Maputo | Wednesday
THE Mozambican army has surrendered its remaining landmine stocks for destruction by the National Demining Commission, in line with an international mine ban treaty, a senior government official said on Wednesday.
At least 2 500 mines have already been destroyed, from a total of about 40 000, the head of the commission, Artur Verissimo, told state television.
”There are still about 37 000 landmines in stock but the shortage of funds for their destruction has been a constraint,” he said.
Destroying the initial 2 500 landmines cost about $8 000, which came from international donors and from the governments own general budget.
At the end in 1992 of Mozambique’s 16-year civil war a conflict fuelled by the Cold War foes that followed a 10-year war to oust colonial power Portugal millions of mines remained buried in its soil.
The United Nations estimated at the time of the peace deal that two million landmines had been planted during the civil war.
Data from the government, which estimates the number of mines still buried at three million, shows that only about 40% of those mines have been deactivated, rendering much of the farm land in the impoverished southern African country completely unusable.
Leftover firearms are also a threat.
Many weapons have been collected but police believe large arms caches remain and criminal gangs are now using weapons left over from the war for car-hijackings.
The international Mine Ban Treaty, agreed in 1997 in the Canadian capital Ottawa, has been signed by 138 countries and prohibits the production, trade and use of anti-personnel landmines.
According to Handicap International, an estimated 20 people step on landmines every month in Mozambique. Sixty percent of them die because they lack access to health services. – Sapa-AFP