unsuspected hazardous areas being identified and ultimately the discovery that areas of three municipalities had never been surveyed, or only to a limited extent due to poor access. This delayed NPA’s plans to move operations to Uige province.[30] NPA worked in partnership with international demining NGO APOPO.[31]

In 2016, MAG continued its systematic re-survey of Moxico province, which it completed in June 2017.[32]

HALO’s capacity in 2016 included an average of 315 staff, a reduction of 85 compared to 2015. It deployed an average of 16 manual demining teams; two combined survey, explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), risk education, and marking teams; and a new mechanical demining team to operate a DIGGER D-250 tilling machine acquired during the year. The loss of EU funding caused a significant drop in capacity in January 2016, with nine manual teams having to be made redundant. Demining operations were stopped in Bié province and partially suspended in Kuando Kubango. Funding was secured from the United States (US) and Switzerland, which enabled 10 manual demining teams and the mechanical team to be deployed in Huambo province, and a further six manual demining teams in Kuando Kubango.[33]

NPA employed an average of 58 deminers in 2016, fluctuating based on project funding between a high of 78 in March–April and a low of 42 in September–October. The organization also deployed a combined team equipped for non-technical survey, risk education, and EOD spot tasks. It maintained a mechanical capacity of two MineWolf machines and four Casspirs and a team of five operators. NPA also continued its partnership with APOPO during the year, which employed eight mine detection rat handlers and two mechanical operators, and four deminers from October 2016 to operate a brush-cutter machine.[34]

In 2016, MAG deployed a total of four manual demining teams, an EOD team, a non-technical survey team, a community liaison team, and a mechanical clearance and support team. However, due to lack of funding, at the end of the year its capacity was reduced by two manual demining teams. It was given a MineWolf 240 by a former international operator, but the machine was only operational for two months before the rainy season curtailed its deployment. MAG reported, though, that based on two months of results, vast improvements in output were expected with its future deployment.[35]

Collectively, the four CED operators—the Armed Forces, the Military Office of the President, INAD, and the
Police Border Guard—are working in all 18 provinces. They are tasked by the government to clear or verify areas prioritized by national infrastructure development plans.[36]

A number of commercial companies[37] operate in Angola and are accredited by and report to CNIDAH, but are mostly employed by state or private companies to verify areas to be used for investment, whether or not they are known to contain SHAs.[38]

Information management

Angola’s mine action program has been plagued with difficulties in information management for more than a decade, impeding efforts to achieve a comprehensive, accurate understanding of contamination. As a consequence, from 2007 to its last reported figures in 2014, Angola has made widely different and conflicting claims of the extent of its mine problem. Two issues are at the crux of Angola’s inability to construct a reliable mine action database: on the one hand, CNIDAH’s database does not match NGOs’ own records, while on the other, CED operators fail to report to CNIDAH in the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) format.[39] Operators have persistently raised concerns about inaccurate data, inconsistency and unreliability of information, internal issues within CNIDAH, and lengthy delays in updating data.[40]

In February 2016, IMSMA New Generation (NG) was installed with the assistance of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD). Subsequently, all operators reported investing significant time and resources working with and supporting CNIDAH to update the database and reconcile inconsistencies between the database and operator records. According to MAG, initially the introduction of IMSMA NG exacerbated delays in updating the database as parties struggled to learn the new system, but later the database began to be managed effectively by CNIDAH with regular updating.[41] HALO questioned the timing of the switch to IMSMA NG, which occurred during the middle of the accelerated country-wide re-survey efforts in preparation for the Article 5 extension request.[42] NPA reported in 2017 that there were positive trends and changes with the launch of the new version and assistance from GICHD to resolve discrepancies. Notably, NPA reported that it expected cancelation of a total of more than 10km² of SHA and CHA in its areas of operations from the database purely through clean-up.[43]

