Democratic Republic of the Congo

In 2024, national operator SYLAM, which is mentored by The Development Initiative (TDI), completed the long-delayed survey in Aru (a territory in Ituri province), identifying new AP mined areas, including nine that were cleared during the year. The remaining four confirmed hazardous areas (CHAs) were added to the national database. Meanwhile, the Congolese Mine Action Centre (CCLAM) re-surveyed areas in Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu to update contamination data from the 2013 national survey. The survey reportedly cancelled 6,235m2, although the CCLAM has not been able to share the list and respective size of the areas cancelled. DanChurchAid (DCA) received five task orders that turned out to be battle area clearance (BAC); and as such, their outputs are not included in the land release totals of this report, except for one area, Mpoyi, where it found and destroyed one anti-personnel (AP) mine.

Ongoing armed conflict, which intensified in 2024 and early 2025, disrupted mine action efforts and increased explosive remnants of war (ERW) contamination. The Alliance Fleuve Congo/Mouvement du 23 mars (AFC/M23) armed group’s
capture of Goma and Bukavu led to the temporary suspension of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) and other operators’ activities, limiting them to non-technical survey (NTS), marking of unexploded ordnance (UXO), and risk education. Simultaneously, a sharp drop in funding—due to the end of South Korean (KOICA) support and the suspension of United States (US) funding—threatened to bring all mine action operations to a halt in 2025.

In this context, DR Congo submitted a three-year Article 5 deadline extension request in order to address 31 remaining hazardous areas, carry out survey in Dungu (a territory in Haut Uele province), and strengthen national explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and improvised explosive device disposal (IEDD) capacities. The request, which seeks a new deadline of 31 December 2028, was due to be considered at the Twenty-Second Meeting of States Parties in December 2025.

• DR Congo should complete the national survey and strengthen efforts to accurately identify and classify all contaminated areas.

• DR Congo should align its work plan with available capacity and develop a detailed resource mobilisation plan to meet its 31 December 2028 deadline.

• When survey is conducted, DR Congo should report on areas cancelled through NTS and reduced through technical survey (TS), submitting the list of areas in its official documents submitted in accordance with the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC).

• DR Congo should ensure the accuracy and consistency of its mine action information management system and its consequent reporting under APMBC, regularly updating its database and disaggregating reported contamination. As it stands, information included in 2025 extension request and draft Article 7 report covering 2024 do not align.

• DR Congo should continue improving the designation of hazardous areas in its national database by type of ordnance, clearly distinguishing battle area and mined area.

Click here to download the "Clearing the Mines 2025" report for Democratic Republic of Congo.