Key
developments since May 2000: Both government and UNITA forces have
continued to use antipersonnel mines, even though the Angolan Parliament
approved ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty in July 2000. Major mine action
NGOs report clearing some 5.8 million square meters of land in 2000. INAROEE
reported that 1,335 antipersonnel mines, 51 antivehicle mines, and 75,017 UXO
were destroyed through clearance operations. UNICEF reports that mine
awareness campaigns reached more than 237,000 people in 2000. During 2000,
there were 840 landmine and UXO casualties recorded.
Angola signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December
1997. On 25 July 2000, the Angolan Parliament approved ratification of the
treaty, with 147 votes in favor, one against and one abstention. Before the
vote, the Vice-Minister of External Relations, Toko Serrao, addressed the
parliament: “The entry into force of this convention is considered a
historic achievement in the struggle to ban the use of antipersonnel mines.
However given the provisions in Law 6/90 regarding international treaties it
appears to us important that the Ministry of National Defence States its
position on this issue.”[87]
On 24 August 2000, the Angolan government sent a letter to the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines informing that Parliament had approved
the Mine Ban Treaty, and stating, “The following step, according to our
Constitution, is the ratification act of the President of the Republic, which
may occur shortly. As soon as this is done, the Angolan Government is in good
condition to deposit its instrument of ratification with the United Nations in
New York.”[88]
In October
2000, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote that “the administrative
procedures for ratification of the convention are in hand, and we expect very
soon to be able to deposit the said
instrument.”[89] The
instrument of ratification had not been deposited with the UN in New York as of
31 July 2001.
According to Angola’s mine action office, the National
Institute for the Removal of Explosive Obstacles (INAROEE), in October 2000 the
Ministry of Defence circulated to all its commanders a decree stating that
following the National Assembly ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty, the
military should refrain from using antipersonnel mines during their
operations.[90] However, as
detailed below, Angolan forces have continued to use antipersonnel
mines.
During the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in
Geneva in September 2000, Angolan Ambassador Joao Filipe Martins justified his
government’s continued use of antipersonnel mines and stated, “We
ask your understanding for the few antipersonnel mines that the national army,
the FAA – Armed Forces of Angola, have planted around strategic
facilities, when the troops of Mr. Jonas Savimbi wanted to seize power by force,
ignoring democratic institutions and bombing villages, communes and certain big
cities of the country in an indiscriminate and blind manner. Allow us, Mr
President, to affirm here that mining or re-mining land has never been a right
of the Angolan state...but rather...the unique way to survive for those that
suffer from the injustice and murderous madness of the rebels. The mines that
the Angolan army have used are marked and well located, they do not represent
any danger for the population nor any difficulty to find them or destroy them.
We are asking that certain elements of the international civil society will show
a little bit of respect for the Angolan
government....”[91]
The
incongruity of Angola moving toward ratification at the same time that it admits
continued use of antipersonnel mines is a cause of concern and requires close
attention on the part of States Parties and others. Clearly, ongoing use by a
government that becomes a State Party, no matter what the justification, would
require action by other States under Article 8 of the Mine Ban Treaty.
In
November 2000, Angola voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 55/33v,
calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. Angola attended the Mine
Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in December 2000, but not
in May 2001. The head of INAROEE attended the second day of the two-day Bamako
Seminar on Universalization and Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in Africa,
held on 15-16 February 2001 in Mali.
There has been increased discussion and
debate in Angola over the use of landmines in Angola. INAROEE, international
NGOs and local NGOs marked the run up to the third anniversary of Angola’s
signing of the Mine Ban Treaty by arranging three days (27 to 30 November 2000)
of pro-ban events in Luanda, culminating in an evening of theater and debate in
the National Assembly building, which was attended by parliamentarians and the
Minister of Social Assistance, Albino
Malungo.[92]
Angola is not a
party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Production, Transfer and Stockpiling
Angola is not a known producer or exporter of
landmines. Seventy-six different types of antipersonnel mines from 22 countries
have been found or reported in
Angola.[93] Little is known about
the size or composition of Angola’s current landmine
stockpile.
