DEVELOPMENT: Gov’t Seeks to Make Zambia Landmine-Free by 2005

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Allan Peters

LUSAKA, Nov 17 2003 (IPS) - The government of President Levi Mwanawasa is seeking to make Zambia landmine free by 2005, if it gets international support.

Zambia, which depends on donor support, is seeking two million dollars and detective dogs to remove the mines lying unexploded along its borders.

“We’re concerned that the existence of landmines limits the physical safety, livelihood and food security of our people living in mine-infested areas. In addition, the increase in population has borne pressure for more land where the vulnerable rural communities have had to face the dilemma of venturing in mine contaminated areas for economic gain,” says deputy foreign minister Davison Mulela.

Mulela briefed a group of foreign diplomats recently on Zambia’s efforts to implement the international convention against the use, production and transfer of anti-personnel devices.

Although it has not fought any war before and after independence in 1964, Zambia is among 23 countries in sub-Sahara Africa that are affected by the menacing landmines, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).

Of these, seven – Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Swaziland, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.

It is estimated that two million landmines remain unexploded in Mozambique and between 12 and 15 million in Angola.

The unexploded mines in Zambia are concentrated on a 2,500-sq-kms stretch of land near Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to ‘Landmine Monitor’, published by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

Rebels and colonial troops, who fought in Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe in the 1960 and 1970s, planted the mines to manoeuvre and outwit each other.

At the time, Zambia harboured freedom fighters on its territory. Upon gaining independence, these guerrillas returned home to celebrate their newly-won political freedom leaving behind the devices.

U. S. Ambassador to Zambia Martin Brennan says Zambia has continued to suffer from the impact of land mines as a result of its support for liberation movements in the region.

“Generosity to liberation fighters in the region and the lingering of land mines have continued to impose heavy costs on Zambia today,” Brennan says. “Landmines or suspected landmines stop farmers from planting fields. They stop transporters from using roads. They stop communities from building clinics and schools. In sum total, they block development.”

Recent civil wars in Mozambique, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo have given way to more landmines being planted along Zambia’s borders.

The exact number of civilians killed by landmines in Zambia may not be known. The government says only 108 people have been killed since 1970, while the Red Cross put the figure at 10,000.

Prominent among those killed is an expatriate engineer who was blown to pieces when a light-truck he was driving deep in the forests of Gwembe Valley near Zimbabwe detonated a landmine. His colleague suffered severe injuries.

The two were surveying routes for the proposed high-voltage power lines when they met their fate in May 1999. The incident brought the project worth 75 million dollars from the World Bank to a halt.

A peasant farmer in southern Zambia says landmines have cost him 12 heads of cattle and 37 goats in the last ten years.

There have also been isolated incidences of children picking and playing with objects that blow up – killing them in the process. These objects have turned out to be grenades left buried in backyard gardens by ex-freedom fighters in the suburbs of Lusaka, the capital of Zambia.

In the past decade, the U.S. government has supported the de-mining exercise in Zambia with the provision of 20 vehicles and high-tech equipment for use in disposing unexploded mines.

The U.S. State Department also has trained 60 Zambian soldiers in the techniques of locating and disposing of land mines.

So far, the Zambia Mine Action Centre, whose soldiers are engaged in de-mining work, has cleared a 185-kms stretch of land in southern Zambia near Zimbabwe, as well as in the stalled power lines project.

Workers, who are involved in de-mining exercise, say they were finding problems locating the devices because mined areas are not marked and fenced.

“The absence of maps makes it very difficult to know which areas are mined,” a soldier told IPS.

This is where dogs are expected to play a crucial role.

During his visit to Namibia in Jul. 2002, President Levy Mwanawasa asked his Namibian counterpart Sam Nujoma for the services of former guerrillas to assist in locating the mines in areas bordering the former South African colony. It is not clear whether or not the request has been granted.

Mulela’s declaration to make Zambia landmine free by 2005 will only succeed if no fresh fighting erupts in neighbouring countries.