Mozambique
Casualties
Casualties Overview
|
All known casualties by end 2016 |
(Total unknown) 2,436 mine/explosive remnant of war (ERW) casualties recorded |
|
Casualties occurring in 2016 |
2 (2015: 6) |
|
2016 casualties by survival outcome |
2 injured (2015: 3 killed; 3 injured) |
|
2016 casualties by device type |
2 ERW |
In 2016, the National Demining Institute (Instituto Nacional de Desminagem, IND) reported two ERW casualties. One man and one woman were injured in the same incident as the result of an item of unexploded ordnance.[1]
This continues a trend of decreasing mine/ERW casualties from six in 2015, eight in 2014, and 11 in 2013.[2]
The total number of mine/ERW casualties in the Republic of Mozambique is unknown, but there were at least 2,436 through the end of 2015. The most extensive collection of casualty data to date remains the nationwide Landmine Impact Survey (LIS), completed in 2001; it recorded 2,145 mine/ERW casualties but did not provide a breakdown of those killed and injured.[3] An additional 291 casualties (110 killed; 178 injured; three unknown) were identified between 2002 and 2016.[4]
Based on the results of an earlier national survey, the then-titled Ministry of Women and Social Action (Ministério da Mulher e da Acção Social, MMAS)[5] projected that there were some 10,900 landmine/ERW survivors in Mozambique through December 2011.[6]
Cluster munition casualties
There were no reported cluster munitions casualties in 2016.[7] There are known to be casualties from earlier incidents involving cluster munition remnants, although these were not distinguished from ERW in the data and would require a survey to identify them.[8] Cluster munition casualties have been reported among non-state armed group members from Zimbabwe (when it was formerly Rhodesia) on the territory of Mozambique during cluster munition bombing.[9]
[1] Email from Assane Surengue, Head of International Relations Section, IND, 20 March 2017.
[2] See previous Monitor country profiles.
[3] Among “recent” casualties, the LIS estimated that one-third of the people were killed and two-thirds were injured. “Landmine Impact Survey – Republic of Mozambique,” September 2001, pp. 30 and 35.
[4] See previous Monitor country profiles for Mozambique for details.
[5] The ministry was renamed and reorganized in January 2015 as el Ministério do Género, Criança e Acção Social (Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action, MGCAS).
[6] Based on the findings of the 2007 national census and 2009 national survey on disability, indicating that 6.8% of all disabilities in the country were caused by mines and other conflict-related causes. Email from Macario Dubalelane, Head of Department for Persons with Disabilities, MMAS, 16 October 2012.
[7] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report (for the calendar year 2015), Form H.
[8] Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 Report (for the calendar year 2012), Form H; statement of Mozambique, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 16 September 2011; and interview with António Belchior Vaz Martin, IND, and Mila Massango, Head of International Affairs, IND, in Geneva, 22 June 2010.
[9] P. Petter-Bowyer, Winds of Destruction: The autobiography of a Rhodesian born pilot covering the Rhodesian bush war of 1967–1980 (Trafford Publishing: 2003).