Summary: State Party Cameroon ratified the convention on 12 July 2012 and adopted national implementing legislation in December 2016. Cameroon has attended meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2017. Cameroon voted in favor of a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2018.

Cameroon provided an initial transparency report for the convention in August 2014, confirming that it has not used or produced cluster munitions. It has retained a stockpile of six cluster munitions and 906 submunitions for training purposes.

Policy

The Republic of Cameroon signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 15 December 2009, ratified on 12 July 2012, and the convention entered into force for the country on 1 January 2013.

Cameroon’s National Assembly adopted legislation on 14 December 2016 providing penal and fiscal sanctions for violations of the prohibitions of the convention. [1] Cameroon has also reported its Penal Code and other decrees and existing laws under national implementation measures applicable to the convention. [2] Cameroon said in September 2017 that it intends to establish a “national committee on weapons” to oversee implementation of the new law. [3]

Cameroon provided an initial Article 7 transparency report in August 2014, and submitted updated reports in 2015, 2016, and most recently in April 2017. [4] The 2016 national legislation mandates the Minister of Defense and Minister of Foreign Affairs to provide annual Article 7 transparency reports by April 1 of each year, detailing the type, quantity, and lot number of cluster munitions in Cameroon’s possession. [5]

Cameroon participated in the Oslo Process and joined in the consensus adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Dublin in May 2008, but could not sign the convention in Oslo in December 2008 due to challenges in securing authorization. [6] It signed the convention at the UN in New York in December 2009 and ratified on 12 July 2012, after adopting ratification legislation in March 2011. [7]

Cameroon has participated in every meeting of the convention except the Eighth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018. [8]

In December 2018, Cameroon voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution urging implementation and universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. [9] Cameroon has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.

Cameroon has voted in favor of UNGA resolutions expressing outrage at the use of cluster munitions in Syria, most recently in December 2018. [10]

Cameroon is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Interpretive issues

Cameroon has elaborated its views on certain important issues relating to the interpretation and implementation of the convention. In 2011, the Ministry for External Relations stated, “Cameroon has never produced, used, or stockpiled, let alone served as a platform for the transit or transfer of cluster munitions. It therefore approves a) the prohibition on the transfer of cluster munitions; b) the prohibition on the assistance in joint military operations; c) the prohibition on foreign stockpile of cluster munitions; d) the prohibition on investments in cluster munitions.” [11] Cameroon’s 2016 implementation legislation states that the president must approve any transit of cluster munitions on its territory. [12] It authorizes the transfer of cluster munitions for the sole purpose of destruction. [13]

Use, production, and transfer

Cameroon has stated on several occasions that it has not used or produced cluster munitions. [14] It imported or otherwise acquired a stockpile of cluster munitions produced in France in 1983, according to the lot numbers. [15]

Stockpiling and stockpile destruction

In August 2014, Cameroon reported a stockpile of six BLG-66 Belouga cluster bombs and 906 “grenades” or explosive submunitions. [16]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Cameroon must destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 January 2021.

Cameroon never indicated that it planned to destroy the stockpile, but instead has stated via the initial transparency report and subsequent annual updates that it was retaining the stockpile for research and training purposes. [17]

Retention

Cameroon has retained six BLG-66 Belouga cluster bombs and 906 “grenades” or explosive submunitions for research and training purposes. That number has not changed since 2014, indicating that Cameroon has yet to consume or otherwise destroy the munitions in research or training exercises.

Cameroon’s 2016 implementing legislation permits the retention of a “limited” number of cluster munitions and submunitions for training related to the detection and destruction of cluster munitions. [18] The law does not elaborate what it means by “limited.”

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Treaty Status | Management & Coordination | Impact (contamination & casualties) | Addressing the Impact (land release, risk education, victim assistance)

Country summary

The Republic of Cameroon originally declared that there were no mined areas under its jurisdiction and control, and its first Article 5 deadline expired in 2013. However, since 2014 victim-activated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have caused casualties, particularly in Cameroon’s northern districts along the border with Nigeria. The extent of contamination is not known but is believed to be small. Cameroon has yet to report and clarify on the extent of contamination from improvised mine types.

The total number of mine/explosive remnant of war (ERW) casualties in Cameroon is not known. Between 2014 and 2019, the Monitor recorded 161 mine/ERW casualties. The majority of the casualties were caused by improvised mines, although media reports generally did not specify the initiation mechanism of the devices used, which could clarify if they were in effect antipersonnel mines.

Cameroon does not have a functioning mine action program. Members of the country’s security forces have been regularly trained in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) by France, Russia, and the United States (US). Cameroon did not report any risk education activities in 2019. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) continued to support the only hospital providing surgical services in Logone-et-Chari department.

Treaty status

Treaty status overview

Management and coordination

Mine action management and coordination

Cameroon does not have a functioning mine action program.

Impact

Contamination

Landmine contamination

Cameroon originally declared that there were no mined areas under its jurisdiction and control. However, since 2014 mines of an improvised nature have caused casualties, particularly in Cameroon’s northern districts along the border with Nigeria, as Boko Haram’s military activities escalate. However, it is not clear whether these meet the definition of an antipersonnel mine.

