On 24 October 1995, after
meeting with then UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali, Mozambican
President Chissano announced that Mozambique was prepared to play a leading role
in the international effort to ban landmines. Speaking at the United Nations
the following year, Mozambican Foreign Minister Leonardo Simão announced
his government’s support for a worldwide ban on the production,
stockpiling and distribution of landmines. In December 1996, Mozambique also
supported UN General Assembly resolution calling for negotiation of an
international agreement banning antipersonnel mines.
On 26 February 1997, during the Fourth International NGO Conference on
Landmines, held in Maputo, Foreign Minister Simão announced
Mozambique’s immediate ban on the use, production, import and export of
antipersonnel mines.[1]
Simão stated that “The government took its decision because of the
mobilization work undertaken by the Mozambican Campaign Against Landmines
(CMCM). The campaign collected 100,000 signatures from citizens who think that
antipersonnel mines should be banned throughout the world. They spoke with me.
The Head of State received them. They were received by other members of
government. They told us what the aims of the Campaign were, and we thought we
should support them.”[2]
Following its decision to ban landmines at home, the Mozambican government
continued to play an important role in ensuring African support for the Ottawa
Process leading up to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty signing. Mozambique participated
in the Organization of African Unity conference on landmines in Kempton Park,
South Africa, and endorsed the “Plan of Action” and subsequent OAU
resolution on landmines. Mozambique endorsed the September 1997 Declaration by
the heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in
Lilongwe, Malawi. Mozambique endorsed the Brussels Declaration and was a full
participant to the Oslo treaty negotiations. It has supported the relevant UN
General Assembly resolutions.
Mozambique signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 3 December 1997. In a statement to
the signing ceremony, Foreign Minister Simão said “... there is a
need to translate this commitment and resolve into concrete actions, the
implementation of which will enable this important instrument to enter into
force, as soon as possible, so that the monitoring mechanism which have already
been agreed upon can be put in to practice, and our expected results can be
achieved.”[3] The instrument
of ratification was signed by Foreign Minister Simão in Maputo on 21
August 1998 and deposited four days later, making Mozambique the thirty-third
country to ratify.
Mozambique is not a signatory of the CCW. According to an official of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, the government was actively
considering acceding to the CCW, but this was superseded by the Mine Ban Treaty.
However, the official indicated the Mozambican government’s intention to
participate in preparatory meetings for the upcoming CCW review conference in
2001.[4]
Production and Transfer
Mozambique is not a known producer or exporter of
antipersonnel landmines. There are no reports of landmines being officially
transferred in Mozambique since the 1992 General Peace Accord. However, there
have been reports of mines being transferred as part illegal trade in light arms
operating throughout Southern Africa.
Throughout the many conflicts in Mozambique, mines were being imported by
different parties to the conflicts. Landmines produced in the following
countries have been found in Mozambique: USSR, Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Yugoslavia, China, Italy, Belgium, France, U.K., Portugal, U.S., South Africa,
Rhodesia, Zimbabwe, Brazil,
Austria.[5]
Stockpiling
While its intention to comply fully with the terms
of the Mine Ban Treaty has been repeatedly confirmed by the Government of
Mozambique, information on the size and content of its mine stockpiles, or plans
for their destruction, has not yet been released. In response to a request for
information on Treaty implementation from the Canadian Government, the Commander
General of Police in Mozambique reported that 10,986 mines had been found and
destroyed by police forces between 1995 and
1998.[6] An official of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has indicated that further stocks
will be destroyed during the May 1999 First Meeting of States Parties to the
Convention in Maputo and that details on remaining stocks will be available at
that time.[7]
There are few reports of new mine use since the 1992 General Peace Accord.
In Still Killing: Landmines in Southern Africa, Human Rights Watch
reports some isolated incidents of landmines being planted since
1992—mostly relating to local disputes or the activities of poachers and
bandit groups.[9]
In 1964, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) began an armed
struggle for independence from Portuguese colonial rule. The use of anti-vehicle
mines began in October 1965 in the provinces of Niassa and Cabo Delgado. In
December 1966, the Portuguese military claimed to have captured 157 foreign
manufactured mines from Frelimo which increasingly mined roads north of the
Lúrio river in the late 1960s. The conflict escalated in early 1969 when
Frelimo opened a new front in Tete province in an effort to bypass Portuguese
attempts at containment in the north of Mozambique, and to threaten
Portugal’s plans to complete the Cahora-Bassa hydroelectric project.
Portuguese colonial authorities boasted that the complex was surrounded by the
“largest minefield in Africa,” with some 80,000 landmines in it. As
antipersonnel mines were not arriving from Portugal in the number sought by
military commanders, additional stocks were purchased from South Africa.
The war of independence came to a close in April 1974 with the relinquishing
of all Portuguese colonies following the fall of the regime in Lisbon. Frelimo
formed a transitional government in September 1974 and led the country to
independence in June 1975, but peace was short-lived. In 1977, the guerrilla
armed resistance, the Mozambique National Resistance (Renamo), was created by
the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Office in response to Mozambique’s
support for Zimbabwean nationalist guerrillas. Rhodesian military began training
Renamo combatants in landmine use for route denial and ambush by mining major
roads, supply routes and rural tracks. Airstrips were also an important target
of Renamo mining.
Government forces began using mines to protect border installations against
Rhodesian incursion in 1977. Many of the Frelimo technicians had been trained in
mine laying during the national liberation struggle by Tanzania, China and
Algeria. Government forces primarily used defensive mining for the protection
of key economic installations and strategic locations. Just before Zimbabwe
gained independence in 1980, the management of Renamo was transferred to South
Africa’s Military Intelligence Directorate which used Renamo for
destabilizing Mozambique in response to its support of the African National
Congress (ANC). The transfer marked a turning point in the conflict, which soon
began to escalate.
