Using a Community Liaison model that emphasizes community participation, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) prioritises minefield clearance to lessen landmines’ impact on communities in Angola

Carstairs, Tim

English

James Madison University

Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction Volume 6 Issue 2 The Journal of Mine Action Article 9 August 2002 Community Liaison in Mine Action: Partnerships for Growth Tim Carstairs MAG (Mines Advisory Group) Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal  Part of the Defense and Security Studies Commons, Emergency and Disaster Management Commons, Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, and the Peace and Conflict Studies Commons Recommended Citation Carstairs, Tim (2002) "Community Liaison in Mine Action: Partnerships for Growth," Journal of Mine Action : Vol. 6 : Iss. 2 , Article 9. Available at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol6/iss2/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction by an authorized editor of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact dc_admin@jmu.edu. 1Carstairs: Community Liaison in Mine Action:  Partnerships for GrowthPublished by JMU Scholarly Commons, 2002Water Supply in Luena Water and access are as much immediate and ur-gent concerns for a beleaguered community and an IDP population as they are development needs in the longer term. In 1993, mines were laid to protect the water treatment and pumping station against attack -The water station, Luena, Angola. by rebels of the Capitalist Na-tional Union for the Independence of Angola (UN ITA). However, the mines did not stop the station from being dam-aged in fighting, and since then, fresh water has been in short supply. Deprived of run-ning water, most townspeople would come to wash clothes, bathe and collect water using a well-worn path beside the pumping station. There is a market garden area just near the river. Three people have been in-jured in the area. The local community asked MAG to help with this situation. The area was cleared. In all, 17 mines were re-moved and destroyed from along the perimeter of the pumping station, including several just inches from the path. Clearance has enabled repairs to the pumping sta-tion to be carried out, and in April 2002, the water taps of luena ran with fresh water again for the first time in eight years. Just 17 AP mines had impacted on some 300,000 people. where possible within national and pro-vincial development parameters. fn an emergency and emerging situation-Luena in eastern Angola is a good ex-ample-CL skills as developed by MAG can be a good way to fulfill this function at reasonable cost. CL enables us ro carry out emergency mine and UXO clearance and at the same rime build up a commu-nity-based picture of the wider develop-menr needs within society. Partnership: Mine Action for Development in Angola No single agency or person has all the answers. No single agency or NGO can provide all services or help with the post-conflict rehabilitation of every aspect of community development; that is why partnership is so important. Our experi-ence points to partnership as being a very real element in the ability and capacity to appropriately prioritise, organise and coordinate the various elements of mine action for development. Partnerships en-able us to bring to bear the most relevant expertise-which may not always be a mine action solution. MAG 's CL teams will regularly provide information about other needs to appropriate partners. If we can nor fix it, someone else will be able to. In Angola, MAG works with a vari-ery of other partners in such fields as: • Water and Food Distribution o Action Against Hunger o World Food Programme (WFP) • Refugee/TDP matters o Ministry for Reconstruction and Social Affairs o United Nations High Com-mission for RefUgees (UNHCR) o Lutheran World Federation (LWF) • Medical Care and Prosthetics; Social Reinsertion o CAPDC 0 Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) o Trauma Care Foundation 0 Medico International (MI) As in many other areas of the globe, relative peace and stability bring with it added dangers. Luena, the capital city of Moxico province has been home to over 300,000 people. Many of these people were displaced in 1998 when conflict flared again after the elections of that year. Almost under siege for several years, movements were restricted and the population became reliant on WFP food deliveries. Mines ringed the town. Mine action became impossible between 1998 and 2000; in fact, mine clearance was not permitted during that time. Security has improved since 2000, and people are again able to think longer-term. Today, the M inistry for Social Assis-tance and Reimegrarion (M INARS)-rhe government authority charged with so-cial and refugee matters-is