Cameroon

In January 2025, and for the first time in 15 years, Cameroon submitted an Article 7 report under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC), covering calendar year 2023. The report identified 11 districts affected by improvised explosive device (IED) explosions. Cameroon reported 120 incidents for 2023 and informed Mine Action Review of 77 recorded incidents in 2024, including 19 victim-activated IEDs that may constitute AP mines. The North-west region of the country was the most affected by explosive ordnance. Cameroon does not yet have a national mine action authority (NMAA) or formal mine action programme, but it has taken steps to establish a national coordination framework and designated two national focal points to oversee mine action efforts in the meantime. Since 2014 it has worked to strengthen its counter-IED capacity.

• Cameroon should establish an NMAA to coordinate efforts to address threats posed by IEDs, including improvised mines, and take urgent steps to minimise harm to civilians.

• Cameroon should conduct investigations and surveys to confirm or refute whether the IED explosions involved improvised AP mines as defined by the APMBC.

• Cameroon should request an interim Article 5 deadline to conduct the necessary survey and assess the extent of improvised AP mine contamination.

• Cameroon should continue to include in its Article 7 reports details of the location of any mined areas under its jurisdiction or control. It should also begin reporting on the status of programmes for the destruction of all AP mines, including those of an improvised nature.

• Cameroon should put in place a systematic data collection mechanism and a centralised database to consolidate information on explosive ordnance incidents and casualties, disaggregating AP mines of an improvised nature from other IEDs. An improvised anti-vehicle (AV) mine sensitive enough to be detonated by a person should be recorded as an improvised AP mine.

Click here to download the "Clearing the Mines 2025" report for Cameroon.