Team:Edinburgh/mapxmloman



Oman <![CDATA[The Sultanate of Oman has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. In November 2007, an official told the ICBL that the decision about accession was at cabinet level. An ICBL delegation visiting Oman in October 2007 was assured in meetings with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Oman would seriously consider accession, and these officials expressed the hope that this would happen soon. In April 2007, an Omani military official told the ICBL that Oman already basically abides by the provisions of the Mine Ban Treaty, and that “something will happen soon” regarding accession.

Oman has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines, but has imported and used them in the past. Omani officials have on several occasions stated that Oman has a limited number of stockpiles used only for training purposes.

Oman has a residual problem from landmines and explosive remnants of war — primarily unexploded ordnance — as a result of earlier internal conflict. The extent of the problem is not clear, although it was described by a US army deminer as “low to moderate” in 2001. From 1964 to 1975, antipersonnel and antivehicle mines were laid in the Dhofar region in the southwest of the country by the Royal Army of Oman and by a communist separatist group, the People’s Front for the Liberation of Oman. Most of the minefields were not recorded and those that were recorded may have shifted due to heavy rains in the region. However, according to a Ministry of Defense official who attended the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in April 2007, “almost 99%” of mined areas had been cleared and all remaining suspected hazardous areas were marked and fenced.

]]> <![CDATA[]]>