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FROM THE FIELD

MAG DRC latest update - May 2008
23 Jun 2008 11:09:00 GMT
 Source: MAG (Mines Advisory Group)
Website: Website: http://www.maginternational.org

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The DfID and Dutch-funded clearance teams in Katanga.
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The DfID and Dutch-funded clearance teams in Katanga.

Background

•  Congo (DR) conflict

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Reporting Period: 01 May 2008 - 31 May 2008

Activities & Outputs Summary:

- Removal and destruction of a total of 3,116 hazardous items by the mine action teams, comprising 25 items of UXO and 3,091 items of small arms ammunition.

- Destruction of 33,382 hazardous items by the SALW teams, including 196 anti-personnel mines, 110 anti-tank mines, and 33,076 items of ammunition.

- 6 Dangerous Areas identified.

- 106 MRE sessions conducted targeting 17,118 beneficiaries.

Impact Summary:

This month MAG has conducted significant sensitization activities to vulnerable groups, in particular to children, youth and returnees. In Equateur, sensitisation took place in 17 primary schools and 14 secondary schools as well as 85 communities.

Equateur is one of the provinces most affected by Explosive Remnants of War and children are especially vulnerable due to their tendency to touch unknown objects and play with them.

In Katanga, the Mine Risk Education focused on returnees in UNHCR transit camps in Moba and Pweto. The UNHCR has recently restarted its repatriation program for Congolese refugees in Zambia which had been halted since last year due to ethnic tensions in host communities.

Mine Risk Education to returnees is especially crucial because the refugees were absent during the end of the conflict and therefore, unlike the population who remained in the region, do not have information on the location of dangerous items. Moreover, the returnees will often settle on new land, cultivate new areas and dig to build infrastructures, therefore increasing the risks of an encounter with UXO.

ACTIVITIES

Equateur

MAG now has two fully operational bases for its HMA activities in Equateur: one in Mbandaka, the provincial capital, funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), and a second one recently set up in Gemena, in Northern Equateur, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In Mbandaka, the Community Liaison teams deployed to Bikoro where they conducted 97 Mine Risk Education sessions to 14,918 beneficiaries, including many primary and secondary school students.

The Technical Field Manager based in Gemena finished developing a programme training course which includes Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), demining and weapon destruction modules, and which will become the norm for the technical teams in MAG DRC after being approved by the United Nations Mine Action Co-ordination Centre (UNMACC).

Moreover, the Community Liaison Manager working with the local NGO Humanitas Ubangi to build their expertise in community liaison, finished her assessment mission in Gemena and returned to Kinshasa to work with the headquarters-based staff of Humanitas Ubangi.

Katanga

In May, community liaison teams (funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UK Department for International Development) conducted Mine Risk Education in Moba to refugees returning from exile in Zambia with the support of the UNHCR.

In total, the community liaison teams conducted 9 MRE sessions for 2,200 beneficiaries, including 5 sessions in the UNHCR transit camps.

The clearance teams worked in the vicinity of Lofwashi, Pepa and Moba where they removed 25 items of UXO and 3,091 miscellaneous items (small arms ammunitions, fuses, etc) thus improving access to 12 agricultural sites, 19 housing sites and 6 roads.

Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Destruction Project

With funding from the United States Department of State, the SALW mobile team in the 6th Military Region (Katanga) worked on large ammunition and weapon stocks from Kolwezi, transporting them to Lubumbashi for destruction, preparing the demolition and acquiring all due authorisations.

In total in May, 8.7 tons of dangerous items were destroyed, including 196 anti-personnel mines and 110 anti-tank mines. Due to difficulties experienced by the Military Regions in sending their weapons stocks to Kinshasa, destruction of weapons at the Central Logistics Base has been temporarily suspended, but is expected to resume shortly.

The initial training of the two new SALW mobile teams funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs was completed in Mbuji-Mayi. These teams will deploy to the 5th and 7th Military Regions (Kasai Oriental and Maniema) during the coming months.

MAG would like to express its gratitude and many thanks to the following current donors to the Democratic Republic of the Congo programme:

- Department for International Development (UK)

- Guernsey Overseas Aid Commission

- Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

- Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs

- United States Department of State, Political Military Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

For more information on this or any of MAG's programmes across the world please visit www.maginternational.org.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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