MOZAMBIQUE’S development has been “retarded by three generations of land mines”, President Joaquim Chissano said at the opening of a five day conference in Maputo this week of countries that have signed the Ottawa landmine-ban treaty. Chissano said it would take Mozambique 160 years to clear the estimated two million mines strewn across the country. Since the start of a demining operation in 1993, 60000 mines have been made safe at a cost of $116-million – one of the highest figures for any demining programme in the world, according to a report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). In its report ICBL said one of the biggest obstacles to demining is funding.