Frelimo laid large defensive minefields along the border with South Africa in
the early 1980s. As well, both government and Renamo forces scattered landmines
in a random fashion. Government patrols laid mines around their positions when
they stopped at night and many of these mines were left. In many other cases it
appears that mines were used deliberately to terrorize civilian communities and
to deny them access to fields, water and fishing. Rhodesian and South African
forces planted mines in cross-border raids in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Tanzanian troops laid defensive minefields around their bases in Zambezia
province. Malazian troops planted mines along the Nacala railway and Zimbabwean
regular forces mined the Beira and Limpopo transport corridors.
Pumped up with military supplies from South Africa, Renamo’s strength
increased between 1980 and 1982 from less than 1,000 to 8,000 fighters. The
first combat areas were Manica and Sofala provinces, but Renamo quickly expanded
its military operations throughout most of the country. Renamo’s strategy
involved targeting civilian infrastructure such as transportation links, health
clinics and schools. Renamo’s aim was the economic devastation and the
isolation of government forces to garrisons and towns. Landmines were used
extensively as part of this campaign.
By late 1988 it had become clear that there could be no military solution to
the war. After several failed diplomatic initiatives and false starts, direct
peace talks began in July 1990 and culminated in the General Peace Accord signed
on 4 October 1992. Under the terms of the accord, demobilized Renamo forces and
government troops were to form a joint army. A 6,400 person United Nations
Operations in Mozambique (UNOMOZ) force oversaw the two year transition period.
At the end of 1994, the UN withdrew following peaceful multiparty elections in
October through which Frelimo retained control of government and Renamo became
the official opposition.
Mine Action
Under UNOMOZ, the first national plan for mine
clearance was drafted in January 1993, barely two months after the signing of
the General Peace Accords. At that time, the primary objective of demining
efforts was to clear major roads to allow for the delivery of humanitarian
relief supplies and the repatriation of refugees and internally displaces
persons, estimated at 1.5 and 4.2 million people
respectively.[10] The security
environment remained unstable during this first phase of demining, and
institutional and political constraints further hampered the progress of mine
clearance.
At the time of UNOMOZ’s departure at the end of 1994, the UN, donor
community and Mozambican authorities had still not reached agreement on
institutional arrangements for national mine clearance. By then, a tacit
arrangement had emerged whereby Mozambique was divided into three main demining
territories: HALO Trust and the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), two
independent donor-funded NGOs, operated in the northern and central regions
respectively, while the U.N.-supported Accelerated Demining Program (ADP)
operated in the south. This arrangement has continued.
While the HALO Trust, NPA and UNDP/ADP continue to oversee the majority of
humanitarian demining throughout Mozambique, there are also a number of private
operators undertaking both humanitarian and commercial mine clearance. In 1995,
the Government of Mozambique created the National Demining Commission which
continues to experience difficulty in fulfilling its role as national
coordinator of mine action in Mozambique.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, between 1993
and the end of 1998, funding for demining in Mozambique exceeded US$116 million.
Corrected CND data shows that this sum funded the clearance of 189 square
kilometers working out at an average cost of sixty-two cents per square meter or
$6,176 per hectare in which 54,468 mines and 455,496 UXO and small arms
ammunition at a cost of $227 per item.
Table 1 Clearance of Roads, Electric pylons, Railways and areas.
Demining
Km of
Area
Km of
Area
Km of
Area
Area
Cumulative
Organisation
Road
m2 (a)
Pylon
m2 (b)
Rail
m2 (c)
m2 (d)
m2(a+b+c+d)
ADP
3,749,492
3,749,492
NPA
314
2,514,080
8,041,036
10,555,116
HALO
257
3,086,430
2,928,228
6,014,658
SCS
460
8,669,300
2,337,942
11,007,242
Mine-Tech
1,905
15,078,268
1,907
76,265,000
90
2,260,000
19,292,011
112,895,279
HI
68,584
68,584
CIDEV
24
193,240
23
413,455
49,400
656,095
Afrovita
319
5,096,000
5,096,000
Krohn
340,940
340,940
Mine-tech mech
249,400
249,400
Mechem (Te-Li)
1,648,523
1,648,523
Ronco
2,176
17,408,000
17,408,000
Mechem
23
184,000
184,000
Lonrho/Mechem
2,061
16,408,000
16,408,000
GSG
190
1,520,000
2,500
1,522,500
Total
7,729
70,157,318
1,930
76,678,455
90
2,260,000
38,708,056
187,803,829
Source: CND, with LM editors corrections in italics
National
The sole Mozambican government input into demining comes from the CND into
which the Mozambican government theoretically puts U.S.$500,000 per year. In
reality only between a half and two thirds of this budget is ever
realized.[12] Compared to donor
funding for other programs, health and education for example, the funding for
landmine action has been relatively high.