The extent of mine contamination in Cameroon is not known. Cameroonian military officials reported in 2015 that “huge” numbers of landmines had been planted by Boko Haram along Cameroon’s Nigerian border, posing a threat to civilians, livestock, and soldiers. They also reported recurrent use of mines along the road between Kerawa and Kolofata, targeting army vehicles.[1]

In 2019, there continued to be a number of reports of casualties from mines of unspecified types.[2]

There are no legacy minefields in Cameroon, and incidents relating to ERW are reported infrequently.[3]

Casualties

Casualties overview[4]

Casualties in 2019: details

The Monitor recorded 43 mine/ERW casualties in Cameroon in 2019, which represents an increase by almost half from the 29 casualties recorded for 2018. In 2019, casualties from improvised mines continued to be reported, mostly in the Far North region, and several mine incidents were reported in the Southwest region. These incidents were linked to fighting between Cameroon’s government forces and Boko Haram along the border with Nigeria. The initiation mechanism of the devices used was generally not specified.[5] There were reports of similar incidents during the first quarter of 2020.[6]

There is no estimate of the total number of mine/ERW casualties in Cameroon. Since 2014, the Monitor recorded at least 161 mine/ERW casualties, of which 76 were killed and 85 were injured. Many of the incidents were linked to Boko Haram activities in the Far North region of Cameroon. However, most media reports did not specify the type of mine causing the incident. Several incidents caused by improvised mines type were reported in 2014, and between 2017 and 2019.[7] UNMAS identified use of improvised mines in Cameroon since 2016.[8]

Addressing the impact

Mine action

Operators and service providers

Clearance operators

UNMAS reported in April 2017 that Cameroon’s Military Engineer Corps has official responsibility for clearing munitions and that an EOD capacity within the gendarmerie was being created to address the mine threat. A capacity for battle area clearance (BAC) and EOD spot tasks was also reported to be required.[9]

From June 2018 to June 2019, over 1,400 members of Cameroon’s security forces were trained in EOD by the francophone international police training network (Réseau international francophone de formation policière, Francopol).[10] This followed an earlier training of 25 Cameroonian soldiers by the French and the US armies in Level 4 EOD, from March to April 2018.[11] Since 2015, Cameroon was reported to have received demining/EOD training and equipment from Russia and the US.[12]

Clearance

Land release overview

It is not known if and to what extent mine clearance or EOD has been undertaken in affected areas. At the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 2019, Cameroon appealed for international support to increase its mine clearance capacity and to enable the country to conduct technical surveys.[13]

Risk education

Cameroon did not report any risk education activities in 2019.

In its 2016–2017 protection strategy, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identified the need to assess the situation related to mines, including those of an improvised nature, and to develop a risk education strategy in the Far North region. The strategy was to benefit refugee and displaced populations, as well as host communities.[14] In the Far North, Boko Haram’s attacks have displaced thousands of people since 2013. Numbers of displaced people have increased from 60,000 in December 2014 to 300,000 in December 2019.[15]

Victim assistance

In 2019, the ICRC continued to support one hospital in northern Cameroon, although the precarious security situation and a government-imposed curfew limited access to health services.[16] The hospital in Mada was the only facility providing surgical services in the Logone-et-Chari department. The ICRC also provided wound-dressing kits to two primary health care centers in northern Cameroon.[17]

Policy

The Republic of Cameroon signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997 and ratified it on 19 September 2002, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2003.

Legislation to enforce the antipersonnel mine prohibition domestically has not been enacted. Cameroon submitted its initial Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 report on 5 December 2005 and a subsequent report in August 2009 but has not provided any further annual reports.

Cameroon destroyed its stockpile of 9,187 antipersonnel mines in April 2003. Cameroon apparently retains 3,154 “inactive mines” for training purposes.[1] It has not provided further reporting on the use of retained mines, as agreed by States Parties.

Cameroon attended the Sixteenth Meeting of States Parties in Vienna, Austria in December 2017 but did not make any statements. It did not attend the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2018, nor the treaty’s intersessional meetings in June 2018.

Cameroon is party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and its Amended Protocol II on landmines, but not CCW Protocol V on explosive remnants of war.

Use

Cameroon has previously stated that it has not used, produced, or exported antipersonnel mines and will not facilitate their transit through its country.[2]

Non-state armed groups

In both 2018 and early 2019, UNMAS identified use of pressure plate-initiated improvised mines by Boko Haram in northern Cameroon.[3] However, it is unclear if these improvised mines were detonated due to the pressure exerted by weight of a person or a vehicle. Such use was previously identified in 2016 and 2017.[4]

Most recently, a soldier and two civilians were killed on 15 September 2017 by a landmine planted by Boko Haram between Abdouri and Woulba, in the country’s northern region.[5]

The use of victim-activated improvised mines has regularly been reported in the northern extreme of the country, where it shares borders with Nigeria and Chad, though several of the incidents reported as “landmines” in the press appear to be antivehicle mines or remote-controlled improvised explosive devices.[6] In May 2015, Cameroon’s Defense Minister, Edgard Alain Mebe Ngo’o, stated that the Cameroonian military’s efforts to secure the country's northern border with Nigeria are being hampered by landmines planted by Boko Haram.[7] Boko Haram has been documented to manufacture and use victim-activated improvised explosive devices across the border in Nigeria.[8] In 2015, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported the presence of landmines in Fotokol and Mayo Moskota, both in Logone et Chari department.[9]