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MOZAMBIQUE, Landmine Monitor Report 1999

MOZAMBIQUE

Mine Ban Policy

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]

Use[8]

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.

Mine Action Funding[11]

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]

<MAURITIUS | NAMIBIA>

[1]CND website: http://www.tropical.co.mz/~plans/, 12 February 1999.

[2]Human Rights Watch, Still Killing: Landmines in Southern Africa (New York: Human Rights Watch, 1997), p. 101.

[3]His Excellency Dr. Leonardo Simão, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Mozambique, Statement to Signing Ceremony, 3 December 1997.

[4]Interview with Sr. Eugenio Come, MINEC, 6 January 1999.

[5]HRW, Still Killing, pp. 74-75.

[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.

[9]HRW, Still Killing, p. 73.

[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.

[17]U.S. Dept. of State, Hidden Killers, p. 32.

[18]HALO Trust/UNOHAC National Mines Survey Report, 25 May 1994.

[19]Ibid., p. 7.

[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.

[27]Ibid.

[28]Interview with Mike Wilson, HI Proximity Demining Director, Inhambane, 25 January 1999.

[29]Interview with Chris Pearce, Director, Mine-Tech, Harare, Zimbabwe, 29 December 1998.

[30]HRW, Still Killing, p. 92.

[31]CND, Bulletin no. 7, Maputo, September 1998, pp. 22-23 & appendix ‘Planed Future Demining Tasks’.

[32]EU factsheet: Cost of Landmine Removal – Emergency Opening of Roads in Sofala and Zambezia Provinces, January 1999.

[33]HRW, Still Killing, p. 94.

[34]Interview with Bernie Auditore, SCS Director, Harare, 28 December 1998.

[35]HRW, Still Killing, pp. 90-91.

[36]CND, Bulletin no. 7, Summary of Recorded Mine Clearance in Mozambique, Maputo, September 1998.

[37]Interview with Bobby DeBeers, CGTVA Field Manager-Mozambique, Maputo, 2 February 1999.

[38]CND, Bulletin no. 7, pp. 17-18; “Demining contract blows up,” Indian Ocean Newsletter, 13 February 1999.

[39]Response to CMCM-administered Landmine Monitor questionnaire, 1 February 1999, on file with author.

[40]EU factsheet: Cost of Landmine Removal – Emergency Opening of Roads in Sofala and Zambezia Provinces, January 1999.

[41]Portuguese, Tsonga, Xitswa, Bitonga, Mandau, Xissena, Ximanica, Xitewa, Kyanja, Xinhungwé, Loruwé, Chuabo, Emacua, Macua, Swahili, Maconde, Nyanja, Jyao.

[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.

[46]Ibid.

[47]Baptista, p.2.

[48]Telephone interview with Pascal Torres, HI Technical Assistant, Ministry for the Coordination of Social Action, Maputo.

[49]POWER Mozambique project pamphlet, undated.

[50]Interview with Max Deneu, POWER Country Manager, Maputo, 20 January 1999.

[51]Findings reproduced in POWER Mozambique project pamphlet, undated.

[52]Interview with Pascal Torres, PAI Project Coordinator, MINEC, Maputo, 12 January 1999.