In addition, HALO reported it had provided CNIDAH with a simple means to produce Geographic Information System (GIS)-based minefield maps for all remaining SHAs and CHAs, on a country-wide or province–by-province basis, in PDF formats, a functionality that the new version of IMSMA does not offer.[44] Its results from the re-surveys of Cunene and Namibe were electronically transferred and updated in the IMSMA NG database in February 2017 in collaboration with CNIDAH and the GICHD, along with web-based maps with satellite imagery provided through a HALO partnership with GIS mapping company ESRI.[45]

In Angola’s extension request, CNIDAH reported that efforts were underway to harmonize its database with CED data, but stated that further work on use and management of data was needed with respect to INAD, which is the guardian of the IMSMA database for the CED, the Demining Brigades of the Security Unit of the President of the Republic, the Angolan Armed Forces, and the Angola Border Guard Police.[46]

Quality management

CNIDAH is responsible for undertaking external quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) of mine action activities, including QC of all completed tasks prior to handover of land to beneficiaries.[47]

In 2016, HALO indicated that QA at provincial level was generally weak, due to lack of funding and support. It stated that in its areas of operations worksite visits were minimal, although handover of task sites cleared by HALO had happened informally to allow beneficiaries to make timely use of their land.[48] NPA reported that CNIDAH conducted QC on several of its tasks during the year, while MAG stated that the CNIDAH team visited its operations regularly.[49]

Land Release (mines)

National re-survey

As of May 2017, when Angola submitted its Article 5 deadline extension request, it reported that re-survey had been completed in 12 provinces (Benguela, Bié, Cunene, Huambo, Huila, Kuando Kubango, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul, Malanje, Namibe, Uige, and Zaire) and was ongoing in three (Bengo, Luanda, and Moxico), leaving a further three provinces (Cabinda, Lunda Norte, and Lunda Sul) to be addressed.[50]

While Angola’s latest Article 5 extension request sets the deadline for completion of the re-survey by 2017, as of September 2017, it was unlikely that it would be completed by the end of the year.[51] MAG reported that it began non-technical survey operations in Lunda Sul in June 2017 and Lunda Norte in July.[52]

Land release in 2016 (mines)

In 2016, according to operator records, there was an 11km² increase in the amount of land canceled by non-technical survey from 136km² in 2016 compared with 125km² in 2015. This resulted from accelerated efforts to complete re-survey in preparation for the submission of the extension request. However, there were sharp decreases in the amount of land released through clearance and technical survey during the year, from 7.2km² in 2015 to 2.4km² in 2016, as funding and capacity for clearance continued to decrease.[53]

Survey results for 2016 (mines)

International operators reported canceling just over 136km² of SHA through non-technical survey in 2016, and reducing a further 1.2km² through technical survey, while confirming as contaminated 155 mined areas with a total size of nearly 7.8km² (see table below).[54] This is compared to 2015 when nearly 125km² of SHA was canceled through non-technical survey, 3.1km² reduced through technical survey, and 274 areas with a total size of nearly 18km² confirmed as mined.[55]

Mined area survey in 2016[56]

Note: TS = technical survey

Following the completion of a full re-survey of Huila and Kwanza Sul provinces in 2015, HALO was requested by CNIDAH to re-survey Cunene and Namibe provinces in 2016. According to HALO, both provinces had previously been surveyed by Santa Barbera, a German international organization, during the 2004–2007 Landmine Impact Survey (LIS), and a high number of SHAs were recorded. Despite demining in both provinces in 2007–2015, the national database did not accurately reflect remaining contamination.[57]

Upon conclusion of re-survey of Cunene province, HALO was able to cancel 97% of all previously recorded hazardous areas, reducing the number of areas recorded in the database from 143 SHAs and 25 CHAs to just 35 CHAs with a total size of just under 2.7km². A significant amount of cancelation was due to areas of ERW contamination erroneously recorded as mined areas during the LIS. These were identified and destroyed by HALO. In Namibe province, HALO canceled 92% of all previously recorded hazardous areas, leaving a total of three CHAs covering 0.25km² to be cleared. HALO reported that these three areas were legacy minefields near a government prison facility at Bantiaba, which the provincial government now wished to have cleared.[58]

