CARE Announces New Land Mine Program in Angola
Specialists Introduce and Test New Technology for Rapid Mine Clearing
ATLANTA, December 3, 1997 - As over 120 countries join to sign the international treaty banning anti-personnel land mines in Ottawa, the international relief and development organization CARE announced a new land mines project in the Plenalto Central region of Angola.
Funded by the European Union, this project will continue the training, clearing and mine awareness work CARE has carried out in Angola since 1995. The program integrates mine awareness, marking, mapping and clearance activity with projects in agriculture, health, food and water.
Removing land mines by hand is a slow and tedious process. CARE's new project will introduce and test promising new mechanical systems for the rapid clearance of mines and explosives.
Even conservative estimates indicate there are over 15 million land mines and discarded explosives littering Angola - anything from 30-year old mortar shells to state-of-the-art missiles.
CARE's land mines strategy is twofold: to extend programs that help communities and individuals live with the danger of land mines, and to advocate for a comprehensive ban on the production, trade and use of these indiscriminate weapons.
"CARE salutes the leaders in Ottawa today, who understand the need for a total ban, but signing the treaty is just the beginning." says Peter Bell, President of CARE. "What the developing world needs now is immediate action to deal with the millions of mines that litter over 60 countries worldwide."
CARE has ongoing, self-help projects in 63 of the least developed countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America and the emerging economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. CARE works in 39 of the 64 countries riddled with anti-personnel land mines.