gradually re-locating internally displaced persons (IDPs) in different and previously unused areas to relieve pressure on space and re-sources. M INARS consults with MAG before p lanning new refugee and IDP camps. The Muachimbo camp is just one such example. In 2001, in response to CL • 30 • interventions, MAG cleared the road of mines that had cur off the village since 1993. LWF started rebuilding basic in-frastructure, IDPs began arriving, and a new community is building itself once more. CL plays a key role in creating the means on the ground to build commu-nity and economy. Rebuilding is not enough in itself: as the IDPs find their feet and expand their activities from their new base, rhey begin to find lan dmines and UXO. MAG's CL reams work within the IDP Community Liaison: An Academic View Development writers also argue for approaches like CL. "[A]s develop-mentis an essentially human ising pro-cess, participatory development must be consciously based on people, their needs, their analysis of issues and their decisions," writes Peter Oakley. There is a strong body of opinion that argues that participation, the basis for CL, brings the following benefits: • Enables development practitio-ners, government officials and local people to work together to plan con-text-appropriate programmes (World Bank Sourcebook). • Ensures greater efficiency of resources. • Improves cost effectiveness. • Makes projects more effective as instruments of rural development. • Helps to break the mentality of dependence that characterises so much of development work. • Promotes self-awareness and confidence. • Has a much wider coverag e than government- participation increases peoples' control over the is-sues which affect their lives; they learn how to plan and implement develop-ment projects. • Ensures sustainability as people maintain a project's dynamism (Paulo Freire). • Stresses the importance of community participation during data-gathering, shared analysis, and trans-parent negotiation of priorities to the development of national Poverty Re-duction Strategy Papers (World Bank/ IMF). Applied to mine action, MAG be-lieves that these approaches make sense. After five years of practice, we can say that they do indeed work. communities to help lessen the risk. The reams provide appropriate safety and avoidance messages and discussion. At the same rime, they garber information about mines and ordnance to pass on swiftly to rhe Mine Action Team's (MAT's) rapid response reams to clear the danger. MAG is currently seeking funds to create more such reams to "accompany" rhe peace and renewed confidence that is breaking our in the province. Despite rhe conflict situation, MAG reams have continued to work in Moxico and ro conduct mine awareness and data gathering work even when clearance was no longer possible in the lare 1990s. This work was supported by Save US and by MI. Over the years, donors have been en-couraged to set aside their reluC[ance to fund mine action work in conflict areas and tO support humanitarian operations on behalf of populations beleaguered by the war. We wish to rhank the donors that have "kept the faith" and continue to sup-port MAG's mine action work in Angola (Moxico and Cunene provinces): the gov-ernment of Germany (Foreign Affairs), LWF, Misereor, Brot fur die Welt, UNOCHA, Anri-Landm ijn Stichting STOP PRESS: Community Liaison Assists Demobillsation In the Cunene province of south-ern Angola, MAG was recently re-quested by the provincial authori-ties to help with the establishment of resettlement camps for former UNIT A soldiers and their families in Lande. The actual quartering area is reported free of mines, but the roads and towns in the area are heavily mined. Working with the UN Office for the Coordination of Hu-manita rian Affairs (UNOCHA), MAG's CL team has been gathering data a nd has conducted initial vis-its, locating eight minefields to date. The soldiers' families are ex-pected to join them, and as many as 300,000 people may be involved. ~s of m id-May 2002, 697 soldiers In the camps were accompanied by 633 marr ied women, 373 male chil-dren (10- 16), 441 male children (un-der 9), 41 female children (10- 16), 5~0 female children (under 9), 56 Wtdows, 47 male orphans and 54 female orphans. The Community Liaison Process A MA~ office or a MAG team is usually contacted by a village leader and tnformed of problems relating to mines or UXO or asked to clear a particular area. It is true to say that MAG's flexible, mobile teams (MATs) facilitate and strengthen this process as they are accessible to the local people and are already skilled inCL. The request will be recorded, and a community liaison team will visit the village and assess local needs, discuss village mapping, collect village history, identify the beneficiaries of clearance tasks