Land Mines Continue to Threaten the Life and Limbs of the People of Angola
CONTACT:Cynthia Glocker, CARE USA, (404) 681-2552 or (404) 374-4061
ATLANTA (September 3, 1999) - It is impossible to estimate the number of mines in Angola, after a 30-year civil war. Even conservative guesses put it at somewhere around the 20 million mark. It is also hard to imagine how many men, women and children are at risk of losing their lives, or limbs, from the mines.
"Angola remains one of the most heavily-mined countries in the world," says Jack Soldate, CAREs southern Africa regional manager. "More mines are planted every day by both sides of the conflict and continue to kill and maim ordinary Angolans at work and play."
More than 70,000Angolans are believed to have lost limbs as a result of land mine explosions. Furthermore, the threat of death or serious injury becomes even greater as more than 1 million internally displaced people risk wandering into unmarked minefields in unknown territory.
CARE is responding to the land mine threat in Angola. Not by removing or destroying every known mine, since it is simply too great a task for CAREs teams, but by surveying, mapping and marking, where mines and explosives ordnance are found. Just recently, CARE has destroyed or clearly marked with danger signs more than 100 mines. This way people know where it is safe to farm, graze cattle or fetch water.
CAREs teams have also trained almost 5,000 people in mine awareness and have assessed four campsites and surrounding agricultural land for temporary but safe resettlement of internally displaced people. However, CARE cannot keep up, as both sides in the civil war continue to bury new mines every day, while the number of victims - both from starvation and combat - grow daily.
In the last month alone, four children were killed in two separate incidents. They were playing in the town of Kuito, where CARE has an office. Also last month in Kuito, two women lost their legs to land mines while foraging for food and firewood on the outskirts of the town.
"Lack of food is forcing people - often women - to venture further out of the city limits and into mine fields," adds Soldate. "They search for wild roots, leaves, small animals to eat and wood to sell in order to buy household essentials."
On the outskirts of Kuito, CARE is also working with the government of Angola to allocate rich agricultural land to 15,000 displaced farm families. Then to help improve their harvests, CARE has distributed seeds and hand tools to the families.
CAREs work in Kuito is a successful model for the integration of demining and mines awareness with health and agriculture programs; yet, the future funding of the organizations work remains uncertain.
"While we are making strides in our mine awareness and agricultural activities, CARE still faces funding constraints due to lack of donor interest," says Soldate. "Without more support from donors and the worlds population, the people of Angola will continue to suffer the destruction and inhumanities of war. We hope that help will arrive before it is too late."