Likewise, little is known about stockpiles of antipersonnel mines
held by UNITA rebels. The government’s forces have continued to capture
landmines during their operations against the rebels. In August 2000, Landmine
Monitor was shown a collection of freshly captured antipersonnel mines among
other weapons taken from UNITA in Moxico province. These mines were mostly from
the USSR, South Africa and
Romania.[94]
In July 2000, UN Under Secretary-General Ibrahim Gambari stated, “From
1994-1998, substantial progress was made in demining some of the most affected
areas of the Angolan territory. With the resumption of war, landmines were again
planted in some areas that have been de-mined and in some others, thus making it
difficult for the population to resettle and use the land for farming and
especially food
production.”[96] As noted
above, at the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in
September 2000, the Angolan government openly admitted to ongoing use of
antipersonnel mines.[97]
In its
report on human rights in Angola for 2000, the US State Department said,
“The Government and UNITA continue to use antipersonnel landmines to
strengthen defensive positions and, in the case of UNITA, to prevent residents
within its own areas from fleeing to government-held areas.... Landmines are a
major impediment to the freedom of movement. UNITA used landmines primarily on
roads and trails to disrupt transportation, and to control village
populations. Government mining generally was confined to strategic
positions around towns for defensive
purposes.”[98]
In
2001, there appears to have been a decline in use of antipersonnel mines by the
government.[99] There have been
no reports of planting of mines in areas previously cleared. Landmine Monitor
obtained credible eyewitness accounts of government forces in Malange and Moxico
provinces laying mines at night around their defensive positions and nearby
route ways; such mines were reportedly then lifted the next
morning.[100]
HALO Trust told
Landmine Monitor that in 2001, this practice of laying mines at night and
retrieving them in the morning has occurred in Huambo and Bie provinces. But he
also said that, on several occasions, FAA troops had handed mines over to HALO
when the troops had completed their
operations.[101]
UNITA has
continued to lay antipersonnel and antivehicle mines, mostly to impede
transportation on primary, secondary and tertiary roads. In Moxico province
there is evidence that in February and March 2001, UNITA rebels planted mines in
Cangumbe, Ngombe and Chito 1 during their military operations, resulting in two
accidents leaving four injured and one dead,
respectively.[102] On 3 July
2001, on the road from Saurimo to Lucapa, a vehicle carrying civilians struck an
antivehicle mine, killing two people and injuring four others; local residents
blamed UNITA.[103]
UNITA
rebels have also continued to conduct military operations in northern Namibia,
including laying antipersonnel and antivehicle mines. According to the US State
Department report for 2000, “UNITA used landmines in Namibia, which
resulted in dozens of deaths and numerous injuries of civilians and security
force officers.”[104]
There have also been a growing number of antivehicle mine incidents that
were probably the work of criminal groups, using the mines to ambush vehicles
for looting.[105]
Landmine Problem and Survey and Assessment
Through the end of 2000, 2,610 minefields had been
identified, of which 517 had been
cleared.[106] According to
INAROEE, Cuando Cubango, Moxico, Bie and Malange provinces have very high
density of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO); Bengo, Benguela and Cuanza
Sul and Huambo have a high density; Lunda Sul, Cabinda, Cunene, Huila, Zaire,
Uige and Cuanza Norte have a moderate density; and Luanda, Namibe and Lunda
Norte have a low density.[107]
It should be noted that there are areas that have not been registered yet due to
the war, which is also having an impact on the access NGOs have to clear
minefields.
Mine Clearance and Funding
Major mine action donors reported to the UN $14.7
million in funding for Angola in
1999.[108] According to
information provided to Landmine Monitor by donors and by mine action
organizations operating in Angola, in 2000 mine action funding totaled roughly
$13 million.[109] Mine action
organizations have reported receiving about $13 million in 2001 as well. As
noted below, the Angolan government for the first time provided INAROEE with $8
million in 2001.
Some mine clearance organizations have struggled with
reduced funding, erratic funding and/or donor reluctance to commit long term in
Angola. A number of organizations had to suspend programs in 2000 or 2001 due
to lack of funding.
Despite ongoing hostilities mine clearance has
continued across Angola. In 2000, INAROEE reported that 1,335 antipersonnel
mines, 51 antivehicle mines, and 75,017 UXO were
destroyed.[110]
INAROEE
The Angolan government’s mine action office,
INAROEE, remained in crisis in 2000-2001, as donors refuse to provide demining
funds to the government while it continues to lay mines. Although
INAROEE’s Director Helder Cruz presented a demining plan for 2000,
requesting $13 million from donors, no money was forthcoming except for NGOs to
employ ex-INAROEE staff. In August 2000, the UNDP/UNOPS closed down its support
program because of a lack of funding, redeploying its manager to Guinea-Bissau.
NPA has continued to loan a technical expert. INAOREE has now become a
coordinating office for the operators in the field although coordination is
weak. The government for the first time provided INAROEE with a much needed cash
injection of $8 million in 2001 according to Leonardo Sapalo of
INAROEE.[111]However,
most of these funds have already been spent on outstanding bills.
The Angolan
military remains active in demining during its military operations and in areas
recently retaken from UNITA control. Operations have taken place in Moxico,
Malange and Bie provinces in 2001.