and prioritise the minefields to be cleared. MAG will also coordinate with local authorities and NGOs to make sure that the agreed prioritisation meets with na-Village mapping being conducted by MAG's CL team in Lumege, Moxico province. Stones represent mines and mangos represent UXO. tional or provincial clearance and development pions. The CL teams will if necessary negotiate land ownership and the use to which the land will be put post-clearance. In some countries where MAG works land ownership is handed down through families and knowledge of i~ is carried with tribal and village chiefs. In other areas, ownership is recorded and registered with local authorities. If required, the CL team will conduct mine risk reduction educa-tion in the community prior to completion of the mine clearance. Once clearance has been undertaken, the CL teams will continue to liase with authorities locally to ensure that agreed development of the land goes ahead smoothly, and that the identified beneficiaries are indeed benefiting. and the U.S. Stare Department. We be-lieve that this continued funding has saved many lives and contributed to growing confidence in Angola. • About MAG MAG has 12 years experience implcmeming mine action around rhe world. The agency currently conducts a varicryofinregrarcd mechanical, manual and dog clearance program mes, as well as CL, train-ing and development programmes in a num-ber of areas including Angola, Cambod ia, Laos, Lebanon, north-ern Iraq, So m aliland , southern Sud an, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. 'All photos courtesy of Sean Sutto11/MAG. • Cultivating land in Luena that was previously a minefield. • 31 • Contact Information Rob White Head of Operations, MAG Tel: +44 (0)161 236 4311 E-mail: rob.whire@mag.org.uk Website: www.magclearsmines.org 2Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction, Vol. 6, Iss. 2 [2002], Art. 9https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol6/iss2/9July 5, 2002: MAG Opens Main Road f r om Luena, Moxico Province, Angola Allowing Aid to be Distributed to Thousands o f Star ving Families The Lucusse Road between Luena and Lucusse in Moxico province in eastern Angola has been the scene of heavy fighting for decades. There was fighting many yea rs ago between Cuban and South African forces and over much of the last decade between t he government and forces of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The road is littered with the wrecks of trucks and armored vehicles destroyed in anti-tank mine blasts and ambushes. It is said that over 6,000 soldiers died here trying to get convoys of supplies in and out of Luena. The road itself serves thousands of people living in its vicinity. Opening it up can dramatically change the socio-economic s ituation in the province. On July 3,2002, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) staff met with the Angolan Technical Unit for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UTCAH). Lucusse will be used as a quartering area for 4,000 UNITA soldiers being disarmed and demobilised under the new peace agreement. While the Lucusse Road has been closed, thousands of families have not received aid of any sort. It is reported that 38 percent of the children in the area are severely malnourished. The World Food Program (WFP), the Angolan Ministry of Social Assistance and Reinteg ration (M INARS) and the Un ited Nations oil agreed that t he major demining prio rity in the province was this road. Due to the grave humanitarian situation, MAG undertook an emergency survey of the road immediately following the request from UTCAH to see how much the situation had changed since 1997/ 98. Previously, during this brief period of peace, MAG had surveyed and cleared 92 kilometers of the 148-kilometer route. After re-survey on J uly 3, 2002, it was clear that there had been no new vehicle wrecks since that t ime; however, using the route still requires extreme care. The survey teom was able to travel to Lucusse where they met with the Police Commandant and UNITA officials who explained they were desperate for food and other emergency a id. MAG teams retu rned July 4th to clear and destroy severa l items of UXO seen on the road . Areas where veh icles will have to travel off the edge of the road to get around mine craters or vehicle wrecks wil l also be checked for mines. MAG has a lready identified several suspect mined areas on the roadsides that will be marked. Passing areas a re being targeted for special clearance efforts to minimize the risk in • 32 • the immediate futu re. MAG has made it clear t hat all d rivers intending to use the route must first attend a mine safety briefing conducted by MAG. Although it can be safe to use the road, there is a very good chance that any deviation from tracks of t he previous vehicle