In 2016, MAG canceled 22.8km² by non-technical survey and reduced a further 0.2km² through technical survey, while confirming as mined nearly 4km².[59] In 2016, NPA canceled 0.07km² through non-technical survey and reduced close to an additional 0.6km² through technical survey.[60]

In 2016, NPA also reported that database clean-up in August 2016 resulted in cancelation of almost 8km² of hazardous area in the provinces of Malanje, Uige, Kwanza Norte, and Zaire. It reported that a further 3.25km² was canceled as a result of database clean-up in 2017.[61]

MAG’s re-survey of Moxico province identified a total of 244 tasks with a total size of more than 13.5km² remaining. This marked the end of a three-year process to re-survey the province in which a total of 221 tasks were canceled and 108km² canceled or reduced.[62]

Clearance results in 2016 (mines)

As set out in the table below, international NGO operators reported clearing a total of just over 1.2km² of mined area in 2016, destroying in the process 1,255 antipersonnel mines, 1,071 antivehicle mines, and 86 items of ERW.[63] This is less than a third of clearance output in 2015, when operators cleared a total of 4.1km² of mined area.[64]

Mine clearance in 2016[65]

Note: AP = antipersonnel; AV = antivehicle

In addition, NPA reported destroying 11 antipersonnel mines, one antivehicle mine, and 88 items of ERW in spot tasks in 2016.[66] MAG destroyed a further 54 antipersonnel mines, 10 antivehicle mines, and 584 items of UXO in EOD spot tasks.[67] HALO reported completing 200 EOD spot tasks, during which 30 antipersonnel mines, seven antivehicle mines, and 1,572 items of ERW were destroyed.[68]

In March 2016, HALO launched a “Mine Impact Free Huambo” initiative, with the aim of completing clearance of Huambo province by 2018. With support from a consortium of partners including the US, Switzerland, and Japan, along with the Canton of Bern and DIGGER Foundation, HALO aimed to deploy 10 demining teams and a DIGGER D-250 tilling machine to complete clearance of Huambo within three years.[69]

Land Release (cluster munition remnants)

No land containing cluster munition contamination was reported to have been released by clearance or survey in 2016.

After finding the two Alpha bomblets in August 2016, HALO was planning to carry out limited battle area clearance around the reported area until fade-out. They were intending to perform this work, subject to funding, in July or August 2017, during Angola’s dry season when items can be more easily seen.[70] The area where the bomblets were found was being re-surveyed by HALO as part of efforts to improve the records in the national IMSMA database. No cluster munition specific survey is planned.[71]

Deminer safety

HALO reported that on 12 April 2016 one of its deminers initiated a Type 72 antipersonnel blast mine while excavating in a minefield in Huambo province, resulting in minor injuries.[72]

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty and in accordance with the five-year extension granted by States Parties in 2012, Angola 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 2018. Angola will not meet this deadline and has submitted a request for a further eight-year extension to its Article 5 deadline, through to the end of 2025.

While the request contains a realistic estimate of remaining contamination, it does not contain a workplan or projections and targets of areas to be addressed per year, or a corresponding detailed budget. It also fails to reflect the updated and improved data from the national database and contains inconsistencies between key figures in the narrative text and in the supporting annexes, as well as calculation errors and lengthy, inscrutable tables of data in Word format.[73]

Angola’s previous extension request submitted in March 2012 was presented as an “interim period” during which efforts would be undertaken to better estimate the extent of the contamination and sort out database issues through a national survey and a mapping project to geographically represent the extent of contamination.[74] The 2012 request listed the size of the country, the different mine-laying techniques used, the fact that the locations and number of mines were not recorded, and lack of resources as the main reasons for Angola’s inability to comply with its initial deadline. Another significant impeding factor noted was Angola’s information management problems.[75] The 2017 extension request also identifies a number of areas which could hamper progress and the achievement of the 2025 clearance deadline, including a lack of financial resources, weak institutional and operational capacity, withdrawal or decrease in capacity of NGOs, and unforeseen outbreaks and/or disasters.[76]

Under the 2017 extension request, nationwide re-survey is to be completed before the end of 2017 and clearance by the end of 2025. However, as of September 2017, it was more likely that the national re-survey could be completed before the end of 2018.

