Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

FROM THE FIELD

Supporting Regeza's recovery from war
05 Sep 2008 11:03:00 GMT
 Source: MAG (Mines Advisory Group)
Website: Website: http://www.maginternational.org

220485 logo
The village chief, with his son (right) and a villager (left), is showing the newly cultivated fertile fields after they have been cleared by MAG.
Previous | Next
The village chief, with his son (right) and a villager (left), is showing the newly cultivated fertile fields after they have been cleared by MAG.

Background

•  Congo (DR) conflict

MORE >>
Regeza is a village of 250 inhabitants located 60 kilometres from Pweto on the main road between Pweto and Moba in Katanga, in the south east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

During the Second Congo war (1998-2003), Rwandan and Ugandan troops took hold of Moba and Pweto, and soon the Congolese troops and the villagers of Regeza were trapped in the middle. In December 2000, the population fled and walked cross-country to Zambia.

The Congolese troops soon decided to follow the villagers into the bush and before leaving Regeza attempted to destroy what they could not carry, so as to prevent the advancing enemy troops from using Congolese weapons against them in the future. This included the destruction of a lorry containing 60mm and 82mm mortars. However, the blast was not big enough to destroy all the mortars and, because of this, much of the area previously used for agricultural purposes was contaminated with widely scattered mortars, some partially destroyed.

Villagers started coming back to Regeza in late 2004 and the majority had returned by July 2007. On their return, the population started to rebuild the village and re-farm the land. Due to the unexploded ordnance (UXO) contamination left from the war and the destruction of the buildings, the village could not be recreated in the same place. The houses were built in a location 500 metres further up the road and new fields were created on the opposite side of the road on the lower slopes.

However, the villagers soon discovered that this area did not have as fertile soil as their previous plot, which was contaminated by the mortars ejected from the lorry when it was destroyed. They were not able to produce as vigorous crops as they had before the war and, as a result, were permanently short of food.

During a visit of MAG teams to Regeza, the village chief asked MAG to clear the contaminated agricultural land, so that people could safely access the more fertile land and produce more and better quality food to feed themselves and, hopefully, to start trade.

The clearance team removed 53 mortars and 576 miscellaneous items, mostly bullets of varying calibre, and cleared 2,560 square metres of land that was returned to the villagers for agriculture. "We always used to cultivate there because the soil was more fertile. Now we can cultivate there again because MAG has already cleared the land," said the village chief.

A few months later during a following visit, he showed MAG the newly cultivated fertile area: "In this area we are now cultivating beans, maize and cassava."

In Regeza, as elsewhere in the region, agriculture is the main livelihood and by clearing the land and returning it to the population, MAG is supporting the socio-economic development of the villages and helping the population recover from the war. The removal of the physical legacy of war is also a strong signal that the war is over and helps the population turn towards building their futures.

For more information on MAG's programme in DRC, please visit www.maginternational.org/drc.




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

Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  International Humanitarian Law

•  Landmines and explosives

•  Refugees & displacement

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Congo (DR) conflict

MORE >>

Members

•  MAG (Mines Advisory Group)

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  Supporting Regeza's recovery from war
MAG - UK

•  Mine detection dogs arrive in Chamchamal
MAG - UK

•  Staff from Handicap International and a local partner organisation die in plane crash, East Congo
HI - Belgium

•  Lutheran World Relief Provides Emergency Assistance in Philippines
LWR - USA

•  Save the Children Continues to Help Displaced Families Following Hurricane Gustav
Save the Children - International Alliance

MORE >>

Latest news

•  U.N. food supply for southern Philippines hijacked

•  Resettlement of Palestinians to Iceland

•  High Commissioner to address EU conference on asylum

•  UGANDA: Landmine victims struggle to reintegrate

•  Cheney visits Ukraine divided on NATO

MORE >>

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

Background information

Briefings
Congo (DR) conflict - [Who works where]

Topics
International Humanitarian Law Landmines and explosives Refugees & displacement
Facts & figures
Congo (DR)

Related articles

Breaking stories
 U.N. food supply for southern Philippines hijacked (1 minute ago)

Resettlement of Palestinians to Iceland (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 Georgia's displaced top 150,000, U.N. says (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 Supporting Regeza's recovery from war (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 Georgia: Good Humanitarian Donorship Betrayed (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Philippines: Mindanao, Complex Emergency (29 Aug 2008) (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-04T142713Z_01_LBN04_RTRIDSP_2_LEBANON_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/LBN04.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-03T180256Z_01_DEL54_RTRIDSP_2_INDIA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DEL54.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-03T175038Z_01_DEL62_RTRIDSP_2_INDIA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DEL62.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-03T174907Z_01_DEL61_RTRIDSP_2_INDIA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DEL61.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-09-03T174735Z_01_DEL58_RTRIDSP_2_INDIA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/DEL58.htm

Major General Claudio Graziano, commander of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon, salutes over the coffin of a Belgian peacekeeper who was killed on Wednesday while clearing cluster bombs in south Lebanon, during ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Fri Sep 5 11:07:43 2008