Crisis Prevention and Recovery

Supporting the Peace Process through Demining: Rapid Landmine Impact Survey in Senegal

Contributed by: Russel Gasser (UNMAS QAM), Archie Law (UNDP Mine Action Regional Advisor) and Pascal Simon (UNDP CTA Senegal)

The landmine problem in Senegal is largely the result of fighting in the Casamance region between the Senegalese army and the Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de Casamance (MFDC), particularly after 1997. Although the exact scope of the mine problem remains unknown, the military estimates that about 1 400 square kilometers of land are mined or suspected to be mined: 80 percent in the Ziguinchor region of Casamance and 20 percent in its Kolda region. Approximately 250 000 people are exposed to the danger of mines, representing 38 percent of the population of Casamance. According to Handicap International the mine problem in Senegal can be characterized as “few mines, but a big impact.” The mine problem seriously affects the economic development of the Casamance region, having a significant impact on agriculture, fishing, transport of goods and services, and tourism. It also has an impact on trade between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau .

In December 2004 the parties to the conflict in Casamance reached agreement on a peace process and the provisional accords specifically included a reference to the necessity for demining. Clearance of suspected mined areas in order to permit the return of refugees and IDPs and to give access to agricultural land, infrastructure etc, is widely considered to be an essential and urgently required component of a more permanent end to the conflict, and hence the economic development of the region which lags behind the rest of the country.

Scoping the Impact of Landmines

In order to have a clearer picture of the extent of the landmine problem, UNDP, along with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the French NGO Handicap International paired up to implement the rapid landmine impact survey. The survey aims to document the scope of the landmine contamination, the localization of this contamination as well as its socio-economic impact on affected communities. The information collected during the survey will be used to develop a strategy and an operational plan. Information related to socio-economic impact will be very useful for planning and prioritizing mine action operations, especially demining. The survey teams were comprised of men and women, and always included people with the three major local languages (as well as French), where possible ages were mixed as well. The survey includes a Steering Committee, which provides Senegalese ownership of the survey and provides guidance on general issues with the survey. The membership of the committee includes the National Commission for implementing the Ottawa Convention (known as the National Mine Action Commission), representatives of MFA? Ministries, the armed forces, civil society, the MFDC, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, and the donor community. As the steering committee provides an opportunity for members of both sides to discuss common approaches to mine action, it indirectly provided a particularly useful informal peace building mechanism.

The survey used a process where individual interviews were conducted in communities that involved a sample of community members whilst taking gender and other cross cutting issues into account.
After the individual interview, the community is then brought together for a group interview to synthesise the individual interviews. This approach has been useful as it is not generally culturally accepted to publicly disagree with a senior figure such as the head of a village. Given the prevalence of powerful families in a village, setting out individual views first and then using these statements to inform a group position is more useful and may be less conflictive. As the project is currently finalizing the information collection, survey teams have visited around 300 communities and have found that approximately 40% of those communities can be considered as affected by landmines contamination.

Next Steps

The survey in Casamance has encountered a number of challenges which include “white areas” which are not accessible and cannot be surveyed. These small areas – mostly on or close to the southern border with Guinea-Bissau, and also a few near to the northern border with Gambia – are either MFDC encampments or weapons dumps. These areas are very likely to have had mines planted around them in order to restrict the mobility of combatants leaving the bases. UNDP’s partners in the Casamance believe that if the peace process continues to make progress and mine clearance activities start and are seen to be beneficial to the local community, then the MFDC may be willing to open access to these White Areas thus making a major contribution to peace building efforts in the region. The survey will account for these areas and also make provision for incorporating the possible results of further future survey activity if and when these areas become accessible. The survey is expected to be completed in mid 2006 and should provide an ideal entry point for further mine action activities and broader CPR efforts from UNDP in Senegal.

For additional information, please contact Mr. Pascal Simon (pascal.simon@undp.org), UNDP Chief Technical Advisor, Senegal.