Table 2: Donor funding for mine action in Mozambique 1994 – 2001
DONOR
FUNDING
%
USA
18,215,300
19.49
Norway
12,997,000
13.91
Canada
8,504,000
9.10
EU
7,624,000
8.16
Germany
5,860,000
6.27
France
5,596,000
5.99
Denmark
5,400,000
5.78
Sweden
5,000,000
5.35
Finland
3,300,000
3.53
Austria
2,550,000
2.73
Australia
2,480,000
2.65
Switzerland
2,337,000
2.50
Mozambique
2,000,000
2.14
South Africa
2,000,000
2.14
Netherlands
1,900,000
2.03
New Zealand
1,400,0001
1.50
Ireland
1,267,000
1.36
Italy
1,200,000
1.28
Belgium
1,127,000
1.21
UNICEF
1,122,000
1.20
Japan
1,000,000
1.07
UK
574,000
0.61
Total
93,453,300
DONOR
FUNDS
%
Norway
12,000,000
18.48
USA
11,550,000
17.79
EU
7,624,000
11.74
Denmark
5,400,000
8.32
France
4,719,000
7.27
Sweden
4,000,000
6.16
Austria
2,550,000
3.93
Switzerland
2,200,000
3.39
Germany
2,100,000
3.23
South Africa
2,000,000
3.08
Netherlands
1,900,000
2.93
Canada
1,669,000
2.57
Finland
1,600,000
2.46
Ireland
1,267,000
1.95
Italy
1,200.000
1.85
Australia
1,030,000
1.59
Japan
1,000,000
1.54
UK
574,000
0.88
UNICEF
541,000
0.83
TOTAL
64,924,000
IMPLEMENTOR
FUNDS
%
NPA
20,100,000
21.51
ADP
20,030,000
21.43
CND
10,267,000
10.99
Ronco
10,000,000
10.70
HI
5,134,000
5.49
SCS+
4,813,000
5.15
Other
4,548,000
4.87
Mechem
4,200,000
4.49
HALO
3,791,000
4.06
CIDEV
3,158,000
3.38
Power
2,925,300
3.13
Military
1,960,000
2.10
Mine-Tech
1,952,000
2.09
MgM
1,500,000
0.54
CMCM
75,000
0.08
TOTAL
93,453,300
IMPLEMENTOR
FUNDS
%
NPA
16,950,000
26.11
ADP
11,430,000
17.61
Ronco
10,000,000
15.40
Other
5,761,000
8.87
SCS + Afrovita
4,813,000
7.41
Mechem
4,200,000
6.47
HALO
3,791,000
5.84
CIDEV
3,158,000
4.86
HI
2,869,000
4.42
Mine-Tech
1,952,000
3.01
TOTAL
64,924,000
Company/NGO
$/m2
$/ha
Mine-Tech
0.02
173
Mechem
0.23
2,303
SCS
0.44
4,373
Ronco
0.57
5,744
HALO
0.63
6,303
NPA
1.61
16,059
ADP
3.05
30,484
CIDEV
4.81
48,133
HI
41.83
418,319
Average
5.91
59,099
The HI figure reflects the start-up costs of a new program which was based on
training and demonstrating a new paradigm of clearance. HI never aimed to clear
large areas at a competitive cost. NPA also operate more than just mine
clearance: they perform complimentary long-term rural development programmes
alongside the mine clearance activities. Mine-Tech, Mechem and SCS brought in
ready-trained teams from Zimbabwe and South Africa with the specific aim of
low-cost area clearance. Mine-Tech and Mechem use dogs and
mechanically-assisted techniques to speed up work and lower costs on area
clearance. Despite Ronco’s employing expatriates and having significant
start-up costs, Ronco used dogs to clear roads with a low intensity of
mines.
Of the NGOs, ADP is expensive because of higher labor costs in Maputo
province, possibly because of their relatively expensive expatriate advisors
from Australasia. The high figure for CIDEV, a French company, reflects their
high start-up costs with heavy reliance on mechanization, but subsequent low
productivity.[13]
Mine Survey/Assessment
At the start of the UNOMOZ operation in 1992, the
UN estimated that there were more than two million landmines in Mozambique. A
1994 survey conducted by HALO Trust for the UNDHA suggested that the number of
landmines was likely to be significantly lower. In June 1995, the UN officially
revised its estimate downward to one
million.[14] Most demining
operators today suggest that the figure is more likely to be in the hundreds of
thousands of landmines. The National Demining Commission estimates a figure
around 500,000.[15] However, it
is not only the number of landmines, but their impact which determines a
country’s mine-affected status as the following example illustrates: For
seven years until they were cleared in 1996, eight mines prevented more than
20,000 people from the entire Mahniça valley in Maputo province from
returning to their
villages.[16]
Minefields have been located in all provinces, but the most heavily mined
regions are found along the border with Zimbabwe in the west of Manica province,
in the center of the country in Zambezia and Tete provinces, and in the south in
Maputo and Inhambane
provinces.[17] HALO
Trust’s 1994 survey found that mines had been used for defensive and
offensive reasons, principally around areas of strategic importance such as
military headquarters, towns and villages, sources of water and power, pylon
lines and dams, as well as on roads, tracks and paths and alongside bridges and
railway lines. Many of the combatants’ old transit routes are now
indistinguishable from the bush and it was not uncommon for undetonated mines to
be dug up and laid in a different location. Thus, in addition to a number of
fixed defensive minefields, the situation in Mozambique is characterized by a
highly dispersed mine
pattern.[18]
A total of 981 mined areas were reported in the HALO Trust
survey.[19] Since then, a further
780 reports have been added to the CND database for a current total of 1761
reported mine or UXO affected areas. While the 1994 HALO Trust National Mines
Survey provided an overall assessment of the landmine situation in Mozambique,
the constraints of that mission did not allow for detailed minefield
reconnaissance reports. Original HALO survey data has been supplemented with
information gained on an ad hoc basis from ongoing mine clearance operations.
