Evidence of new landmine use in Tripoli

Credible evidence has emerged showing that one or more militia groups have used antipersonnel landmines during the armed conflict involving a Zintan alliance and the Libya Dawn alliance at Tripoli Airport in July and August 2014, Human Rights Watch has said.

The human rights organisation was unable to determine which groups were responsible for laying the mines and urged the Benghazi-led, Islamist ‘Libya Dawn’ (Fajr Libya), which now controls Tripoli Airport, to destroy remaining stockpiles and ensure mine clearance according to international standards.

Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch and chair of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the Nobel Peace Co-Laureate, called for all parties to order their forces to stop using landmines and destroy any stocks immediately.

Human Rights Watch urged Libya to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, which comprehensively bans antipersonnel mines.

Alnabaa – a private Libyan satellite TV network – and Al Jazeera aired video footage they say was filmed in September at Tripoli International Airport that shows Libya Dawn fighters clearing at least 20 T-AB-1 antipersonnel mines and at least 1 PRB M3 antivehicle mine. The mines were allegedly laid during fighting between forces of the Libya Dawn alliance, led by militias from the coastal city of Misrata, and a coalition of militias from the inland mountain town of Zintan.

The Zintan alliance, which included the Qaaqaa, Sawaeq and Madani brigades, controlled Tripoli airport from the end of 2011 until August 24, when Libya Dawn seized control after five weeks of intense fighting. At the time of fighting, a Zintani unit known as the Airport Security brigade controlled the airport and its vicinity.

A senior United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) official in Libya informed Human Rights Watch on November 1 that the UN has no "confirmed information" on the mine use at Tripoli Airport. Representatives of international mine action operators working in Libya told Human Rights Watch that they could not comment on the use of mines at Tripoli Airport as their staff have not been able to access the site.

On October 29, Human Rights Watch spoke by telephone with the commander of the Misrata Revolutionaries engineering unit within the Libya Dawn alliance, which has been responsible for clearing landmines and other unexploded ordnance in Tripoli since August.

The commander said his unit on August 24, the day of the airport takeover, had discovered a mined area of the airport. He said a pickup truck mounted with anti-aircraft weapons entered the “old airport area” and detonated a mine, killing one fighter from the Misrata Umm al-Maarek brigade, Mohamed Abubaker Ali, and wounding several others.

The commander informed Human Rights Watch that his unit has found and cleared approximately 600 landmines since August 24, mostly T-AB-1 antipersonnel mines, from the Tripoli International airport compound.

The T-AB-1 antipersonnel mines are believed to be of Brazilian origin, but lack specific factory markings. Pro-Gaddafi forces also extensively used this type of mine during the 2011 conflict.

PRB-M3 antivehicle mines can be equipped with a sensitive fuse that can cause them to explode by a person’s presence, proximity, or contact, posing a risk to civilians on foot as well as in vehicles. When used with a sensitive fuse, the PRB-M3 meets the definition of an antipersonnel mine under the Mine Ban Treaty. Another variant of the PRB-M3 mine, equipped with an auxiliary fuse and an anti-handling device, can be fitted to the mine so that it will explode if anyone tries to move it.

Both types of mines consist almost entirely of plastic, making them extremely difficult for deminers to detect with metal detectors, and endangering people trying to clear the mines.

The Libya Dawn commander, a retired officer in charge of the engineering unit since the 2011 revolution, told Human Rights Watch that he believes the mines were laid at the “old airport area” in an indiscriminate manner about 10 to 15 days before the August 24 takeover of the airport. He accused militias from Zintan, which were in charge of the airport in this period, of having laid the mines. The “old airport area” was not known to be mined prior to the 2014 fighting.

In a telephone interview with Human Rights Watch, the mayor of Zintan, Mustafa al-Barouni, denied that the Zintan-led militias had used antipersonnel or antivehicle mines. Al-Barouni said the Airport Security brigade was at the airport at the time of the fighting, together with people who helped “defend the airport.”