Commercial Demining
During 2000 and 2001 there has been little
commercial demining activity in the country. The only commercial firm active is
the South African firm BRZ International Ltd, which operated in Angola through a
joint venture with an Angolan commercial security firm Mamboji Lda. BRZ
conducted some clearance work in 2000 at Soyo for the oil
industry.[112]
NGO Mine Action Initiatives
HALO Trust. The British NGO HALO Trust
is operating in Huambo, Bie and Benguela provinces. HALO has a staff of 350, of
which one is an expatriate. Its funding comes mainly from the US government and
the EU.[113] In 2001, HALO
received funding of Euro 400,000 for Huambo, expects Euro 400,000 for Bie, and
has a proposal for Euro 400,000 under consideration for Benguela. HALO has also
obtained a grant for $800,000 from the US Department of State, I£143,000
from the Irish government; $400,000 from the Dutch government and $100,000 from
the Japanese Tokyo Broadcasting System’s “Committee of Project
‘Mine Free’” with the Association for Aid and Relief,
Japan.[114]
As of the
end of June, during 2001, HALO had cleared 447 antipersonnel mines and 57
antivehicle mines, and destroyed 3,878 items of stray ammunition, and 589 items
of unexploded ordnance. Battle area cleared was 731,347 square meters,
manually cleared was 148,443 square meters, and surveyed was 175,412 square
meters. In addition, the mine awareness teams have briefed 40,581 people.
Intersos. In November 1999 the Mine Action Unit of Italian NGO
Intersos commenced an 18-month training and demining project in Huila province,
aimed at clearing land for returning Internally Displaced Persons
(IDPs).[115] In agreement with the
Matala Municipal authorities and the UN, clearance priority sites of minefields
and UXO have been identified in the MICOSSI and Kanangondo Municipalities. Upon
request of the local Communities, Municipal and Provincial Administrators and
the UN, INTERSOS also expanded its role to other activities, such as surveys at
the provincial level, and Battle Area Clearance (BAC) and UXO demolitions in the
near provinces. In December 2000, the MAU was also charged by the Italian
Cooperation with a new BAC intervention and fencing in the town of Menongue
Cunado Cubango Province, for a value of about
US$165,000.[116]
Menschen
gegen Minen (MgM).[117]MgM, a
German-based NGO, received $1,246,000 in 2000 for work in Bengo province and for
Cunene province. Funding has come from the Dutch, German and US governments,
Johanniter International, Action Medeor, World Food Progarm, and from
individuals.[118] MgM Angola has
a staff of approximately 100 nationals, supported by two expatriate staff (the
program manager and the dog handler/trainer).
By the end of 2000, MgM
reported having cleared the following: 1,270,576 square meters of land, 114
kilometers of road, 704 landmines (11 of which were antivehicle mines), and
1,102 UXO.[119]
In a project
supported by the World Food Program for the year 2000, with US funding, MgM was
to carry out mine action to assist in the relocation of an estimated 28,500 IDPs
living in Cambambe II camp, outside Caxito, to their home area of Dembos. But
attacks in the area resulted in operations shifting to Ambriz, a northern
coastal town on the border with Zaire Province. A number of site visits had been
planned to the Dembos area but only one had been achieved by the end of 2000,
due to new disturbances in neighboring areas.
Operations were then focused
on Ambriz, which has long been a center for military operations: in the 1970s,
it was used by the South Africans during their support of FNLA operations; in
1993-1994, it was captured and held by UNITA; after that the FAA constructed a
camp outside the town, which they ringed with a mine belt; also a minefield was
placed at the entrance to the town to deter further attacks. There are now ten
indicated mined areas around the town of Ambriz, and two minefields to be proved
by the Onzo river bridge, close to the village of Tabi.
The major part of
operations focused on the clearance of agricultural land around the old FAA
camp. The local administration barred the clearance of the barrier minefield
ringing the town for “security reasons” or this minefield would have
been of the highest priority because of its proximity to housing, schools, and
access to fields.
Other operations cleared access routes to the minefields,
and opened access to isolated villages cut off from main arterial routes. This
allowed commercial traffic to these towns, alleviating the problems for the
local population of carrying their produce many kilometers to market. The
villages of Fda Loge, Capulo and Kianga were given access to the main road
infrastructure, and work has now started on the reconstruction of the salt pans
at Capulo.
For safety of operations and medical evacuation reasons, the
Mechanically assisted Manual (MaM) demining team also reopened the Ambriz
airport, with the first flight landing in mid-August 2000. The airport is in
constant use now.
With regard to operations in 2001, MgM noted that
operations were temporarily suspended in March due to problems with funding.
MgM stated, “Although there were enough funds for basic operations, there
was not enough available for the safety aspect of
demining.”[120]
By the
end of May 2001, two teams were deployed to Ionde in north-east Cunene, on the
road to Cuando Cubango. MgM also carried out a survey of the ammunition storage
site (Paiol) at Bairro
Madeira.[121]
In Ambriz,
demining recommenced on a cluster of minefields around an old FAPLA base at
Yanga dia Vata, and by the end of May 2001 nine individual minefields had been
cleared, another three were in the process of being cleared, and one yet to be
started. With the eradication of these minefields, only two more remain for
clearance, which will then leave the whole of the northern coastal area of Bengo
free of mines. Clearance included 10,563 square meters of land, 16 mines and 8
UXO.[122]
At the end of May,
however, UNITA attacked Ambriz, which jeopardized MgM presence in Bengo
Province. They hoped to be able to keep a small team in Caxito and possibly
deploy some of the other teams to their home area in Sumbe and Gabela, in Kwanza
Sul.[123]
Mines Advisory
Group (MAG).[124] MAG
continues its operations in Cunene province in the south of the country funded
in the first six months of 2001 by the National Lottery Charities Board
($170,000); during the second six months of 2001, Bread for the World
($220,000); Misereor ($22,000) and Intermon ($23,000) have committed funds for
MAG operations. MAG plans to continue to deploy four mine action teams in the
province undertaking landmine and UXO clearance and mine awareness activities.
At the time of publication this project had a budget shortfall of $734,250. MAG
employs 69 national staff in Cunene, including its Portuguese-speaking national
training team. Since 1998, a drought -- declared as an emergency by UNDP -- has
ravaged the province. Since March 2001, this pressure on resources has been
increased by an influx of 7,000 IDPs from the neighboring province of
Kuando-Kubango and from Rundu in Namibia, displaced from fighting in the border
areas with Namibia.
From January to December 2000, MAG Cunene cleared 1,713
bombs, 3,870 projectiles, 4 missiles, 92 rockets, 310 grenades and 61 mines. In
addition to carrying out clearance in areas for these populations, MAG is
working with the Spanish agency ACH (Accion Contra Halambre) to help create
safer access to water across the province. MAG also works in Cunene with the
International Federation of the Red Cross and WFP.
In October 2000, MAG
restarted its suspended operations in Moxico province, based in Luena the
provincial capital. At the time of writing, it was becoming possible to operate
safely further and further outside the city. By May 2001, MAG had cleared 5,472
square meters, resulting in 45 antipersonnel mines destroyed, three antivehicle
mines and 3,888 pieces of UXO.
MAG also provides community-based data
gathering and liaison that provides tasking and prioritization used by NPA's
mechanical capacity in the city. MAG has also deployed two, eleven-person
emergency response teams. It is funded for the first six months of 2001 with
$210,000 from the German government and $46,150 from Jersey Overseas Aid. Some
$197,000 from OCHA and $46,150 from Jersey Overseas Aid have been provided to
help cover the second six-month period. MAG reported a shortfall of
$778,850 to the end of the financial year, June 2002. In Moxico, MAG employs 87
national staff.
In both provinces MAG works closely with the provincial
government and MINARS (Ministry of Social Rehabilitation) and other development
agencies to coordinate priority setting, data reporting and other information
sharing. MAG works closely with Medico International (social rehabilitation),
CAPDC (a national social rehabilitation NGO supported by Medico International),
Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation/Veterans International (survivor
assistance), Trauma Care Foundation, NPA, ACH and many other development
agencies to provide an integrated and holistic response to the problems facing
these communities affected by conflict. In doing so, MAG follows the ICBL's
principles of mine action from a development perspective as laid out in the
“Bad Honnef Guidelines.”
Norwegian People’s Aid.
NPA remains the NGO with the most extensive mine clearance operations in
Angola.[125] It operates in
Malange, Kwanza Norte, Moxico and the southern regions. In 2000, NPA cleared
3,426,389 square meters of land, destroying 642 antipersonnel mines, 39
antivehicle mines and 73,907
UXO.[126]
The NPA Mine Action
Program employs some 500 Angolans and nine expatriate staff. Its manual demining
program consists of four groups with a total of 350 deminers. The Mine Detection
Dog (MDD) team is made up of twelve free running dogs and eleven Remote
Explosive Scent Tracing (REST) dogs and handlers. A free running dog is used in
open areas where they search systematically for mines or other explosives, while
in the REST method dogs are based in the camp and samples from possible
mine-affected areas are brought back to the dogs.
There is also a Landmine
Survey Team, which is now completely nationalized, one seconded to INAROEE and
three (as of May 2001) Level One Survey teams. The survey has been completed in
thirteen provinces, however there is a need to resurvey in some provinces due to
the ongoing war.
The mechanical demining team has three Aardvark and two
Hydrema flail machines. Additionally, in 2000 the organization had a battle
area clearance team, but now this is replaced with a mobile workshop.
In
2000, NPA received funding totaling NOK 50.5 million (US$7 million).
By the
end of 2000, there were some problems in securing the funding for mine clearance
and related activities in 2001. However, all NPA mine action operations in
Angola are now funded and all teams are working. Funding for 2001 is
approximately the same level as in 2000, and is provided by Norway (NORAD), US
(State Department), Sweden (SIDA), the Dutch Foreign Ministry, and Statoil.
NPA in Angola is currently introducing a new project based on the
objective of meeting the target group needs. Through development of Standard
Operating Procedures for task impact assessment and task selection procedures
for all mine action programs NPA seeks to improve efficiency and
effectiveness.
Santa Barbara. This German NGO has been in
Angola since 1997. In 2000, Santa Barbara operated in Pocolo, Huila province
during one month and cleared 15,000 square meters of farmland and destroyed one
mine. They also spent seven months on road clearance in Hoque in Huila clearing
150,000 square meters and destroyed 38
mines.[127] While in Xangongo,
during four months of farmland clearance, they cleared 15,000 square meters,
destroying three mines. Xangongo, Cunene remains the base camp for their
operations.[128]
In 2001
operations continued around Xangongo, during which some 50,000 square meters
have been cleared in the first months of the year, in which 35 mines have been
destroyed. In 2000, the Italian government provided $180,000 and the German
Business Donor Circle $200,000 for Santa Barbara’s operations. In 2001
Santa Barbara has continued to be funded by $170,000 provided by the German
Business Donor Circle.[129]
The Assistance to Mine-Affected Communities (AMAC) project based
at the International Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO) takes a
community-based approach to mines, emphasizing people's abilities to cope with
the problem. Established in 1999, the project has been engaged mainly in
research and documentation, but since late 2000 has also been involved in
capacity-building, offering workshops and training courses for a variety of
audiences. In July-August 2000 the AMAC project conducted a community study at a
camp for IDPs in Songondo II in the outskirts of Luena. AMAC was invited by
Medico International to conduct this
study.[130]
Mine Awareness
In 2000, UNICEF used the Programa de Educacao e
Prevencao de Acidentes de Minas (PEPAM) as its mine awareness program, working
through INAROEE with NGO support. The Angolan NGOs Gac-Huambo, Gac-Bie,
Trindade-Bengo, Club de Jovens in Huila, Anxame de Abeila-Moxico, the Palancas
Negras in Malange, CDR and Tumbuanza in Uige all conducted awareness campaigns.
UNICEF estimated that between January and November 2000 these groups conducted
2,377 awareness campaigns reaching some 267,366
people.[131]
In 1999, UNICEF
commissioned an in-depth evaluation of the PEPAM mine awareness program in
Angola; the evaluation was jointly funded by UNICEF, CIET and Canadian DFAIT.
Between August and October 1999, CIET interviewed 1,166 schoolchildren and 2,157
“caregivers” in 21 communities in Huila and Uige provinces.
Although the findings were broadly positive, the evaluation report noted that
PEPAM students were less likely than other children to stay out of a known mined
area, to recognize high-risk sites, and to tell their family members what to do
if one encounters a mine.[132]
Between 21 February and 11 March 2000, the preliminary results of the
evaluation were discussed in focus groups of program beneficiaries, teachers and
managers. The results of the completed study were then widely disseminated and
discussed by UNICEF with its partners in Angola. Changes to the mine awareness
program as a result included the adaptation of messages to encourage behavior
change rather than providing information on merely the dangers of mines, the
development of a simple monitoring tool, and the development of information and
materials in local languages.[133]
It was proposed that CIET carry out a follow-up evaluation in 2001 to assess
progress from the 1999 evaluation in Huila and Uige provinces as well as
establish baselines in other
provinces.[134]
Handicap
International (HI) is also involved in mine awareness and mine risk education
(MRE), aimed at contributing to the reduction of mine casualties, especially
among women and children. HI provides technical support to INAROEE’s
provincial coordinators in Bie, Huambo, Benguela, Kwanza Sul, Kwanza Norte and
Kunene. At the grassroots level, it carried out direct MRE activities in
communities, schools and camps for the internally displaced in order to teach
the populations how to live with the danger of mines and UXO in the provinces of
Bengo and Kuando Kubango. In the course of these activities, HI gathers data
about landmine and UXO accidents, trains “awareness agents” and key
people in local networks (churches, traditional leaders, local authorities,
journalists, etc.), and produces materials for these activities.
MAG is
currently running the community liaison and mine awareness capacity in Luena and
in Cunene. After MAG’s program suspension in 1998, these teams had
continued working with funding and administrative support from SCF-US and Medico
International.[135]
World
Vision, CARE, IFRC, and Africare have also conducted mine awareness during 2000
and 2001.[136]
Landmine Casualties
Angola continues to have a high landmine casualty
rate. In the year 2000, a total of 407 landmine incidents were recorded, 79
fewer than in 1999.[137] The 407
incidents resulted in 840 casualties, including 388 people killed and 452
injured. The provinces recording the highest number of casualties were Malange
with 172, followed by Moxico with 132, Bie with 113, and Uige with 106. Of the
840 casualties, 415 were caused by antipersonnel mines (49 percent), 270 by
antivehicle mines (32 percent), 131 by UXOs (16 percent), and 24 were unknown (3
percent).[138]
Seventy percent
of the casualties were
civilians.[139] Displaced people
fleeing the conflict represented over 50 percent of the total number of
casualties. The age group most affected were 19- to 35-year-olds (representing
45 percent of all victims). There has been a decline in recorded casualties of
children, from 82 in 1999 to 65 in
2000.[140]
Landmines continue
to kill and maim in 2001. In June 2001, the NGO Huila Youth Group reported that
since January in northern and eastern Huambo province there had been 27 landmine
incidents resulting in seven
deaths.[141] In Luena, Moxico
province from January to May 2001, 29 mine incidents
occurred.[142]
In June 2001,
the director of an NGO, Fundo de Apoio Social, was killed when her vehicle hit a
mine on a road three kilometers from Huambo. Several other people were
reportedly killed or injured. The incident occurred in an area that had
recently been mined by government troops to protect an Angolan
military-industrial complex.[143]
On 15 July 2001, the governor of the southern Angolan province of Cunene,
Pedro Mutinde, was seriously injured in a landmine explosion in the Humbe
region, located in the central part of the province. Also slightly wounded were
the Angolan Consul to the Namibian province of Oshakati, Quintino Chamuefelin,
and a financial official of the provincial government of Cunene, who were in
Mutinde's car. According to the report, the accident happened when the
governor's car triggered a landmine laid in the 1980s by South African
troops.[144]
Survivor Assistance
In August 2000, the Angolan government hosted a
Southern African Development Community (SADC) seminar in Luanda on mine victim
assistance with participants from across
SADC.[145] However, no NGOs
working on the issue in Angola were formally
invited.[146]
Angola remains a
desperately poor country in which few facilities are available for the
physically disabled. Civilian survivor assistance in Angola consists mostly of
physical rehabilitation, provided by international NGOs. However, the provision
of any type of assistance, particularly outside major cities, has been
significantly affected by the ongoing conflict. The Ministry of Health operates
ten centers providing rehabilitation services for the disabled, including
landmine casualties. These centers are supported by the ICRC (3), Handicap
International Belgium (3), German Technical Cooperation (2), Vietnam Veterans
of America Foundation/Veterans International (1), and INTERSOS (1).
In 2000,
the ICRC focused on improving patient services, including making centers more
accessible and achieving a better quality of fit and longer durability of
prostheses. Physical rehabilitation services were provided for patients, who
received 2,366 prostheses (80 percent of the amputees were mine victims). Access
to the center in Luanda was improved through providing transportation for 99
amputees from Malange and by covering part of the travel costs of 350 other
patients. Two thousand posters were also distributed in the main provinces. The
ICRC also provided components for 3,500 prostheses to the seven centers
supported by NGOs. During 2000, the ICRC phased out its production of
prosthetic components in Haumbo and these were replaced by low-cost imported
components that were of better quality and had a longer lifespan. The ICRC
provided training for 55 technicians, including fourteen physiotherapy
staff.[147]
The Angolan
government and other NGOs are opposed to imported components from Europe.
Apparently, the government expressed these views to the ICRC. From 2002,
the components will no longer be provided free but NGOs will have to pay for
them. The preferred option is local production and building local
capacities.
Handicap International
(Belgium)[148] operates three
physical rehabilitation workshops in the country (Benguela, Lubango, and
Negage), as well as a project producing prosthetic rubber feet in Viana. In
2000, the three orthopedic centers provided 899 disabled persons with a
prosthesis, repaired 868 prostheses and distributed 1,813 pairs of crutches.
The Viana prosthetic foot workshop is able to produce and distribute 700 feet
per month. The technical staff is trained and competent in management and
implementing production. In 2000, a total of 7,827 prosthetic feet were produced
and 5,440 feet were distributed to all the orthopedic centers (10) in Angola.
Orthopedic centers supported by HI-B in Angola have reached a good technical
level in prosthetic production, and in patients’ physical rehabilitation.
In 2001, HI-B continues the support to the Benguela, Negage and Lubango
orthopedic centers, and the Viana foot factory. The budget for 2000 was
US$1,502,000. The main donors include AUSTCARE, DGCI, Italian Cooperation, EU
(DG8), Netherlands Cooperation, UNHCR, and Irish Aid. The estimated budget for
2001 is US$1,310,000.
The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation/Veterans
International (VVAF/VI) has through its Regional Community Rehabilitation Center
in Luena treated 900 people, including 2,000 physiotherapy treatments since
1997. In 2000, the center fitted 200 patients, including 65 new landmine
survivors.[149]
INTERSOS is
implementing an 18-month project supporting a prosthetic and rehabilitation
center in Menongue, Cuando Cubango province. Funded by the European Union
(430,000 Euros – approx US$374,000) and Italian Cooperation (300,000 Euros
– approx US$260,000) and INTERSOS itself with the local NGO Mbwembwa
(70,000 Euros – approx US$60,000). The program has trained nine nurses to
be orthopedic technicians (four) and physiotherapists (five). Mbwembwa organised
training and assisted patients on reintegration into the community and on
becoming productive in the local
economy.[150]
For many
landmine survivors in Angola the opportunities for earning a living are very
limited. The future consists of being cared for by their families; many have
been reduced to begging. In a country with one of the highest rates of landmine
casualties in the world – it is estimated that one in every 415 Angolans
has a mine related injury – the availability of services to assist in
social and economic rehabilitation are either non-existent or inadequate to meet
the need.[151]
The HI-B
rehabilitation centers in Benguela and Lubango provide assistance in
socio-economic reintegration and vocational training. In Lubango, five groups
of disabled people have been granted micro-credits to establish businesses. The
centers also provide psychosocial support to patients. HI-B has identified local
NGO ADRA to take over the supervision of the micro-credit project. ADRA
will train the Ministry of Social Reintegration's staff in management of
micro-credit. Over the coming four years, 150 disabled persons, including
landmine survivors, and their families should benefit from the project.
The
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) project for disabled people including landmine
survivors in Luena focuses on socio-economic reintegration. Activities include:
upgrading carpentry skills for all students trained since 1996 (16 amputees) as
well as business management training; a partnership with the Ministry of
Assistance and Social Reintegration (MINARS) in dressmaking (16 students) was
completed in June 2001; a micro-credit project for amputee women (starting with
five women, increasing to 20) started in May 2001; a literacy course for 40
women aged 18-30 starting in June 2001; visiting recent amputees in the
hospital; and follow up with amputees assisted in the past. The project is
funded with US$55,000 from
TROCAIRE.[152]
Since 1996,
Medico International (MI) has shared the premises at the Regional Community
Rehabilitation Center in Luena with VVAF/VI and JRS. MI's program focuses on
community development with the aim of full reintegration of mine survivors into
the community. The program is being implemented, since January 2000, by a local
NGO, Support Center for the Promotion and Development of Communities (CAPDC).
Activities include the development of sports and cultural activities. Another
part of the program involves a “Client-Team,” that works with
survivors at home, with their families and neighborhood, in the hospitals,
invites them to the Prostheses Workshop, accompanies them during fitting and
training (more than 500 so far) and undertakes follow-up visits. The team also
organizes referrals for vocational or for literacy-training, and access to
assets and training for agriculture and small animal husbandry etc. The program
also helps the children of mine survivors with school enrolment, and due to the
emergency situation operates community kitchens for malnourished children and
adults, many of whom are mine
survivors.[153]
In early 2001,
the UK-based Jaipur Limb Campaign, which provides assistance to disabled in
Mozambique, visited Angola to conduct a feasibility study. The Anglican Church
in Luanda hosted their visit, which was supported by the Diana, Princess of
Wales Memorial Fund.[154]
In
2000, following an assessment visit by representatives of the European Union,
the national authorities adopted a new five-year plan for physical
rehabilitation.[155]
[87] Statement by Vice Minister
of External Relations, Toko Serrao, to the National Assembly, 25 July 2000.
Translation from Portuguese to English by ICBL. Law 60/90 requires consultation
with all relevant state bodies before an international treaty is entered
into.
[88] Letter from
Ambassador Jose Goncalves Martina Patricio, Permanent Mission of the Angola to
the UN, New York, to Elizabeth Bernstein, Coordinator, ICBL, 24 August
2000.
[89] Ministerio das
Relacoes Exteriores, “Assunto: Minas Anti Pessoal, ao Handicap
Internacional,” N Ref. 1821/SGMRE/00, 6 October
2000.
[90] Interview with
Leonardo Sapalo, INAROEE, Bamako, 15 February
2001.
[91] Mission Permanente
de La Republique D’Angola Aupres D L’Office Des Nations Unies A
Geneve, “Declaration De La Delegation Angolaise A La Deuxieme Conference
Des Etats – Parties A La Convention D’Ottawa Sur
L’Interdiction Des Mines Anti-Personnel,” Geneva, 12 September 2000.
(Unofficial translation from French by Landmine
Monitor.)
[92] The Landmine
Monitor researcher attended the National Assembly event in Luanda on 30 November
2000. INAOEE, ICRC, Handicap International (France), CARE, National Assembly,
UNICEF, MEC, Julu, Minessa, World Vision, Lardef, Gac and CDR supported the
event.
[93] Norwegian
People’s Aid (NPA), mine action NGO, on its website at:
www.angola.npaid.org/minelist_complete_angola.htm, seen on 10 July
2001.
[94] Landmine Monitor was
shown these mines by FAA commanders at Catumbela, Benguela, 15 August
2000.
[95]
For detail on use in Angola, see Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp.
131-143 and Landmine Monitor Report 1999, pp.
113-117.
[96] Introductory
Statement by Ibrahim Gambari, for “Report of the Secretary-General of the
United Nations Office in Angola,” New York, 27 July
2000.
[97] Mission Permanente
de La Republique D’Angola Aupres D L’Office Des Nations Unies A
Geneve, “Declaration De La Delegation Angolaise A La Deuxieme Conference
Des Etats – Parties A La Convention D’Ottawa Sur
L’Interdiction Des Mines Anti-Personnel,” Geneva, 12 September
2000.
[98] US Department of
State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices 2000: Angola, February
2001.
[99] Landmine Monitor
bases this on the testimony it has received from mine action organizations,
humanitarian aid workers, and local
communities.
[100] Interviews
in Malange city and in Luena, May
2001.
[101] Telephone interview
with Alan MacDonald, Angola Desk officer, HALO Trust, Thornhill, 13 July
2001.
[102] Interview with a
deminer in Luena, May
2001.
[103] “Mina
Mata,” Jornal de Angola, 5 July
2001.
[104] US Department of
State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices 2000: Angola, February
2001.
[105] Telephone interview
with Alan MacDonald, Angola Desk officer, HALO Trust, Thornhill, 13 July
2001.
[106] Interview with
Leonardo Sapalo, INAROEE, Bamako, 15 February
2001.
[107]
Ibid.
[108] UN Mine Action
Service, Mine Action Investment
Database.
[109] See mine action
funding sections of country reports on Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany,
Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and US, as well as EC. Landmine Monitor
Report 2000 compiled information showing commitment of $17.4 million to mine
action in Angola in 2000, though some of those funds may have been spent in
2001. Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp.
136-138.
[110] Information
provided by INAROEE to Landmine Monitor, Luanda, August
2001.
[111] Interview with
Leonardo Sapalo, Bamako, 15 February
2001.
[112] Information
provided by BRZ International, Pretoria, 1 July
2001.
[113] Telephone interview
with Alan MacDonald, Angola Desk officer, HALO Trust, Thornhill, 13 July
2001.
[114]
Ibid.
[115] Funded by the
European Union and Italian government with 1.7 million
Euros.
[116] Information
provided by Intersos, Luanda, May
2001.
[117] “Final
Project Report, MgM/WFP B12-nl-b, SO 5887.01,” Luanda, 26 February 2001.
Unless otherwise indicated, the information on MgM came from this
Report.
[118] MgM website at:
www.MgM.org
[119]
“Overview of Results,” Operations Angola 2000, (Ref: BK12us, B11d,
B12nl-wfp, JOIN-00), MgM,
undated.
[120] “Demining
Activity Report,” MgM, April to June 2001.
[121]
Ibid.
[122]
Ibid.
[123]
Ibid.
[124] Information
provided via Email from Tim Carstairs, Communications Director, MAG, to Landmine
Monitor, 20 July 2001. He noted that the information was compiled in
consultation with MAG program managers, team leaders and others in their
projects in the field.
[125]
Norwegian People’s Aid website at:
www.angola.npaid.org.
[126]
Data supplied by Steinar Essen, former Program Manager at the Mine Action
Program in Angola, Norwegian People’s Aid, July 2001.
[127] Information provided by
Thomas Roth in e-mails to Landmine Monitor, 7 July 2001 and 25 July
2001.
[128] See:
www.stiftung-sankt-barbara.de.
[129]
Information provided by Thomas Roth in e-mail to Landmine Monitor, 7 July
2001
[130] For more information
on this specific project and other projects of AMAC go to www.prio.no/amac.
[131] Data provided by UNICEF
Luanda, 1 December 2000.
[132]
Aparna Swaminatham et al., “Angola Mine Awareness Evaluation:
Summary,” UNICEF, DFAIT and CIET, 31 July 2000, p.
vii.
[133] Ibid, p.
xxvi.
[134] Ibid, p.
xxvi.
[135] Email from Tim
Carstairs, MAG, to Mary Wareham, Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 20 July
2001.
[136] Information
provided by INAROEE, Luanda, 20 June
2001.
[137] INAROEE,
Relatorio de Accidentes com Minas Terrestres Ano 2000 (INAROEE: Luanda,
2001).
[138]
Ibid.
[139] 590 were civilians,
233 were soldiers and seventeen were
unknown.
[140] INAROEE,
Relatorio de Accidentes com Minas Terrestres Ano 2000 (INAROEE: Luanda,
2001).
[141] “Angola:
Land mine incidents claim seven lives in Huambo since January,” ANGOP
(state news agency), 25 June
2001.
[142] “Dados
Estatistica de amputados: CAPDC Luena,” 16 May
2001.
[143] Information
provided by MSF Netherlands, based on meeting with US Embassy, 6 June 2001, and
confirmed by other sources in Huambo.
[144] “Angolan
Provincial Governor Injured by Landmine Explosion,” (Luanda), Xinhua
News Agency, 16 July
2001.
[145] INAROEE, Caminho
Seguro, Julho-Setembro 2000,
p.6.
[146] Interviews with
UNICEF and NPA, Luanda, 5 August
2000.
[147] ICRC Physical
Rehabilitation Unit – Annual Report 2000,
www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf
[148]
The following information on the work of Handicap International (Belgium) is
provided by Pierre Hublet, HI-B, in an email dated 23 July 2001; also telephone
interview with Bruno Leclerq, HI-B, 13 July
2001.
[149] Information
provided by Mike Kendellen, Program Manager for Post War Rehabilitation, VVAF,
in email to Landmine Monitor (HRW) on 24 July
2001.
[150] Information
provided by Intersos, Luanda, June
2001.
[151] Angola has a
population of about 11 million people. See also, Landmine Monitor Report
2000, p. 150.
[152]
Interview with Mr. James Ngawo, JRS Landmine Survivors Project Coordinator, 15
May 2001.
[153] Email from
Sebastian Kasack, medico international, to Landmine Monitor, 26 July
2001.
[154] Jaipur Limb
Campaign News, Issue no. 7, July
2001.
[155] ICRC Physical
Rehabilitation Unit – Annual Report 2000, www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf.