IRIN Focus on demining

The clearing of mines in a 100-km radius around the town of Faya Largeau in northern Chad is due to begin in February, Lorne O’Brien of the Chad Mine Action programme told IRIN. The cost of the programme, which entails getting rid of some one million anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, is estimated at US $2.75 million. The United States, Canada, Japan, Italy, Britain, UNDP, Chad’s government and the NGOs Handicap International and HELP are among the backers of the initiative - which includes training Chadian sappers and other land mine technicians and improving medical facilities in Faya Largeau. According to a project document IRIN received from Chad Mine Action, a comprehensive survey of the country reveals that mines comprise about one-tenth of the unexploded ordnance in Chad. Mine Action says detecting their presence will be difficult due to the “drifting sands and rainfall which has covered or moved many” and the non-existence of coherent minefield records in the country. The mines are buried in the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti (BET) region in the north and to a lesser extent in the Salamat, Guera and Moyen Chari regions to the south. The demining programme is aimed at enabling an Integrated Rural Development Project funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) to take off. The IDB-backed project is currently blocked by the presence of mines and other unexploded ordnance, according to Mine Action. The mines have been laid on and off since 1973, according to O’Brien, who is the manager of the UNDP-sponsored programme. The majority were laid in 1987-1989, during a war between Chad and Libya, while others are a legacy of fighting between Chadian factions in 1989-91. Recently, old mines collected from fields laid by the Libyans have been relaid by rebels on roads in the Tibesti region in the north, O’Brien said. Prior to the actual demining, a survey of the country is being conducted by Handicap International in conjunction with the Ndjamena-based Haut Commissariat National de Deminage (HCND - National High Commision for Demining), O’Brien said. The role of the HCND, which was set up by the government, is largely one of policy-making, liaison, coordination, resource mobilisation, technical aid and quality insurance. The HCND will not be directly involved in executing demining operations, but rather will cooperate with other implementing partners. The programme is “one of the few, if not the first” which has not arisen from a UN peacekeeping mission, according to the project document. This means, Mine Action says, that the programme did not inherit military personnel and an established national demining capacity. This deficiency, Mine Action says, has also meant that the international community has been “virtually unaware” of the problem of mines and unexploded ordnance in Chad. “The Chadian programme started with nothing,” it adds. In 1997, Chad’s government asked UNDP to help coordinate a comprehensive mine action programme. UNDP then turned to the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS). Since then, progress has been considerable and the operational plan for this year covers a wide spectrum of activities, including the establishment of an information management system for Chad Mine Action with a $66,000 grant from Canada, Chad Mine Action says. The Chad Mine Action programme has also entailed the training, equipping and deployment of at least 80 Chadian deminers under the operational control of the Regional Mine Action Centre in Faya-Largeau. The town’s medical support facilities for mine victims will be allocated some US $700,000. “Faya Largeau currently lacks adequate medical facilities to sustain mine action activities,” Chad Mine Action says.