may lead to a fata l mine accident. It is hoped thot fund ing can be ra ised to enable complete clea rance of the ve rges and other suspect areas along the route. On July 6th, MAG escorted Medecins sans Frontieres-Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to Lucusse so that medica l assistance wou ld be made available to the UN ITA quartering areas. MAG has also faci litated the access of Dom Bosco, a respected Angolan non-governmental organization (NGO) to t he quartering area. Dom Bosco has al ready begun registrat ion and identification of needs. It is hoped that WFP deliveries will be authorized with in the next week. These are all vital elements in the peace and confidence-bu il d ing, demobilizatio n and no rmalization process. MAG is proud that mine action can play its role and is grateful to a ll those pa rt ies in Angola and to its donors for enabling such progressive and positive outcomes. For additional information, visit www.magclearsmines.org Locating Land mines and UXO: A Methodological Lesson from the Ethiopian Landmine Impact Survey One of the most important parts about implementing effective Landmine Impact Surveys is first identifying which communities have a landmine/ UXO problem. The author describes how Expert Opinion Collection (EOC) is used in Ethiopia to overcome the obstacles survey teams face when gathering their information. by Michael L. Fleisher, Ph.D., Deputy Team Leader/ Operations Manager, Ethiopian Landmine Impact Survey Introduction In every country where a Landmine Impact Survey is being implemented, those charged with conducting it are faced with rhe challenge of compi ling a reliable list of the communities that need surveying-because before a communi ty can be sur-veyed to assess the landmine/UXO impact, it musr frrst be accurately identified as a com-munity having a landmine/UXO problem. Owing to irs vast size and irs ongo-ing, highly variegated conflict history, Ethiopia presen ts Landmine Impact surveyors with particularly daunting difficulties. The Italian invasion of the 1930s; Eritrea's protracted, and ultimately successful, war for independence; rh e 1990s Ogaden war with Somalia; the Ethiopian People's Revolu tionary D emo-cratic From's (£PROF's) successful revo-lution ro topple the Marxist Dergue re-gime; the recently concluded trench war with Eritrea; and the sti ll-simmering in-ternal conAicrs with the Oromo Lbera-rion From (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)-any and all of these muse be regarded as potential comribu-rors co Ethiopia's landmine/UXO legacy. To make matters still more compli-cated, the country's arduous terrain and poor-to-nonexistent roads make travel in the rural areas problematic in the best of rimes and, in innumerable areas during the long rainy season, all but impossible. Even in salubrious weather, many Eth io-pian communities are accessible only by foot or by mule. The task of determini ng where the landmines/UXO are, so as to be able to formulate a complete, reliable list o fland mine/UX:O-affecred communi-ties fo r impact surveying, is nor an easy one. T he technique developed for sur-mounting this problem, EOC, entails gathering information from all available sources-civil ian governmem adm inis-trators, military authorities, UN agencies, IGOs and NGOs, in-country scholars and so on-and using chis info rmation to compile a gazetteer of the affected communities to be surveyed. However, be-cause rime and resources are inevitably limited, survey teams are pressed to de-vise methodologies that will enable them to separate the landmine/UX:O-affected • 33 • • Hand-g renade victims in Kobo woreda. communities from the no n-affected com-muni ties as quickly and as efficiently as possible. To accomplish chis, they must first devise a straregy rhar will enable rhem to derermine where rhe most thorough, most reliable information regarding rhe locatio ns of landm ines/UXO may be obtained and how to acquire this imelligencc as swiftly, sysremarically and cosr-effecrively as possible. This articl e aims to facilitate this information-gathering process for all countries undergoing Landmine Impact Surveys by sharing some lessons learned by the Ethiopian Landmine Impact Survey (ELlS), which is currently being carried our by Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA), under the auspices of the Survey Action Center (SAC), in Washington, D.C., and in close partnership with the Eth iopian Mine Ac-tion Office (EMAO) in Addis Ababa. 3Carstairs: Community Liaison in Mine Action:  Partnerships for GrowthPublished by JMU Scholarly Commons, 2002

Community Liaison in Mine Action: Partnerships for Growth

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Community Liaison in Mine Action: Partnerships for Growth

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