In October 1992 the United States Congress declared a one-year moratorium on the export of mines which was subsequently extended into 1996. In the previous ten years, the US State Department delivered licenses for the export of mines worth about $980,000 under ten sales contracts.
The US moratorium and increasing media coverage of the carnage caused by mines helped raise awareness of the problem of mine exports in late 1993. The United Nations General Assembly, at its Forty-eighth session, adopted three major resolutions, including one calling for Member States to agree to a moratorium on the export of anti-personnel mines that pose grave dangers to civilians. Such moratoria have now been enacted by over 25 countries and the European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling for a European moratorium.
The growing number of moratoria and the United Nations resolutions send a strong political message to other governments to take similar steps. The severity of this message is all the more apparent as the international community witnesses the deplorable increase in land mine use against civilan populations which disrupts the delivery of humanitarian assistance and social services, inhibits economic development of entire regions, cripples agricultural production, depopulates large areas and prevents the return of refugees and displaced populations.
While a legally binding global prohibition on anti-personnel mine transfers is desirable, it would not entirely solve the problem of trading in mines. It is clear from the experiences of the former Yugoslavia, Somalia and Afghanistan that wherever there is enough demand, the clandestine or semi-clandestine trade is there to meet it. The only effective way to stop trade in mines is to halt production.
THE SECRET WEAPON
The arms trade is shrouded in secrecy, and trading in mines is no exception. There is a remarkable lack of information and awareness in this respect. More than 50 countries are thought to produce between 500,000 and one million mines per year; of these countries, 35 are known exporters. There are currently several hundred types of mine in production by approximately 100 companies worldwide. The exact numbers cannot be determined because rudimentary devices can be produced easily without being registered, licensed or declared, and even sophisticated mines can be copied in other countries or produced in secret. When the export of mines from one country to another is banned, producers often deal through intermediaries or set up production in third countries to circumvent regulations and avoid public opposition. It is therefore most important that any moratorium on the export of mines should be a comprehensive one. Companies producing mines are generally small but do not rely on mine sales alone for their income. Production is thus easily shifted from one country to another.
Technology has been transferred from the industrialized Western countries to other parts of the world with mines now being increasingly assembled by local or regional subsidiaries. For example, explosives have been shipped by French and Italian manufacturers to Singapore, where the State industry produces its own mines. "Evidently," says one journalist specializing in the arms trade, "the use of subsidiaries has involved a highly developed infrastructure covering credit, financing, shipping and so on. Trade in commodities such as tobacco, grain or coffee has often been used as a cover. " As public opinion against mines has grown in Western countries, production has increasingly been transferred elsewhere, in particular to Singapore.
As with most arms deals, mine sales are generally conducted with the utmost confidentiality. Because of the low price of anti-personnel mines, it is economically advantageous for mine producers to manufacture as many of the devices as possible. They generally research and develop the mines for the use of their own countries' armies, which store them as strategic stocks. Once this market is saturated, such companies must turn to exports to keep their staff busy, remain competitive and continue profitable production.
"Unidentified" producers include State production units in some countries, dozens of companies engaged in their own secret production and guerrilla movements making their own mines. Mines produced by "unidentified" companies are often copies of versions registered elsewhere.
Although mines are clearly considered weapons and are subject to export licensing procedures, they are nevertheless traded in very large numbers either officially or unofficially. One indication of the extent of this trade is the wide range of models found in various conflicts. Recent reports by Africa Watch and the United States Congressional Research Service counted no less than 37 different types of land mines from at least eight countries in Angola. These countries include Belgium, China, the former Czechoslovakia, Germany, Italy, South Africa, United States, and the former Soviet Union. A similar variety has been found in Somalia and Cambodia, together with mines manufactured in Bulgaria, China, the former East Germany, Hungary, Viet Nam and the former Yugoslavia.
PRICES
Anti-personnel mines are not only cheap, they are also very easy for weapons plants to manufacture. According to quotes from weapons producers, average prices for anti-personnel mines vary from $3 to $15 per unit. In practice the price of a mine can vary widely; it may be extremely low, as surplus stock can be sold far below cost price and sales are sometimes subsidized by the government of the selling country as part of a military assistance programme.
Models in the lower price range include Chinese models at $3 to $4, the Brazilian APNM AE T1 at $5.80 and the Belgian NR 25, which sells for $6.70 in lots of at least 5,000. Prices can be even lower for newer and more sophisticated products. In one quoted sale, the United States Department of Defense paid $11.21 per unit for one million M77 scatterable anti-personnel/anti-tank mines, which are delivered by the new Modular Pack Mine System (MOPMS).
Anti-tank mines command far higher prices than anti-personnel devices. Some of the more modern and sophisticated anti-tank mines from the United States and Europe sell for thousands of dollars each. The most expensive known Asian mine is the STM-I plastic anti-tank mine from Chartered Industries of Singapore, which sells for $78.