Team:Edinburgh/mapxmlmozambique



Mozambique <![CDATA[Mozambique is affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), a legacy of nearly 30 years of conflict that ended in 1992. A much-criticized Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) from 2001 has been superseded by three major surveys of the problem—two by HALO Trust and one by Handicap International (HI)—have reduced the total estimated mined area in Mozambique to approximately 12km2.

Between March 2005 and 8 December 2006, HALO conducted a Mine Impact Free District (MIFD) survey in the four northern provinces of Niassa, Cabo Delgado, Nampula, and Zambezia, where it had been operating since 1994. On completion of the survey, HALO stated they had identified and cleared every known mined area in the four provinces: “That is not to say that there are no more mines remaining…. But…there are no more areas left to demine, nobody in the north of the country can point at an area and say ‘I think there are mines there.’” During the survey, HALO also identified and cleared 74 new suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) and found and destroyed 176 mines.[

In 2008, further sites were visited and 57 additional contaminated areas were identified for a new total of 541 mined areas amounting to 12.164km2 nationwide across six provinces. The Baseline Assessment reported that contaminated areas include the following: •	six battle areas comprising 81,000m2 in total; •	roads on the border with Zimbabwe; •	infrastructure such as dams at Cahora Bassa and Chicamba in Tete province; •	the Beira-Machipanda railway in Manica province and the Limpopo railway in Gaza province; and •	170 electricity pylons between Maputo city and the border with South Africa.

An explosion in March 2007 at an ammunition storage area (ASA) in Maputo spread ordnance across the Malhazine area of the capital killing 130 people (103 civilians and 27 military personnel) and injuring more than 500 others. Damage occurred in a 10km radius and affected about 300,000 people. A total of 4,979 houses destroyed during the explosions had been re-built as of March 2008.

In 2007, there were at least 47 new mine/ERW casualties in 14 incidents in Mozambique, including 22 killed and 25 injured. IND recorded 24 casualties in 11 incidents (14 killed and 10 injured). Ten of the casualties were children, eight were men and six were women. No information was provided on whether any of these casualties were military or clearance staff. IND reported that the most likely causes of casualties were lack of awareness, illegal border crossing, opening of new paths for the movement of people and goods, and scrap metal collection.

]]> <![CDATA[]]>