However, the development of a national mine clearance strategy has been limited
by the lack of detailed, comprehensive minefield data. Beginning in 1999, the
Canadian International Demining Center, with the support of the Canadian
International Development Agency, will conduct a National Level 1 General
Survey. In addition to detailed minefield location data, the Level 1 Survey
will include a socio-economic impact assessment of the landmines in Mozambique.
Data produced will be used to complete the CND minefield database and provided
to all relevant actors to assist in the elaboration of a national mine action
strategy.
Mine Clearance
In 1995, the government of Mozambique established a
National Demining Commission (CND) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation, to be overseen by an inter-ministerial body including, among
others, the Ministers of Defense and of Interior Affairs. The CND’s
institutional framework is divided into political and executive levels. The
political level is responsible for the definition of policies, strategies and
identification of priorities as well as for directing, coordinating and
supervising all current demining operations.
By most accounts, the CND has lacked the political authority, technical
capacity, and funds to fulfill its mandate effectively. Development and
approval of mine clearance strategies and other policies encountered serious
delays at the executive level due to communication problems with the CND
executive director, and at the political level, as a result of difficulty in
convening the inter-ministerial committee whose approval is required on all
policy decisions.[20]
With Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch funding, a UNDP technical assistance
project was initiated at the CND in 1997. Its main objectives were to support
the executive level of the CND by assisting in the development of medium and
long-term mine clearance plans, the elaboration of quality assurance standards
for mine clearance operations, the creation of a standardized national reporting
system and landmine database. However, the project encountered significant
obstacles. Bureaucratic delays and the government’s inability to pay
competitive salaries led to difficulty in recruiting and retaining competent
national staff. As a result, there has been very little counterpart training or
capacity building within the CND.
Nonetheless, the project has resulted in the production of a national
demining database and digitized geographic information system as well as a
concept of a “National Mine Clearance Strategy Approach;” quality
assurance policy; standardized criteria for setting demining priorities; a guide
for controlling demining organizations; Mozambican standards for humanitarian
mine clearance operations, and a standardized reporting system for demining
operations, incidents and
accidents.[21]
National demining priorities have been divided into three categories: (1)
the reactivation and development of vital socio-economic activities at the
national level; (2) the reactivation and development of vital socio-economic
activities at provincial, district and community levels; and (3) the
rehabilitation and development of infrastructures required for the circulation
of people and goods, both at national and local levels. From these three
categories, a list of demining “high priorities” was developed.
In part due to the recommendations of the UNDP Assistance Project Evaluation
Report, the CND has developed a proposal for institutional reform. The new
institutional model proposed entails CND’s replacement with a National
Demining Institute (IND) and national Demining Fund
(FUNAD).[22] Essentially, the
proposed changes aim to increase the CND’s size and autonomy (by removing
it from direct ministerial control), increase its capacity to monitor demining
operations, and, it is hoped, increase its access to funds. Upon presentation to
the donor community in November 1998, the IND and FUNAD proposals met with
varying degrees of skepticism. Principle concerns related to the possible
creation of an institution of unwieldy size and lacking capacity, as well as
donors’ loss of control over funds marked for demining if deposited into a
the proposed FUNAD under IND control. As a result, CND’s capacity to
operationalize the institutional transformation remains to be seen.
Accelerated Demining Program (ADP)
The first National plan for Mine Clearance ended with the expiration of the
UNOMOZ mandate in 1994. Prior to the end of UNOMOZ, and in response to
criticism over delays in operationalizing mine clearance, UNOHAC took steps to
launch what became known as the Accelerated Demining Program. The primary
objectives given to the ADP upon its creation were (1) to accelerate the process
of humanitarian demining, and (2) to serve as the embryo for the development of
a national demining
commission.[23] The ADP continues
to operate under the shared direction of the UNDP and the government of
Mozambique in the provinces of Maputo, Gaza, and Inhambane.
Since 1996, several hundred deminers have been trained at the ADP-run Mine
Clearance Training Center in Moamba. Deminers and supervisors of Handicap
International and Norwegian People’s Aid mine clearance projects have also
received training at the Moamba Center. In 1996, the Khron mechanical system
was integrated into ADP demining operations and recently, trained dogs have also
been used to assist in mine detection. However, it is important to note that
these constitute assistance to mine clearance which still requires manual
detection. In a minefield near Boane, an ADP demining operation cleared
thirty-three mines and 1900 metal
pieces.[24] As well, dense bush
and scrub throughout many regions of Mozambique add considerable difficulty to
demining efforts as these have to be cleared before demining activities can
begin.
Today, ADP has 500 Mozambican deminers divided into ten platoons. There are
an additional five foreign experts providing technical assistance to the
Program’s headquarters. It is anticipated that the Program will be
transferred to full national control in 2000—the anticipated UNDP project
end date. For the years 1998-2000, ADP is receiving funding and technical
assistance from Australia, Austria, Denmark, the European Union, Finland,
Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden, and the UNDP.
Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA): The Norwegian People’s Aid
is a donor-funded NGO with a mandate to respond to humanitarian demining needs
in Mozambique. Training of NPA deminers began in July 1993. Mine clearance
projects were subsequently complete in Tete, Sofala and Maputo provinces. Since
1996, operations have been focused in Tete, Sofala and Manica provinces where
priorities for demining are established through consultation with local
communities and provincial authorities. The program’s long-term
development objective is the sustainable improvement of the socio-economic,
political/democratic living conditions and reduction of human suffering from
land mine accidents of the targeted populations. NPA has also undertaken limited
community development activities such as improved water supply, primary health
care, literacy, minor rehabilitation of health and education infrastructures,
vocational skills training and provision of micro-credits implemented.
