New US funding for landmine clearance by Norwegian Peoples Aid

The United States has granted US $500,000 to Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA), the largest landmine clearance organisation in Angola.

A spokesman for NPA told IRIN on Thursday the funds would enable it to embark on an urgently required landmine clearing programme in and around the Moxico provincial capital of Luena.

He said Luena was crammed with displaced people who had fled fighting that ensued after a new government offensive against the rebel UNITA movement which started last October causing influxes of refugees into neighbouring Zambia.

“There have been many requests for assistance with demining in Luena from the government, NGOs and the local authorities,” he said. “We are therefore very pleased to receive this timely assistance from the US Department of State and we hope it will lead to further support.”

He said NPA would start a two to three-week training course for a team of 50 de-mining specialists. They would then start detecting and clearing mines up to a radius of 5 km from Luena city in an operation expected to last 12 months. There are an estimated 70,000 internally displaced people in Moxico Province, according to the latest UN figures, tens of thousands of whom are camped in and around Luena.

“We have asked UNDP in Angola to support us with equipment and then we will be able to start the Luena operation. It will also involve clearing key roads and access routes to water sources as part of socio-economic assistance to allow the free flow of people and goods.”

He said NPA required three four-wheel drive vehicles and a lorry to get the operation going. “If we do not get the vehicles from UNDP we will try to re-allocate some of our own vehicles from other areas of the country,” he said.

NPA is engaged in the selection and integration of former staff from the national institute for the removal of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs).