|
Present Demining Efforts in Angola
Transcript of Interview with MJ Conway,
CARE Angola Project Manager,
Land Mine Awareness and Clearance Project
1/23/97
Q: Can you tell us what life is like in Angola both for aid workers and for Angolans themselves?
It can be dangerous; it can be a nerve-wracking and fearful experience for people. For example, if we try to go to new locations where we haven't worked before, it can be very frightening; we have had some frightening experiences with mines on roads.
For Angolans, well, just imagine if you sent your children out to play, you would be afraid that one of your children would step on a mine. Something quite common in developing countries is that women and children go out to collect fire wood. And they typically go to forested areas, in other words, areas that haven't been walked upon much. And that is, of course, where someone is most likely to step on a mine.
Q: Is your life in Angola restricted because of land mines?
Aid workers know where it's safe to go. And we have a security policy that says you don't go where it's not safe to go or where a demining organization has warned us to keep out. There is freedom of mobility in your own vicinity; the danger lies in going into new areas.
However, there is always the danger of newly planted mines on roads that have been traveled before. And there is the danger during the rainy season and after the rainy season, when mines have a tendency to either float to the surface or to move. So an area that might have been safe to travel before becomes
unsafe.
Q: Can you describe what life was like for Angolans before the war and how life has changed now?
It's hard to say what life was like for Angolans before the war; after all, Angola has been at war for over 30 years. Presumably people were freer and comfortable to move about and not fear that they were going to lose their life or their limbs.
Here's a graphic example of how land mines have changed peoples lives: They say there are 70,000 amputees in Angola. You see amputees everywhere in every provincial town and in the capital, Luanda, you see amputees that have come from rural areas. Now assuming that there are 70,000, those are the ones who have survived. For those 70,000 who have survived, think of the ones who have not.
Here's another example: It is estimated that there are 1.3 million Angolans displaced by the war. A survey was done recently, conducted in which 80% of the displaced people surveyed referred to the issue of security, in particular land mines, as the primary reason for their fear of returning home.
They are unable to go home to productive agricultural lives because they think access paths to their fields, or their fields themselves, could be mined. The problem this creates is that people can't raise food, and so it keeps the country dependent on outside food aid.
Q: What do you do if you're an Angolan, with no access to health facilities, and you step on a mine?
How is that treated?
If you are fortunate enough to be close to a hospital that has some sort of facility to treat a mine victim, you survive. If you are not, you die. Basically. And that's why I took the example of 70,000 amputees because they are the ones who have survived. To my mind, many, many, many more have not survived and have died an agonizing death, because there's absolutely nothing that can be done. This is a country with a rural population who do not have access to any kind of health facilities. And mines are everywhere throughout the country.
A mine explosion and the trauma that results is an agonizing experience for someone who has no access to health facilities, has no access to hospital that can deal with a mine accident.
Q: And mines are still being newly sowed?
To some extent, yes they are.
Q: What would life be like for Americans if they had a land mine problem like Angola?
People cannot imagine the havoc that the scourge of land mines has created in this country. They just cannot imagine without coming here and seeing how people have to live.
Imagine if you wanted to go for a walk in the woods with your family for a Sunday outing and you just couldn't do it. Or you were worried about your children going out to play. As an American, I can't imagine living like that.
Q: What does CARE's Mines Awareness Program do?
CARE in Angola is working in partnership with a British organization called Greenfield Consultants. Greenfield Consultants provides the technical assistance and training for the program. We focus on mines awareness education and training for at-risk populations. That means people who might encounter mines or people who might live in areas that are known to be contaminated with mines.
We have staff that go out and speak to villagers who can identify areas they believe might be mined. CARE's Mines Awareness Program staff then go to Greenfields and report. The technical people then go visit suspicious areas and identify whether there are mines. They mark the area, record the location, and this information is then fed into the national survey database, which is in Luanda.
This kind of surveying work is painting a picture of Angola.
Where are the various mined areas? Where are the danger areas? Where are the areas that need the most focus and attention because they have higher concentrations of mines?
Another key part of the program is something called "Area Reduction." Say there is an area that is perceived to be dangerous by the local population, but they don't really know where the mines are and how many there are. CARE helps to identify where the mines are and mark these areas. Knowing where mines are not opens up larger areas of land for agriculture and for free movement.
Finally, we demine key areas like schools, water points, and access paths.
Q: Can you describe what demining looks like?
Actual demining is very intense work. If a place is suspected of being mined, you send a team of two deminers that work together. It's like a buddy system. One watches quite closely, making sure they don't miss a square inch of earth, while the other tests the ground for mines, carefully using a prodder. That person is looking for the outline of the mine. The team works for 20 minutes and then they switch, and the other one works for 20 minutes. It's because it's such intense work that they're not allowed to work longer than 20 minutes at a time, because then they start to make mistakes and once people start to make mistakes, it becomes very, very dangerous.
Q: Is there a feeling of claustrophobia working in Angola?
Well, for example, there is a town in central Angola called Kuito. It's known as the Sarajevo of Angola because it was the site of actual fighting in the streets, with the government on one side and Unita forces on the other. It was badly destroyed, as well as contaminated with mines throughout the city. When aid workers first went in late 1994 and into 1995 it was very claustrophobic -- people were very afraid to move around. And ...there were, unfortunately, a number of accidents.
However, now the city has been open for some time. Halo Trust, the British demining organization, has been working there and it is far less claustrophobic. So the claustrophobia is less, but you always have to be thinking about the path you take to work, and where you go for recreation and that sort of thing.
And there is still the danger of going out into government and Unita areas (and they still do exist -- we call it the "gray area"). It can be dangerous, because one side may try to protect its perimeter and there can be mines.
Q: Do you think Angola will ever be able to recover?
It is going to be a long, long time. Consider that in Europe, ... where World War II was fought, they are still finding mines. This is the developed world and how many years has it been since World War II?
And with Angola, we are talking about a country that has millions of mines. Nobody knows for sure -- the estimates are between 10 million to 20 million mines indiscriminately placed all over the country. But even at lower estimates, it is going to be a very, very long time.
Q: In the areas CARE has worked, how has life changed for the better?
If a well was mined, and you had to go many, many more kilometers to collect water, and suddenly this water point was freed from the risk of mines -- it makes life a lot easier, especially for women and children who are the ones who
collect water.
Or a school that has been mined, or the playing field. Once it is cleared kids can go back to school.
Roads and commercial routes -- once they are free of mines they become key to helping to create more stability and reduce prices, because goods can more cheaply get into markets in town. That has a major impact on people's lives.
Freeing agricultural land is an invaluable contribution. Angola has the potential to be a major agricultural producer. Yet at the moment they're dependent on food aid because farmers are too afraid to use their farmland. Agriculture needs to be revitalized and people need to get back to their lands. This is another positive impact of mines programs.
Q: Is there a specific example of CARE's impact?
Menongue is the provincial capital of the area where CARE is working, and this particular city has had many, many mines in it. In fact there are ammunition dumps that have exploded for no real reason other than nobody has been looking out and taking care. We've gone in a cleaned up areas and removed
these things and the city is a much safer place.
Q: As you know there is a growing global movement to ban land mines. Can you tell us why a ban is so important?
So that we don't have more countries like Angola, Cambodia, Bosnia, Mozambique. A ban on land mines is too late for Angola, but perhaps it can, in the future prevent this type of situation from occurring again someplace else.
Back to Landmine Special Report Homepage
|
