Urgent demining programme needed for development

Angola needs an extensive and urgent demining programme to kick-start development and reconstruction after 30 years of war, national demining coordinator Balbina Silva said on Friday. "Mines in Angola can be considered an ecological catastrophe that demands serious action," she told a conference on demining and development in Johannesburg, hosted by the South African Institute of International Affairs. "We should not forget that Angola has about 4 to 5 million landmines and about 80,000 people have been mutilated by [them]." "Angola's peace is possibly one of the most remarkable events for Southern Africa and it creates opportunities for regional cooperation and development ... The 30-year war was the main reason for our poverty, food and housing shortages, and the numbers of mutilated and displaced people, and it was one of the principle factors of instability in the region," she said. Demining in Angola would make an enormous contribution to the country's development. However, extensive local, regional and international investment was needed, said Salva, the national coordinator of Angola's Inter-sectoral Commission for Demining and Humanitarian Assistance (CNIDAH). "The negative social impact of landmines on people can be seen at almost all levels of Angolan society," she said. "It can be seen in agriculture, in increased transport costs, in repatriation and rehabilitation needs, psychological problems and the destruction of family structures." Letting people return to a normal life, rehabilitating community infrastructure and rectifying economic imbalances, were the government's priorities. "It [demining] should be addressed from a human perspective and is very important in the context of resettlement and social reintegration," she added. Aksel Steen-Nissen, programme manager for Norwegian People's Aid (NPA), which has been active in Angola for several years, said deminers faced many difficulties in the vast country with its 18 provinces and estimated 13 million population. His organisation's main priority was helping the safe return of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees and identify agricultural zones and access routes. Steen-Nissen said NPA's main obstacles were locating existing mine maps, a lack of government cooperation and communication, devastated bridges, outdated equipment and donor fatigue. He said NGOs also faced logistical problems in getting equipment through customs "and nobody seems able to help us." Responding to criticism of Angola's demining progress, Artur Verissimo, the head of Mozambique's National Institute for Demining said: "Instead of us judging the Angolan government so early, we should be trying to help." He followed by inviting Angola to seek assistance from Mozambique. Mozambique, which has mines in all its provinces is on track with its commitments to stockpile destruction and landmine clearance. Both Mozambique and Angola are among 125 countries which have ratified the Ottawa Convention which calls for a global end to the stockpiling, production and use of landmines.