Updated: October 1, 1998

Mudanayaal Waad Salaamantihiin

Somali Campaign to Ban Landmines (SCBL) is part of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) who is the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and compromises two national networks, 15 NGO and more than 30 volunteers, deminers, humanitarian & development workers, business people, religious and opinion leaders in Somalia & "Somaliland".

The SCBL notes that:

Þ Landmines and Unexploded Ordinances (UXO) are an abhorrent and indiscriminate weapon; they cannot be aimed; they can be triggered by adults, children or animals; they recognize no cease-fire and may go on maiming and killing decades after hostilities cease; and, those most likely to encounter landmines are the rural (peasant farmers and nomads) poor who live far from adequate medical facilities. Þ Landmines and UXOs commonly kill or inflict ravaging wounds, usually resulting in traumatic or surgical amputation; mines drive dirt and bacteria deep into the tissue, causing rapid spread of infections; and, those who survive the initial blast require antibiotics, large amounts of blood, extended hospital stays, long-term physical therapy, and costly prosthetic devices; Þ Most of the regions in Somalia & "Somaliland" are lacking Rehabilitation Centres and facilities to adequately treat and rehabilitate victims of landmines, UXOs and bullets. Þ Over 1.5 million mines still lie in the ground in all over the country; mines kill or maim a person in Somalia & "Somaliland" every day; Þ Thousands of new mines are deployed every month despite Somalia & "Somaliland" is under the UN Army Embargo. Þ The use of landmines continues despite the provisions of the recently revised Landmines Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons that may be Deemed to Excessively Injuriously and to Have Indiscriminate Effects; Þ Recently 122 Nations signed the UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.

Therefore, the SCBL calls to Somali "Governments" and political groups:

Þ To Ban the use, production, stockpiling, and transport of Anti-Personnel Landmines (APM) on the area of your jurisdiction or under control of your authority. Þ To endorse the call for a total ban on the production, stockpiling, trade and use of landmines in Somalia & "Somaliland"; Þ To urge Regional Administrations and your allies and friends to actively engage in efforts to ban the production, use and trade of landmines as a priority regional and part of the agenda of the Somali peace initiatives; Þ To urge donors to support the ban of landmines, mine awareness, and accelerating humanitarian demining. Þ To encourage Regional Administrations, NGO as well as Donors effort to support programs of assistance and training in the treatment, rehabilitation and vocational education of landmine victims. Þ To facilitate the freedom of movement for humanitarian organization's staff, their goods and services.

Best Regards