Over 400 sites still plagued by mines in Mozambique

At least 440 sites are still heavily infested by landmines near residential districts in three Mozambican provinces, a non-governmental organisation working with the disabled said on Thursday.

Demining agency Handicap International said the sites, mined during the former Portuguese colony’s 16-year civil war, were in the southern province of Inhambane and central provinces of Manica and Sofala.

“These 440 sites, covering a total surface area of 12-million square kilometres, are often close to schools, roads, hospitals and sources of potable water,” said an official in charge of the organisation’s demining programme.

Aderito Ismael told Agence France-Presse this posed a “serious danger for the population”. He said that it was becoming increasingly difficult to fund demining as countries experiencing recent conflict like Angola or Afghanistan took priority.

“However, we have just received a million dollars from a group of donors from Switzerland, Austria and Japan,” he said.

Sixteen years after the end of the civil war, more than 100-million square metres remain to be demined in mostly rural areas of Mozambique, posing a risk to some 700 000 people and halting economic development.

Dozens of people die yearly in mine explosions, however international partners pulling out of the demining programme have raised fears the government will not meet its goal to make the country mine-free by 2010.