The government of Angola has provided significant funding for demining, but almost exclusively in support of major infrastructure projects, and it has faced severe budget cuts following the crash in oil prices. Clearance of rural areas has typically not been funded by the government, and assistance from international demining organizations has been vital to clear poor and rural areas.[77] Despite not funding mine action by international operators directly in 2016, the government continued to make available in-kind support, such as free use of land for office compounds, and institutional incentives such as tax exemptions on the import of goods.[78] At the same time, operators raised concerns that complicated, expensive, and lengthy visa processes and lengthy and costly bureaucratic procedures for customs clearance could hamper the provision of international assistance.[79] Under Article 6(8) of the Mine Ban Treaty, parties receiving international assistance are required to cooperate “with a view to ensuring the full and prompt implementation of agreed assistance programs.”

Operators have repeatedly raised serious concerns over an apparent lack of political interest or will from States Parties or international donors to support humanitarian demining operations in Angola, perhaps over perceptions about Angola’s status as a middle-income country.[80] However, the relatively brief boom in commodity prices and subsequent national economic crisis brought on by the fall of oil prices, which has resulted in a decrease in government revenue by more than half, severe budget cuts, and double-digit inflation, are jeopardizing the sustainability and existence of demining in the country.[81]

On 8 March 2017, International Women’s Day, HALO launched a project for “100 women in demining in Angola,” seeking to re-start demining in Benguela province, which stopped in 2014 due to lack of funding, despite 80 minefields remaining. In June 2017, training of the first two teams of female deminers began, with funding provided by the Swiss foundation World Without Mines.[82]

Prior to Angola’s submission of its latest Article 5 extension request in May 2017, the various problems with the national database, including the different reporting formats between CNIDAH and CED, have made it difficult to describe in detail and with any degree of accuracy the extent of land released in Angola over the years. Additionally, data from the CED and commercial companies has not been made available. Angola has also failed to submit any updated annual Article 7 transparency reports since 2014.

According to the second extension request, in the period from the submission of its previous extension request of March 2012 through to April 2017, Angola reported that a total of 303 areas over 23.8km² and 717km of road were cleared by humanitarian operators, along with the destruction of more than 15,600 antipersonnel mines, 900 antivehicle mines, and 2,830 items of UXO.[83]

In 2016, the Republic of Angola received US$4.8 million (a 28% decrease from 2015) from four donors.[1]

The United States (US) provided 80% of all international assistance to Angola in 2016. Since 1997, the US has been a major donor in Angola, with more than $124 million provided since then.[2]

Angola did not receive international support for victim assistance in 2016. Instead, all funds were allocated to clearance and risk education activities.

International contributions: 2016 [3]

The government of Angola has contributed nearly $397 million to its mine action program since 2012, an average of $79 million per year and 85% of its total mine action budget. In 2016, it contributed almost AOA4 billion ($24.5 million) resulting in a $29.3 million overall budget.[4]

In 2012–2016, Angola was one of the largest recipients of international mine action funding and received more than $67 million. However, a downward trend has been apparent since 2013 with a continuous decline in international assistance that has dropped from $32.6 million in 2013 to less than $5 million in 2016.

Summary of contributions: 2012–2016 [5]

Casualties Overview

Details and trends

In 2016, the Monitor identified 44 mine/ERW casualties in the Republic of Angola.[1] Casualties were only reported in the provinces where international NGOs are conducting mine clearance: Benguela, Bie, Cuene, Hambo, Malanje, and Moxico. Eleven of the casualties were adults, six men and five women; and 33 casualties were children, 26 boys and seven girls. Five of the casualties in 2016 were deminers.

