Africa-Press – Angola. The Angolan Government plans to clear, from this year until 2025, a total of 111,569 kilometers in the provinces of Luanda, Huíla, Moxico, Uíge, Zaire, Lunda-Norte and Lunda-Sul, in Caxito, Bengo province, the head of the Operations Room of the Executive Demining Commission.
António Jorge, who was speaking about the “Strategic Demining Plan until 2025” at the IV Consultative Council of the Ministry of Social Action, Family and Promotion of Women (MASFAMU), held last week in Caxito, added that, in order to achieve this objective, it will be essential to comply with some assumptions, such as the conclusion of the survey project and updating of data from areas suspected of having mines.
He explained that the objective is to end mine accidents in communities and in reconstruction and social development operations, by removing unexploded objects and others that put human life and property at risk.
“It is intended that Angola will be free from the danger of mines and other explosive devices remaining from the war, by 2025”, he said, adding that Moxico, Cuando Cubango and Bié, where the largest and most prolonged fighting took place, are the provinces with fields high impact mines.
During the intervention, the head of the Operational Room of the Executive Demining Commission recalled that, between 1994 and 1998, a survey was carried out that classified the contaminated areas, based on the risk they posed to the populations, having recorded the existence of 4,589 fields mined.
In 1998, he said, actions were carried out to determine the impact of the mines installed and, based on the result of the first survey and with the participation of several operators, it was concluded that 3,496 fields were demined, which represented 76 percent of the identified number.
António Jorge stated that the country has assumed, with the United Nations, the ambitious commitment to verify and demining, by 2025, all the fields already identified: “But this objective will only be achieved with the combined demining method”.
He informed that last year, areas corresponding to 1,916 hectares were checked and cleared, where 4,207 anti-personnel mines, 770 anti-tank mines, 9,684 unexploded ordnance and 39,817 small-caliber ammunition were removed and destroyed.
Demining Will Only Be Completed In 2028
The National Mine Action Agency (ANAM) said this Monday that the process in Angola should only be completed in 2028. Currently, the country has 71 square kilometers (1,102 areas) still mined.
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