Polisario ban anti-personal mines

Geneva, 05/11/2005 (SPS) Polisario Front commits to a total ban on the use of anti-personnel (AP) mines in signing Geneva Call’s Deed of Commitment and will destroy 6.000 anti-person landmines in its possession, reported the Saharawi delegation that took part to the signing act that took place in Geneva on Thursday.
"Given the current deadlock in the peace process and the threat of renewed hostilities, this decision from the Polisario Front to unilaterally renounce the use of AP mines is a significant gesture" said Geneva Call President, Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey, in a press release publicised on Thursday."It reflects the will of the Polisario to actively participate in eradicating the landmine scourge and to seek a peaceful resolution of the conflict. We hope that Morocco will reciprocate and soon accede to the Ottawa Convention", she hoped."The Polisario Front believes that landmines are unacceptable weapons in any conflict. It is intolerable that after 14 years of the ceasefire between both parties, landmines continue to kill and maim people, livestock, and divide Saharawi families" declared Saharawi Minister for Defence, Mohamed Lamine Bouhali, during the ceremony of signature, according to the press release."Landmines also constitute a serious obstacle to the future development of our country" he emphasised, saying that his country is "willing to cooperate in all fields of humanitarian mine action and to destroy our stockpiles". He urged the international community "to assist us in this endeavour", knowing that more than 525 inhabitant of the zone have lost one or more parts of their bodies because of landmines, while some 40 persons were killed since 2001.Geneva Call is an international humanitarian organisation constituted in the year 2000 by members of the International campaign against landmines. The ONG is dedicated to engaging actors which are not eligible to sign the Ottawa Convention in the fight against anti-personnel mines. It provides a mechanism, complementary to the Ottawa Convention, by which these actors can adhere to the mine ban norm through their signature of the Deed of Commitment. To date, 27 movements have signed the Deed of Commitment.
Rabat, which is not a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty of 1997 that bans AP mines, as installed millions mines along the Moroccan wall of more than 2.000 kilometres, which is dividing Western Sahara and its people in two from the north to the south. (SPS)010/090/666/TRD 04103 nov 05 SPS