Since beginning operations, NPA demining teams have not come across
stockpiles of mines or UXOs. However, piles of explosive devices left behind by
the warring parties during the wars fought in Mozambique have been found. As of
the end January 1999, NPA had recorded five mine accidents and four
incidents.[25]
The NPA mine clearance program is now running with over 500 Mozambican
deminers, twenty-five mine detection dogs, a Mozambican director and five
expatriate staff. Funding is received from the governments of Denmark, the
Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the U.S. (aid-in-kind). Through ongoing
reduction of expatriate staff levels (mostly in administration), and transfer of
responsibilities to national staff, the NPA intends to leave its programs under
the direction of a fully Mozambican NGO as its successor organization.
HALO Trust: The HALO Trust, a London-based non-profit mine clearance
consultancy was contracted by the UN to conduct a nationwide assessment of the
landmines situation in Mozambique. As discussed above, the 1994 survey provided
information on mined areas, but did not give exact coordinates of mine
locations. HALO Trust has since undertaken demining projects in Niassa,
Nampula, Cabo Delgado, and Zambezia provinces, with funding from American,
British, Dutch, Irish, and Swiss development aid programs. As of February 1999,
HALO employs 276 Mozambican deminers, supervisors and surveyors, and four
expatriates working in
management.[26]
After conducting technical surveys of possible areas for mine clearance, HALO
assesses the sites’ development potential. This information is discussed
with provincial authorities and together, provincial priorities for demining are
determined. HALO’s attention then shifts to the district level. Here
district authorities are consulted to determine which of the identified sites
are to be given priority for mine clearance. HALO Trust now estimates that there
remain between 250,000 and 300,000 mines in Mozambique. HALO further suggests
that at this point in time, a Level 1 Survey may be unnecessary and proposes
instead a country-wide sampling survey to assess the accuracy of existing
data.[27]
HALO Trust anticipates that demining of all priority areas in the north will
be completed by mid-2001 at which point, it will be pulling out its major
operations. In a model to be tested shortly in Zambezia province, HALO plans to
set up a small provincial “demining fire brigades” to ensure the
capacity for demining of remaining lower priority areas after its departure.
Handicap International (HI): In addition to its activities in mine
awareness education and provision of assistance to landmine survivors, HI has
set up community-focused “Proximity Demining” operations in
Inhambane province. Aside from the well-known strategic defensive minefields,
most of the mining in Inhambane was not related to military tactical operations,
but sought to control civilian populations by targeting sites of local social
and economic importance. This type of site presents a number of technical
difficulties for mine clearance: the sites are too small for efficient
utilization of large (30-40 person) operational mine clearance units; they are
widely dispersed in the province, requiring a high input of logistic and
communication capacity; and, while HI investigators found that these sites could
be considered socially or economically important to the local population, most
fall into the lower categories of the national priority scale. Even where there
are few or no mine victims, economic and social recovery of rural areas are
affected by their existence.
Proximity demining targets local areas which larger platoon-size formations
find impractical. Costs associated with proximity demining are higher, but
apparently, so is the value of land cleared to local populations; HI makes
efforts to ensure that areas chosen for clearance are those of maximum utility
to local populations. HI proximity demining operations began in 1998 and
receive funding from the European Union, the Netherlands, Canada, and Sweden.
The program uses thirty-six deminers who are divided into four teams. By May
1999, the entire project staff will be Mozambican. There have not been any
accidents reported during HI Proximity Demining
operations.[28]
Commercial Firms
Mine-Tech: Mine-Tech is a Zimbabwe-based mine clearance firm founded
in 1992.[29] Mine clearance is
delivered by demobilized Zimbabwean soldiers under the direction of Col. Lionel
Dyck, a former Rhodesian army officer who later commanded and elite Zimbabwean
paratroop unit which operated in Mozambique against Renamo. In 1993, Mine-Tech
conducted a survey for GTZ in the Gorongosa region of Sofala province. In 1994
and 1995, Mine-Tech was involved in clearing roads throughout Manica province
for GTZ in support of UNHCR. Also in 1995, the company was awarded a
multi-million dollar contract to clear the Cahora-Bassa powerline running from
the Songa substation in Mozambique to the Apollo substation in South
Africa.[30] In 1998, Mine-Tech
was engaged in demining projects in Maputo, Inhambane, Sofala and Manica
provinces, and is scheduled to begin work in Gaza province as well. Mine-Tech
now has a training school in Chimoio for training and upgrading of Mozambican
staff. [31]
Special Clearance Services (SCS): SCS is another Zimbabwe-based mine
clearance company which employs mostly Zimbabwean deminers. In 1996, SCS won a
UNICEF contract for demining of village areas. In 1998, SCS completed mine
clearance operations for the EU-funded emergency road opening in Sofala and
Zambezia provinces.[32] In
1997-1998, the company did a variety of commercial road clearance work in
Zambezia, Tete, and Sofala
provinces.[33] SCS is scheduled
to begin a World Bank-funded project in early 1999. As of the end of December
1998, it reports zero mine accidents. By mid-1999, SCS hopes to have created a
Mozambican subsidiary company with at least 80 percent Mozambican
staff.[34]
RONCO: RONCO Consulting Corporation was founded in 1974 and works in
partnership with the Global Training Academy of San Antonio, Texas. In
September 1993, RONCO was awarded a USAID contract for demining of roads
designated as a priority for ICRC and World Food Program relief efforts in
Sofala and Zambezia provinces. In late December 1993, RONCO began hiring Renamo
and Frelimo ex-combatants and established a Demining Training and Operations
Facility outside Beira. Using twelve demining teams of seven deminers and
thirty-two dogs each, RONCO completed its contract in June 1995 at which time
trained deminers, dogs and equipment were transferred to the Norwegian’s
People’s Aid demining
program.[35]
Mechem: Mechem is a South African-based company which first cleared
mines in Mozambique in July 1991 through a front company named Minerva. In
1994, Mechem undertook road clearance for Murray and Roberts road construction,
and for Basil Read Mining. In partnership with LONRHO, Mechem conducted mine
clearance for Project Caminho completed in December 1994. In May-June 1996, the
company completed road clearance south of Espungabera in Manica province. The
South African-funded Terra Limpa project in Maputo province was completed by
Mechem in March 1998.[36] In 1999,
it will be undertaking the demining of the Massingir dam in Gaza – a two
million dollar project jointly funded by the U.S. and Japan.
