Angola has most landmine casualties

Angola suffered the most landmine casualties in Southern Africa last year, with 660 people - most of them civilians - killed or injured, according to a new report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The ICBL's "Landmine Report for 2002", said although the number of casualties in Angola dropped by 21 percent over the 840 cases reported in 2000, it illustrated the challenges facing the country as it attempts to rebuild after almost three decades of civil war. Angola is not a known producer or exporter of landmines, but 76 different types of anti-personnel mines manufactured in 22 countries have been found or reported. Angola, however, has become the latest country to ratify the Ottawa Convention to ban landmines. The convention aims to stop the use and production of mines and gives Angola until 1 January 2007 to destroy its stockpiles. Angola's April ceasefire between the government and former rebel UNITA forces has led to the reactivation of the power-sharing Lusaka Protocol, which includes a demining programme, vital for the safe return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the delivery of food aid. The ICBL report said IDPs were the victims in up to 75 percent of all mine incidents. The provinces recording the highest number of cases were Malange with 23 percent, Uige 15 percent, Moxico 14 percent, Kuando Kubango 10 percent and Huambo with 9 percent - figures that map the course of the country's bitter conflict. Casualties continue to be reported in 2002, with 44 people known to have died so far, the government has said. According to the ICBL report, one in every 415 Angolans has a mine-related injury. As an indication of the impact of the weapons, the report said 5,593 prosthetic feet were produced at workshops supported by Handicap International last year, and over 6,000 crutches handed out by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Organisations like the World Health Organisation, a Norwegian NGO the Trauma Care Foundation, and the ICRC, are among the agencies that have provided training and support to government hospitals. The Ministry of Education has also included landmine awareness education in its syllabus. Across Southern Africa, landmines are the legacy of the region's civil wars. They were sewn indiscriminately, with few charts kept by government and insurgent forces to pin-point their whereabouts. In Mozambique, landmines and unexploded ordnances affect 123 of the 128 districts, and all 10 provinces in the country. They continue to claim victims in the rural areas, and the threat of their presence keeps large tracts of land out of productive use. Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa are among the five African countries to have completed the destruction of their landmine stockpiles under the Ottawa Convention. Zambia, however, has said it would keep its entire stock of 6,691 anti-personnel mines for training purposes, the report said. The ICBL's "Landmine Monitor" was created in 1998 to monitor and document the compliance of countries' to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, and the humanitarian response to the global landmine crisis. Full report