The 2016 mine/ERW casualty data for Angola was provided by three demining operators: The HALO Trust, Mines Advisory Group (MAG), and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA). All three stated that they believed that the data was fairly accurate within the provinces where they worked, however the distances and logistical issues meant that some data was missed.[2] HALO also noted that “anecdotally, the heavy toll of landmines in Angola is well known. However, at national and provincial levels Angola has always lacked an effective mechanism for systematic recording of accident data and as a result its impact is underestimated.”[3] The 44 mine/ERW casualties identified in 2016 represented a slight increase from the 40 identified in 2015, but remained a significant increase compared to the 11 casualties identified in 2014.[4]

HALO conducted a desk review of all mine/ERW incidents in the country between 1975 and 2015, combining media reports with their own survey and data records. In 2016 and 2017, HALO updated its findings based on resurvey of mined areas. As of 31 March 2017, HALO has identified 1,651 casualties from 815 mine/ERW incidents in nine provinces.[5] While not representative of all casualties in those provinces over the time period, the review indicates that antivehicle mines are the most common cause of injury and that the fatality rate from explosive devices was higher than previously believed. The review also indicates that the years with the most mine/ERW casualties were 2002 and 2003, when Angolans returned to their homes after the conclusion of the civil war.[6]

The national mine action center (Comissão Nacional Intersectorial de Desminagem e Assistência Humanitária, CNIDAH) planned to continue its survey of survivors, but this has been suspended since 2014.[7] The survey would help to identify the exact needs of survivors, as the census data is not disaggregated by type of injury, age, or gender. As of the end of 2014, CNIDAH registered 9,165 survivors in the provinces of Benguela, Cabinda, Cunene, Huambo, Huila, Malanje, Namibe, Uige, and Zaire as part of its national mine/ERW victim survey.[8] No update was provided to the Monitor in 2017

The Angolan government conducted a nationwide census in 2014, according to which, 88,716 people were living with a disability caused by landmines or other explosive devices. Survivors were identified in all 18 provinces with one-quarter living in Luanda. Mine and ERW survivors represented one-eighth of the total population of persons with disabilities, with 2.5% of the Angolan population identified as disabled.[9] Angola had previously estimated that there were 70,000 to 80,000 mine survivors in Angola, representing 78 percent of all persons with disabilities. Approximately two thirds of survivors being concentrated in Luanda, with others found in the mine-affected provinces of Bié, Huambo, Malange and Moxico.[10] In September 2004, the government reportedly stated that 700 people had been killed and 2,300 injured in landmine incidents “over the last six years.[11] Between 2000 and 2016, the Monitor identified  698 mine/ERW casualties, including 269 people killed, 973 injured, and six for which the outcome was unknown.

Cluster munition casualties

CNIDAH’s national victim survey identified at least 354 cluster munition survivors, all in the province of Huambo.[12] The 2014 and 2015 Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor reports included these figures. Subsequent information has not reconfirmed this data and calls this total into question. The survey of survivors in Huambo was conducted by the Institute for the Support of Vulnerable Children (Instituto ao Apoio a crianca Vulneravel, IACV), which is not a mine action organization, and the survey questionnaire used by the IACV did not specifically identify cluster munitions as a possible cause of injury.[13] In 2015, HALO conducted a desk review of all known landmine and ERW incidents from 1975 through 2015. While the review was limited to HALO’s area of operations, including Huambo Province, in the course of the review it could not identify any cluster munition victims.[14] NPA compiled a desk review on potential cluster munition contamination in Angola but did not record any cluster munition casualties, despite documenting clearance and identifying some unexploded cluster munitions.[15] As such, reports of cluster munitions victims in Angola could not be confirmed as of May 2017.