Carlos Gassmann Tecnologias de Vanguarda Aplicadas Lda. (CGTVA):
CGTVA was founded in Portugal 1993. Operating in Mozambique since 1997,
CGTVA has mainly performed quality assurance (QA) services for the National
Demining Commission. It has also assisted the CND in the elaboration of a
National Quality Assurance Policy. With three teams in operation, CGTVA has
assessed demining operations at the Cahora-Bassa dam, the Massingir dam, the
powerline from Xai-Xai to Inhambane, and HALO Trust operations in Cabo Delgado.
Types of problems that CGTVA has encountered include the absence of a medic
onsite, insufficient guarding of mines awaiting disposal, improper marking of
minefields, short-cutting safety distances, and the misuse of equipment.
However, in general, CGTVA reports a high standard of demining exercises
throughout Mozambique. Responding to CND’s desire to have a QA team
available in every province, CGTVA will be increasing its operations in
Mozambique.[37]
CIDEV: L’Agence Française pour le Développement
funded the French demining company CIDEV to undertake mine clearance along the
Maputo-South Africa powerline beginning June 1998. For operations in
Mozambique, CIDEV employed twelve French expatriates and 193 Mozambicans. The
use of a mechanical detachment with one bulldozer and two Aardvark flail
machines allowed for the destruction of some 70 percent of mines before areas
were manually cleared and controlled. At an average of 330 mines per pylon, the
numbers of mines found far exceeded original estimates and many were detected
and removed from an area significantly wider than the original project-specified
target area. CIDEV abandoned the work site in December 1998 having registered
three fatal accidents and FF 4,475,000 in
losses.[38] Only fifty-three
pylons of the two hundred were cleared although CIDEV claims that it cleared
12,000 mines in the six months it operated. Its operational license was
withdrawn in February 1999.
Afrovita: Afrovita is a Mozambican-based demining operator, member of
CMCM and registered as a non-profit private
corporation.[39] Afrovita has
been contracted to do mine clearance for EU-funded road construction projects in
Sofala and Zambezia provinces.[40]
Concerns about quality standards of Afrovita operations have been raised by
project donors.
Necochaminas: Nechominas is a demining NGO established by former
Mozambican Special Armed Forces personnel and has not as yet undertaken any mine
clearance operations.
Reconstruction and Development of Cleared Areas
Humanitarian demining, whether undertaken by NGO or
commercial operators, is by definition aimed at allowing for the reconstruction
and development of mine-affected communities. However, there has been little
official coordination of demining activities with reconstruction and development
planning. It is anticipated that a national socio-economic impact assessment
which will be undertaken as a part of the Level 1 Survey being completed by the
Canadian Demining Center, will allow for better assessment and planing of
reconstruction and development of cleared areas in Mozambique.
Mine Awareness Education
Mine awareness campaigns for returning refugees and
rural populations living in risk areas began after the 1992 Peace Agreement was
signed. The UNHCR invited Handicap International (HI) to take responsibility
for delivery of the first rural mine awareness campaign in Tete province, which
was later expanded to Inhambane and Zambezia provinces. Upon the UNHCR’s
pullout from Mozambique in 1994, HI took over coordination of mine awareness
throughout Mozambique and created the National Coordination Program of Education
Activities to Prevent Mines and UXO Accidents (PEPAM).
PEPAM is a HI project run in collaboration with the Mozambican Red Cross and
the Ministry of Education, as well as over eighty-six national, provincial, and
local partners. Under PEPAM, Mine Awareness Committees have been established at
the district level with the participation of traditional leaders, the police and
district representatives of the Ministries of Education, Health, Social Welfare,
and Agriculture, who, along with NGO partners, deliver mine awareness training
and collect information about suspected mined areas and mine accident reports
from the local communities. In each province, there is an HI coordinator who
identifies and provides technical support to local partners, including materials
and training for mine awareness education. Provincial coordinators report to
the national PEPAM coordinator in Maputo.
Under PEPAM, and in a collaborative project with Radio Moçambique
which began in 1996, mine awareness radio programs are being transmitted in
eighteen of the national
languages.[41] Additionally,
various theater groups are working under PEPAM to present mine awareness through
dramatization. PEPAM is also coordinating a project to integrate mine awareness
into the curriculum of the national education system. To this end, HI has
developed education materials for the project and a network of teaching
technicians have been hired to assist in the program’s implementation
through the Ministry of Education.
