Mozambique landmines wash into Malawi

A team of American landmine experts is helping Malawi to assess the danger posed by explosives being washed down-stream from neighbouring Mozambique, African Eye reported on Friday. Widespread rains in the region have resulted in increasing reports of landmines killing and maiming civilians in Malawi. The American team’s visit coincided with yet another mine explosion in the heart of the country’s commercial city, Blantyre, where two people were killed and six were injured in Mbayani township.

The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), said on Thursday the experts were in the country at the request of various interested parties. “We are still lobbying the government to understand that landmines are a problem in Malawi,” said the centre’s spokesman, Undule Mwakasungula. “Malawi signed the international landmines treaty and is obliged to assist in de-mining, even if our own territory is not infested.” A defence spokesman said de-mining Malawi would be like “searching for a needle in the ocean” because the landmines were being washed down-stream from Mozambique after that country’s 16-year civil war.