Action points based on findings

• Fully fund the orthopedic centers, including provision of materials, so survivors and persons with disabilities can obtain prosthetic and orthotic devices.
• Mainstream landmine survivor assistance into disability services.
• Support the effective implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), ratified in May 2014, including through the rapid establishment of the national council for persons with disabilities.

Victim assistance commitments

The Republic of Angola is responsible for a significant number of landmine survivors, cluster munition victims, and survivors of other explosive remnants of war (ERW) who are in need. Angola has made commitments to provide victim assistance through the Mine Ban Treaty.

Victim Assistance

The total number of mine/ERW survivors reported for Angola is 88,716.[1] As of December 2014, 9,165 survivors had been surveyed and their needs identified in the first nine (of 18) provinces surveyed as part of the national mine action center’s (Comissâo nacional intersectorial de desminagem e assistência humanitária, CNIDAH) intended national victim survey.[2]

Victim assistance since 2015

As of the end of 2014, mine/ERW survivors with disabilities in nine of Angola’s 18 provinces had been surveyed as part of the National Victim Survey and Needs Assessment. The survey was launched in October 2010 with the purpose of identifying and registering mine and cluster munition survivors with disabilities, to understand their living situation, and to determine how to promote their socio-economic inclusion. By 2016, results of the survey were yet to be translated into programming and the survey was limited only to landmine and ERW survivors.

Through the Comprehensive National Victim Assistance Action Plan 2007–2011, CNIDAH aimed to support the development of a national survivor network, but no progress was made toward this objective within the timeframe of the plan due to insufficient funding and organizational problems. Angola’s victim assistance program is defined by the National Integrated Plan for Mine Victim Assistance 2013–2017 (PNIAVM), which CNIDAH is implementing.

Victim assistance in 2016

The economic crisis in Angola was caused by the global decline in oil prices, and led to a dramatic reduction in the Angolan government’s revenues, which has slashed the funds available for government-supported survivor assistance. The result has been a near shut-down of most survivor assistance programs, including those led by CNIDAH. Some programs are still available from domestic and international NGOs, but their reach is limited. The government refurbished some rehabilitation and orthopedic clinics, but failed to furnish them with the supplies and materials to deliver services.

Due to a lack of availability of services and accessibility of those services, only about 30% of those who need assistance from state-provided services, such as physical rehabilitation, schooling, training, or counseling, are able to obtain them.[3]

Assessing victim assistance needs

No victim surveys or survivor needs assessments were reported in 2016. Participants in a national meeting on mine action in June 2017 supported recommendations for completion of the project to register mine victims and the creation of a national database.[4]

Victim assistance coordination[5]

CNIDAH’s victim assistance coordination efforts in 2016 were severely limited by funding constraints and limited to reporting and information sharing. CNIDAH’s victim assistance team sees its role as limited to landmine and ERW survivors and therefore separate from other disability programming. CNIDAH is responsible for the implementation of the National Integrated Victim Assistance Plan 2013–2017 (PNIAVM), but with little support for landmine victim-only programming, the implementation has stalled.[6] CNIDAH members meet with partner organizations, both service providers and disabled people’s organizations (DPOs), to review their programs and monitor the impact for the beneficiaries—but these activities are solely informational.[7]

In 2013, Angola developed the National Plan of Integrated Action on Disability 2013–2017 (PNIAVM) as part of its national development plan “Angola 2025.” The disability plan included the objective of establishing a national council for persons with disabilities, and is designed to raise the profile of disability issues within the executive branch of the government and to improve coordination on disability issues among all government ministries.[8] The National Council for Persons with Disabilities was established in 2014 under the coordination of MINARS, however CNIDAH is not a member of the council.[9] In 2016, MINARS proposed the creation of the National Social Council that would combine three existing councils, for children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, into a single council to reduce duplication and redundancy between the three councils.[10]

Angola did not report on victim assistance activities at the 2016 Mine Ban Treaty Meeting of States Parties or intersessional meetings in 2017. As of 1 July 2017, Angola had not submitted a Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report since 2014.