PEPAM’s first phase ran from July 1995 to June 1996 covering the
provinces of Maputo, Inhambane, Sofala, Manica, Tete and Zambezia with the
support of the UNHRC, UNICEF, EU and the US Dept. of Defense. Coverage was
extended to Gaza and Nampula provinces during the program’s second phase
from July 1996 to December 1997 with support from UNHRC, UNICEF, UNDP, US Dept.
of Defense, as well as Swiss, Norwegian and Swedish development aid programs.
PEPAM’s final phase runs from January 1998 to December 1999 and covers all
ten provinces with a total of US$2.5 million in support from UNICEF, Swedish,
Norwegian, Finnish, American, French, Swiss, and Australian missions in
Mozambique.
Landmine Casualties
Data on mine accidents is now collected under the
National Coordination Program of Education Activities to Prevent Mines and UXO
Accidents (PEPAM) coordinated by HI which collects, verifies and analyses
accident report forms. These include the following information: location of
accident with sketch of the scene of the accident, description of accident, date
of accident, circumstances in which the accident took place, number of victims,
type of device that caused the accident, consequences of accident, sex and age
of victims. Interviews are conducted with the victims or their representatives
by a trained PEPAM local
partner.[42]
In 1995, Handicap International had estimated fifty to sixty mine accident
victims per month. In 1996, PEPAM’s first year of operation covering six
provinces, there were an average of seventeen reported landmine victims per
month.[43] In 1997, covering
seven provinces, the number of reported accidents fell by almost 50 percent
(from a total of 126 in 1996 to sixty-nine in 1997). In 1998 PEPAM operated in
all provinces and reported a total of eighty-three mine accidents.
In 1996 and 1997, 57 percent of reported mine victims were men, with children
making up the second largest group of victims at 26 per cent and women
representing another 17 percent. In 1998, the same trend continued with men
constituting the greatest number of reported victims at 46 percent, children
representing 42 percent, while women represented only 12 percent of reported
victims. In a survey of the circumstances under which accidents occurred, 59
percent of victims were neither residents nor familiar with areas in which
accidents occurred. Throughout 1996, 1997, and 1998, the largest number of
accidents occurred while victims were working on their farms. Another
significant number of accidents occurred during the felling of trees for
construction. The need to enlarge farming land and resettle to former
residential areas would appear to be leading people to enter unfamiliar areas
which thereby increases the risk of mine accidents. (However, some donors and
development program officials have suggested that land shortage in not a serious
issue in Mozambique.)
Landmine Survivor Assistance
As of January 1999, there are a total of nine
orthopedic centers run by the Ministry of Health with technical assistance from
HI and POWER, providing services throughout Mozambique. In 1997, 29 per cent of
3,636 total persons who received orthopedic assistance in these centers had been
victims of landmines,[44] while
during the period January-June 1998, 18 per cent of persons treated were
landmine survivors.[45] There are
plans to close operations at the Vilanculos center, as there is another
orthopedic center operating in Inhambane province. The Ministry of Health, in
consultation with HI plans to open centers in Gaza and Manica provinces so there
will be orthopedic services available in every province of
Mozambique.[46] There are
currently five rehabilitation centers run by the Ministry of Health and its
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Section manages the thirty existing
physiotherapy centers and plans to open an additional twenty-six centers in
1999.[47]
With technical assistance from HI, the Ministry for the Coordination of
Social Action is responsible for running the transit centers which serve
patients of orthopedic centers. (There are plans to relocated the Vilanculos
transit center, along with its orthopedic counterpart, to Gaza province.)
However, the Ministry, and therefore the centers, suffers from a lack of funds
and additional funding would be needed to assist in the transportation of
persons to and from the centers. In 1996, the transit centers were running at
26 percent capacity; by end 1998, they operated at over 50 percent capacity. On
average, 70 percent of transit center users are victims of
landmines.[48]
Handicap International (HI)
In 1986, the France-based NGO HI came to Mozambique at the request of the
government to establish two orthopedics centers in Inhambane province. By 1992,
HI had also established two transit centers where patients could stay while
being treated at the orthopedic centers. In total, six orthopedic centers had
been established by HI in the cities of Vilanculos, Inhambane, Lichinga, Tete,
Pemba and Nampula by the time these were integrated into the National Health
System in 1995.
In 1992, Handicap International built the Malhangalene Children’s
Rehabilitation Center in one of the poorer areas surrounding Maputo City. At
any one time, the Center serves over 100 disabled children delivering
physiotherapy both at the Center and at home. In 1998 the Center was formally
transferred to the Maputo City Health Department.
POWER
POWER is a UK-based NGO established in 1994 to help provide high quality
artificial limbs to mine victims and victims of conflict. In 1980, the ICRC had
established an orthopedic center in Maputo Central Hospital—the sole
facility operating in Mozambique through the worst years of war. By the time it
pulled out of Mozambique in 1994, the ICRC had established four orthopedic
centers at Maputo City, Beira, Nampula, and Quelimane, which were taken over by
POWER and subsequently integrated into the National Health System in 1998.
Primarily funded by USAID, POWER oversees the production of polypropylene
orthopedic components at in the Maputo orthopedic center where it hopes to begin
producing wheelchair as well. In 1997, POWER manufactured 703 prostheses
representing about 80 per cent of national
production.[49] With
approximately nine to twelve thousand amputees in Mozambique, and given that the
life span of a prosthesis is about three years (in developed counties amputees
have access to more frequent replacements), POWER estimates that there is a need
to produce at least 3,000 prosthetics per year. Current production levels,
combining HI and POWER-type limbs, are less than 1,000 per
year.[50] Preliminary analysis of
a 1997 survey in Inhambane and Maputo provinces by researchers from Dalhousie
University, Canada, suggests that only 20.7 per cent of amputees were using a
prosthetic without difficulty, while 36.4 per cent of respondents had not
received any rehabilitation treatment at
all.[51]
POWER plans to establish non-profit private orthopedic centers in the two
provinces presently lacking orthopedic services at Chimoio and Xai-Xai. This
project is being developed in partnership with ADEMO (Mozambican Association of
Disabled Persons) which would likely undertake a significant management role at
the proposed centers.
