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ZAMBIA: A deadly reminder of the hospitality of the past

19 Nov 2007 19:17:24 GMT
Source: IRIN

LUSAKA, 19 November 2007 (IRIN) - Hosting many of southern Africa's liberation movements left Zambia with a legacy of landmines that is hampering development, says The International Campaign to Ban Landmines in its in its latest report.

"Explosive remnants of war have had a greater impact on [Zambia's] national development than on local communities, as most of the affected areas are not densely populated. Tourism, farming and hydroelectric power - all key pillars for the Zambian economy and development - are affected by the threat of landmines."

The international non-governmental organisation (NGO), which campaigns against the use of anti-personnel mines, made the statement in its Landmine Monitor Report 2007, released last week.

Zambia has been at peace since it gained independence from Britain in 1964, but its policy of providing safe havens for liberation movements from neighbouring Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia and South Africa resulted in anti-personnel mines being planting at 41 sites or more throughout the country.

By virtue of Zambia being one of the first countries in the region to secure its independence, Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia's first post-colonial president, allowed liberation movements to establish military bases in the country as a launch pad for operations against colonial and white-minority regimes.

South Africa's African National Congress, Namibia's SWAPO, Mozambique's FRELIMO, Zimbabwe's Zimbabwe Peoples' Revolutionary Army and Angola's MPLA were among the organisations that found a welcome in Zambia.

But after the liberation struggles in neighbouring countries had been won, the bases were either abandoned or destroyed without clearing any of the landmines, which left large tracts of mined land that have hindered development in these areas.

"Mines deny access to wildlife and game reserves, limit the access to the Zambezi River [Zambia's largest river] for hydro-electric development and hamper the creation of a cattle disease cordon - suspected mine contamination along some portions of Zambia's international boundaries has resulted in the inability of the Ministry of Lands to conduct boundary maintenance, even when the need arises," the report said.

Nearly 3,000 sq km of Zambia's 750,000 sq km is said to be contaminated with landmines, mostly along the border regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Angola, as well as on the outskirts of the capital, Lusaka, western and southern Zambia and parts of the country's economic heartland, the Copperbelt region.

The landmine hangover

Robert Mtonga, an independent researcher into landmines and cluster ammunition, told IRIN: "The issue of mines is very significant because of its developmental and humanitarian implications; any piece of land suspected to be contaminated will not be opened up to agriculture, tourism and socio-cultural development, even the road network or infrastructure like schools and clinics can't be fully developed."

A US$50 million project, sponsored by the World Bank in Southern Province for people displaced during the 1959 construction of the Kariba Dam, which created one of the world's largest man-made lakes, was stalled in 1999 after a landmine killed a consulting engineer.

"Landmines have really affected the pace of implementing our project, especially along the Bottom Road [a 196km route cutting through the project area]. It seems we now have to wait for the completion of the demining exercise before the project can be fully executed," Jumbe Ngoma, a World Bank spokesman in Zambia, told IRIN.

Since 1972, when Zambia began to actively support southern African liberation struggles after adopting a socialist one-party state, over 500 landmine explosions have occurred, according to the Zambia Mine Action Centre, a newly created department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There are no estimates of the number of victims.

Although incidents of mine explosions in Zambia may not be widespread, their effects are often shattering and survivors are forced to adopt new lifestyles without any formal support, as Zambia does not have a compensation policy for landmine casualties.

Yonah Phiri, 43, lost his right leg in a mine explosion in 1980, "That incident literally shattered my dreams; it changed the course of my life. I was 16 years [old] and in grade 7, but I had to discontinue school because I was in and out of hospital, being treated for one problem after the other," he told IRIN.

"I have suffered so much self-denial and disbelief, pain and anguish, my education and life was disturbed, nothing could work out for me. I spent much of my years confined to a wheel chair before I started using clutches," said Phiri, who now survives from a small business charging car batteries in a Lusaka squatter camp.

"I have tried to seek compensation or any form of support under the three presidents [Kaunda, his successor, Frederick Chiluba, and incumbent Levy Mwanawasa] but nothing. No company wants to employ me because of the same problem - they all tell me that they are in business to make money and not to take care of the lame or disabled people."

Ottawa Treaty

Zambia is a signatory to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, an international agreement calling on member states to ban the manufacture, sale, and use of landmines, as well as to provide support for landmine victims and their families. As of August 2007, the treaty had been signed by 157 countries and ratified by 155 of them.

Sheila Mweemba, director of the Zambia Mine Action Centre, said, "We don't as yet have the exact numbers of casualties, since we have never carried out an assessment survey of the victims as a country," so it had been difficult for the government to offer support to landmine victims.

"Only after we do a nationwide impact assessment survey sometime next year shall we be in a position to work out practical intervention programmes for the victims and affected communities."

In 2005, Zambia adopted a three-year demining programme, which sought to clear all hazardous areas by the end of 2007, but Mweemba said only 7 of the 41 contaminated areas in the country had been cleared. The mine action centre has retained 3,346 of the 7,000 recovered mines "for training purposes", despite stockpile destruction being a key element of the Ottawa Treaty.

"Demining of contaminated areas is an ongoing exercise, but it has been rather slow due to insufficient funds, lack of awareness and lack of capacity. It has been very difficult to secure funds for the exercise," Mweemba said.

Other than the lack of funds, severe flooding has also adversely affected the country's demining exercise. Last year, some parts of a contaminated area in eastern Zambia were cleared and dangerous spots fenced off, but flood water washed away demarcation signs.

"Floods have become a major challenge because they are making us to start the process all over again, and we still have to pay for the fresh works, which means the first works are reduced to zero," Mweemba said.

"Worse still, mines can move upstream or downstream, which presents a challenge to those going to do a fresh survey because they can't tell where to start from. Hence, unless we remove them quickly, there is always going to be a problem in case of floods."

Zambia's meteorological department has forecast possible flooding during the 2007-08 rainy season.

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Last updated:Mon Nov 19 19:20:45 2007