Africa-Press – Angola. The demining process, in Cuando Cubango, records positive results, with the clarification, between 2002 and 2023, of 399 fields that are currently used for cultivation and the movement of people and goods, at the province level.
The data was presented Monday, the representative of the National Mine Action Agency in Cuando Cubango, Marcial Cativa, who said that the clarified fields correspond to 67 million 492 thousand and 756 square meters.
According to the technician, this work was carried out in the municipalities of Menongue, Cuito Cuanavale, Cuangar, Rivungo, Mavinga, Cuchi, Dirico, Nancova and Calai, where 634 areas were identified, corresponding to 83 million 524 thousand and 918 square meters.
Marcial Cativa reported that 36 fields corresponding to nine million 460 thousand and 273 square meters are currently being demined, with work progressing at a good pace, with emphasis on the municipalities of Cuito Cuanavale, Mavinga and Rivungo.
He made it known that in Cuando Cubango another 190 fields have yet to be demined, corresponding to nine million, 267 thousand and 450 square meters.
He also reported that, from 2002 to 2023, 112 mine accidents were recorded, resulting in 75 deaths, 96 injuries and two injuries, in a total of 171 victims, caused by activation, handling and work, particularly anti-tank mines. , anti-personnel and ows (various unexploded ordnance).
During this period, more than five thousand people were made aware of the dangers of mines, with the involvement of more than 100 demining teams that carry out this task of raising awareness in relation to accidents with mines and other explosive devices.
The source explained that the teams have also sensitized people to report it to the authorities for immediate intervention when they find any strange object near their home areas.
“The balance of the demining process in Cuando Cubango is, so far, positive, taking into account the results of the clarified fields that serve to produce field products and the safe movement of people and goods”, he highlighted.
He clarified that, in 2023 alone, through the brigades of the National Demining Center (CND), The Halo Trust (British), the Military Engineering of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and the Border Guard Police, two million, 475 thousand and 965 square meters and 75 kilometers.
3,723 anti-personnel mines, 870 anti-tank mines, 807 ows and 7,130 various ammunition were also cleared, with the most targeted municipalities being Cuito Cuanavale and Menongue.
In the last three months of this year 2024, the ANAM representative in Cuando Cubango said, 707 thousand and 625 square meters were demined, in which it was possible to remove 554 anti-personnel mines, 232 anti-tank mines, 657 flows and 576 ammunition of various calibers.
Cuando Cubango, the second province of the country, in territorial terms with 199,049 square meters, after Moxico, has an estimated population of more than 700 thousand inhabitants, and was one of the regions of Angola most devastated by the armed conflict, hence it is also , one of the most mined to date.
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