Jaipur Limb Campaign
This UK-based NGO campaigns for the use of appropriate technology in
prosthetics provided in developing countries. With British funding and in
cooperation with the Ministry of Health, the Mozambican Red Cross (CVM) will be
delivering a Jaipur rural orthopedic project in Gaza province which does not
currently have an orthopedic facility.
National Disability Laws and Policy
In Mozambique, ex-military personnel with
disabilities enjoy special legal status and state pensions which are not
available to the rest of the disabled population. Rules and regulations
recognizing the rights of persons with disabilities have existed for many years
in a range of national legislation covering the education, labor, financial,
transportation, military and health sectors. However, national disability
organizations (which, in 1998, created a national forum to coordinate advocacy
on disability rights), suggest that these rights and services exist more on
paper than in practice.
The national coordinating agency for assistance to persons with disability is
the Ministry of Coordination for Social Action (MICAS). With funding from
Coopération Française, HI established Institutional Support
Program (PAI) to provide technical assistance to MICAS on disability matters in
1996. Three projects have been supported by PAI including the SIRT program now
operating in all provinces to provide information, referrals and transportation
of disabled persons to health facilities and transit centers. Under a second
PAI initiative, MICAS has proposed the creation of a national disability card,
which is intended to help persons with disabilities access government services.
In 1991, a national disability policy was developed by MICAS, but for
political reasons, failed to gain government approval. Through PAI’s third
project, the policy has since been redrafted and it is expected that in 1999,
Parliament will approved a national disability law establishing fundamental
rights and principles relating to persons with physical and mental disabilities.
Again, transforming policy into practice is likely to be difficult. Part of the
proposed legislation foresees the creation of a National Council on Disabilities
which would act as an advisory body to government and include the participation
of representatives of the disabled
community.[52]
[6]Letter shown to Landmine
Monitor researcher by an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Cooperation (MINEC), Maputo, 11 February 1999.
[7]Interview with Sr. Fernando
Conselho, MINEC, 11 February 1999.
[8]The
following section was compiled from Human Rights Watch, Still Killing,
pp.63-71; Alex Vines and João Paulo Borges Coelho, “Trinta Anos de
Guerras e Minas em Moçambique,” in, Arquivo Histórico de
Moçambique, Mocambique: Desminagem e Desenvolvimento (Maputo: Arquivo
Histórico de Moçambique, 1995), pp.11-49.
[10]UN Department of
Humanitarian Affairs, Mozambique: The Development of Indigenous Mine Action
Capacities, undated, p. 9.
[11]The
following section and tables was provided by Henry Thompson who analyzed CND's
28 March data and Landmine Monitor data.
[12]Laurie Boulden and Martin
Edmonds, The Politics of De-Mining: Mine Clearance in Southern Africa
(Johannesburg: South African Institute of International Affairs, 1999),
pp.79-112.
[13]Some areas may have been
logged as “cleared” when they were described as minefields by the
Level 1 Survey but were greatly reduced by dogs or manual passes in a Level 2
Survey. Clearance rates also depend on terrain, vegetation and technical
threat.
[14]U.S. Department of State,
Bureau of Political Military Affairs, Hidden Killers: The Global Landmine
Crisis, (Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 1998), p.32.
[15]CND, The National Mine
Clearance Strategy Approach, November 1998 Draft, p. 7.
[16]Interview with Jacky
D’Almeida, ADP Director, Maputo, 13 January 1999.
[20]Patrick Channer, Laurie H.
Boulden, Teodoro Waty, Report of the Evaluation Mission of UNDP Support to
the Executive Directorate of the National Mine Clearance Commission,
Moz/95/B01/A/7B/99, December 1997, p. 7.
[21]A weakness in the Standard
Operating Practice requirements is that it does not require operators to take
insurance policies out on their work force.
[22]See Draft Proposal of a
New Institutional Model for the National Demining Commission, distributed by
CND at the International Seminar on Institutional Reform of the Demining Sector,
Maputo, 11-12 November 1998.
[23]UNDP, Project Document,
“Consolidation of the Accelerated Demining Program,” Maputo, 24
February 1997, p. 11.
[24]Account given at interview
with Jacky D’Almeida, ADP Director, Maputo, 13 January 1999.
[25]Information contained in
email correspondence from Filipe Muzima, NPA Program Director, 12 February
1999.
[26]Interview with Nick
Bateman, Halo Trust Country Manager, Maputo, 10 February 1999.
[42]Handicap International,
Accidents from Landmines in Mozambique in 1996 and 1997.
[43]Handicap International,
Coordination nationale des activités d’éducation pour la
prévention des accidents par mines terrestres et autres engins explosifs:
Phase Final, Maputo, Mozambique, October 1997, p. 5. Handicap International
suggests that mine accidents in 1995 were underreported and that actual numbers
of incidents could be as much as three times higher.
[44]Fransisco Baptista,
Estatisticas da Secção da Medicina Fisica e
Reabilitação Para o Ano de 1997, Maputo, June 1998.
[45]Interview with Christina
Vera Sage, Coordinator of Health and Social Projects, HI Mozambique, Maputo, 8
January 1999.