Inclusion and participation in victim assistance

Landmine victims participate in processes that concern them as they are included in “coordination of awareness activities and landmine victim registration,” and through the NGO the Angolan Federation of Associations of People with Disabilities (FAPED).[11] In 2016, the Angola National Disability Association (ANDA) attended the 9th Disabled People’s International World Assembly.[12]

Service accessibility and effectiveness

Victim assistance activities[13]

Physical rehabilitation

Only one of Angola’s prosthetics workshops was able to produce new prosthetic devices in 2016, the facility in Bie province, due to the lack of raw materials available in Angola. The governor of Bie prioritized the funding of supplies for the clinic in his province, the delivery of which were made by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which enabled the facility to continue to manufacture new devices. Other centers’ services were reduced to carrying out repairs, depending upon the severity of the problem with the prosthetic, and the provision of physical rehabilitation, which is also limited by the availability of equipment.[14]

The Dr. Agostinho Neto Medical and Physical Rehabilitation Center in the city of Huambo was faced with a lack of materials, resources, and international support, relying only on the minimal funds from the general state budget. The structure was reported to be “obsolete” and had a lack of technicians: only 18 compared to an estimated need of 40 professionals for the “hundreds of people” who use the center.[15]

The Angolan government renovated the prosthetic centers in the Uige and Huila provinces but the lack of supplies for those centers has prevented them from fulfilling their mandate.[16]

There are no private prosthetic centers in Angola; Angolans who can afford to do so travel to Europe or elsewhere to obtain new appliances. The Lwini Foundation’s “Passo Seguro” project purchases all of its prosthetic devices from Iceland and sponsors the travel costs of the prosthetists.[17]

Physical rehabilitation services were only available from eight of the 11 national orthopedic centers. Human resources are not evenly distributed in the country or distributed according to need, so while the centers have the combined capacity to serve 215 persons per day, the actual number of beneficiaries is much lower.[18] In addition to the public sector facilities, several civil society organizations including the AACVDA, the Institute for the Support of Vulnerable Children (Instituto ao Apoio a crianca Vulneravel, IACV), the Evangelical Baptist Church of Angola, and the Lwini Foundation, provided mobility devices and access to healthcare for landmine survivors and persons with disabilities.

There is no domestic production of wheelchairs, crutches, or other mobility devices, most are imported from China. With support from the government, ANDA purchases these devices and distributes them directly to prosthetics centers, hospitals, and other associations working with persons with physical disabilities.[19]

Psychological support

No advances where identified in the availability of psychological support in 2016. The need for psychological support was recognized by the IACV and the Evangelical Baptist Church who sought funds in 2015 for psychological support as part of a comprehensive package of victim assistance services in Huambo and Uige provinces, respectively.[20]

Economic and social inclusion

Few changes were identified in the availability of or access to economic inclusion activities in 2016.

The Lwini Foundation provided integration kits to survivors to supplement vocational training courses, enabling participants to start businesses or take on formal employment.[21]

Disabled Angolan army veterans receive pensions and other support from the Ministry of Former Combatants and Veterans of the Homeland. Programs operate nationally and on a provincial basis and include economic reintegration programs.[22] Disabled veterans from the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale were given agricultural lands and economic inclusion opportunities through the creation of agricultural cooperatives.[23]

ANDA launched the “Vem Comigo” project to offer economic alternatives to begging.[24]

Laws and policies

Two new laws created hiring quotas for persons with disabilities and guarantees for physical accessibility.[25] However, national laws preventing discrimination against persons with disabilities are not fully enforced. The National Council for Persons with Disabilities is responsible for monitoring violations of the law and the Ministry of Assistance and Social Reintegration coordinates programming.[26] Physical accessibility of buildings is a priority for both the government and ANDA. The new airport for Luanda, still under construction, will be fully accessible and the Ministry of Construction will release guidelines for accessible housing.[27]

Angola ratified the CRPD on 19 May 2014, and recently submitted its first annual report to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.[28]