By Sami Zaptia.
London, 10 June 2020:
Libyan National Army commander Khalifa Hafter should publicly renew his 2011 pledge to stop using landmines and instruct fighters under his command and foreign fighters supporting the LNA to stop using landmines and destroy any stocks in their possession, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said last week.
It said that the LNA, and its affiliates fighting for control of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, appear to have used antipersonnel landmines and booby traps there in late May 2020.
“Any use of internationally banned landmines is unconscionable,” said Steve Goose, arms division director at Human Rights Watch and chair of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the Nobel Peace Co-Laureate. “Those fighting in Tripoli should halt using landmines and start clearing them to avoid further harm to life and limb.”
Fighters affiliated with the LNA commanded by Haftar, including foreign forces, appear to have laid mines as they withdrew from southern districts of the city. The LNA and affiliated forces have been fighting the internationally recognized Tripoli-based Libyan government since April 2019.
HRW reminded that during the 2011 revolution against Qaddafi, Haftar pledged that armed forces under his command would never use landmines because the indiscriminate weapons cannot distinguish between fighters and civilians. Haftar should publicly renew this pledge and instruct fighters under his command and foreign fighters supporting the LNA to stop using landmines and destroy any stocks in their possession, HRW said.
On May 25, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) expressed concern at reports that residents of Tripoli’s Ain Zara and Salahuddin neighbourhoods have been killed or wounded by improvised explosive devices placed “in/near” their homes. A relative stated that Zakaria al-Jamal died in an explosion on May 22, while checking his family’s home in Salahuddin. A graphic video posted on Twitter on May 25 shows a man named Muhammad Daleh who was killed and whose brother was lying heavily injured on the ground after reportedly trying to dismantle explosive devices in Tripoli, HRW added.
HRW said that Tripoli-aligned forces shared photographs on Twitter on May 29 showing four types of antipersonnel landmines manufactured in the Soviet Union or Russia and claiming they were “laid by the Wagner mercenaries,” a Kremlin-linked private military company that supports the LNA in the Ain Zara, Al-Khilla, Salahuddin, Sidra, and Wadi al-Rabi districts of Tripoli. Other photographs shared on social media show mines equipped with tripwires and mines used as triggers to detonate larger improvised explosive devices. Video footage shows various explosive charges used to booby trap homes, including antivehicle mines, paired with various types of fuzes and a mix of electronic timers, circuit boards, and modified cell phones.
These devices were assembled and used in a manner intended to be detonated by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person, Human Rights Watch said. They are able to incapacitate, injure, or kill one or more people. Such victim-activated explosive devices are prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty, regardless of whether the antipersonnel mine was assembled in a factory or improvised from locally available materials, HRW said.
Libya’s governance has been divided between the two entities engaged in an armed conflict since April 2019: the Tripoli and the rival Interim Government affiliated with the LNA in eastern Libya. Despite an arms embargo, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, and Russia have provided the LAAF with military support. Foreign fighters from Chad, Sudan, and Syria as well as fighters from a Russia-supported private company also support the armed group. Tripoli’s main military backer is Turkey, with additional support from foreign fighters from Chad, Sudan, and Syria, HRW explained.
Libya is not one of the 164 nations that have committed to a comprehensive prohibition of antipersonnel mines, clearance, and victim assistance. The previous Qaddafi government expressed interest in the Mine Ban Treaty but made no effort to join it. After Human Rights Watch documented landmine use by Qaddafi forces in 2011, Haftar and other commanders of armed groups committed to never use landmines and to provide mine clearance, risk education about the dangers of the mines, and victim assistance, HRW reported.
HRW said the Qaddafi government acquired and stockpiled millions of landmines that were subsequently seized by anti-government fighters and civilians after storage facilities were abandoned or left unsecured in 2011. The antipersonnel mines discovered in Tripoli in May are of Soviet and Russian origin and include POM-2, PMN-2, and olive drab-coloured MON-50 mines that were not previously recorded in Libya, suggesting these landmines may have transferred into the country in recent years.
HRW reminded that Libya is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war dating back to World War II. Since then, landmines and explosive remnants of war in Libya have caused at least 3,252 casualties, according to Landmine Monitor.
