There’s a wealth of amputation
Waiting in the ground
But no one can remember
Where they put it down
If you’re the child that finds it there
You will rise upon the sound
Of the mines of Mozambique
                                  -Bruce Cockburn

 

I worked in Mozambique with an organization that clears landmines.  Here is an article I wrote about my experience.
              -Jesse Whitehead


 

Danger Mines

 
Despite the fact that they have fallen off the radar of sexy celebrity causes, having been replaced by the more en vogue going green, there are still an estimated 80 million landmines buried worldwide.  

Developed initially to protect larger anti-tank mines from enemy soldiers, anti-personnel mines have for the last 40 years served a much more sinister purpose.  Indiscriminate, and designed with the intent to maim rather than kill, (thus increasing the cost associated with a landmine casualty during war time – essentially caring for an injured person rather than burying a dead one) anti-personnel mines have since been deployed as weapons of terror, controlling the movement of rebel armies and civilians alike.  Further, in many of the conflicts played out in the latter half of the century, the line between military and civilian has become increasingly blurred.

Ten years after the initial whirlwind of activity and advocacy surrounding the landmine problem, with Princess Diana as the most prominent public face of the campaign, there are still dedicated teams of individuals working on ridding the world of this scourge.  I recently returned to Canada after spending five months in Mozambique with Handicap International as part of an internship with the Canadian International Development Agency in a partnership with Mines Action Canada - a coalition of Canadian organizations whose purpose is the removal and elimination of landmines and other explosive remnants of war.

Mozambique is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, having endured a war of independence against the Portuguese followed by decades of civil war as the power vacuum created by the sudden removal of almost 500 years of colonial administration was slowly filled.   The situation in Mozambique, however, is typical of mine-affected countries.  One of the biggest problems faced by demining teams in these countries is also one of the most fundamental: where are the mines?  The length of the war, along with boarder disputes with almost every neighbouring country and severe flooding in the past decade have all served to obscure the question of where the mines are located.  

Experience has shown that the most reliable source of information regarding the location of land mines is, perhaps not surprisingly, people who have spent their lives in the affected areas.  However, many of Mozambicans, having recently participated in a guns for money disarmament program, thought it reasonable to demand money in exchange for information that would lead to the removal of the mines.  Their reasoning was basically this – mines are like guns and guns are worth money.  In another example of the unforeseen challenges associated with demining, mine risk educators found that signage that had been posted to alert citizens of the presence of a suspected minefield was being stolen shortly after being put up, presumably because they make for a more rain-resistant shelter than the traditional palm fronds.  However, even without signs, there are indicators of the presence of a minefield. Uncultivated land surrounded by cultivated land is a good indicator of a suspected minefield.  The villagers in this area suspect that the area in the red box is mined and have thus left it fallow. In situations like this, they cannot know the exact extent of the minefield and therefore err on the side of caution, thus increasing the area of the unfarmable land.

Once suspected mine fields have been demarcated, the laborious task of demining them begins.  Demining is one of the world’s most dangerous and tedious professions and is often accomplished in three stages.  The first step is to send in a remote controlled tank-like machine called the Tempest, a Cambodian made machine whose job it is to clear the underbrush to make way for the next steps in the demining procedure.  The Tempest has a large drum with several thick chains hanging off it affixed to its front that spins rapidly, mulching the understory of the minefield.  (The term mine field should not elicit mental images that resemble a football or soccer field – often in the thirty plus years since the mines were laid the land has not been touched and the resulting terrain is better described as being a mine forest, bog or coconut farm than mine field).  The Tempest is built like a tank, so if it happens to set off a mine while in the process of clearing the underbrush, all the better.  Handicap International currently runs two Tempests in Mozambique.

Once the ground has been prepped, a dog team sweeps the area.  Most demining teams use German Shepherds, as they are the easiest to train, however some organizations have begun training rats.  They claim the rats are easier and cheaper to train and maintain.  However, it has been pointed out that the rats’ smaller size necessitates the use of the Tempest to a greater extent to remove more obstacles, which intern costs more and can offset the price difference between rats and dogs.  Training involves teaching the dogs to recognize the scent of explosives and takes upwards nine months and costs $10,000.  Handicap currently runs two dog teams in their demining operations in Mozambique.  

Part of the dog training includes establishing a sound working relationship between the dogs and the handlers, so that the handlers may learn each dog’s individual style.  For example, some dogs are more prone to false positives (indicating they have found a mine when in actuality, there isn’t one), while others are more prone to identifying false negatives (failing to identify a mine that does indeed exist).    Errors of the second type can be more dangerous and knowing which animals routinely make these errors can increase the safety of the manual deminers.  Incidentally, the dogs are heavy enough to trigger the mines, but as their weight is distributed among four legs rather than two, they never do.  

Acting as a check on the dogs, the area is then scoured by human deminers who literally check every square inch of the area with a metal detector, carefully cutting the grass with an impressive collection of clippers and cutters to give their metal detectors free rain.  80% of a manual deminers time is spent cutting grass to make way for his metal detector as he slowly marches forwards along a meter wide path, one inch at a time.  This requires the utmost in concentration, and is made even more time consuming by the fact that a metal detector cannot distinguish between a landmine and a bullet casing or a rusted battery.  Every blip of the metal detector has to be treated as though it were a mine and carefully exposed by another set of tools that resembles those of an archeologist.  When a landmine is found, a small detonating explosive with a 30 second fuse is placed on it and it is disposed of in situ.  As a result of the technology and man-hours required, it can cost upwards of $1000 per mine.   

A landmine is an incredibly simple device, consisting of a detonating explosive and the payload explosive.  As military technology has improved, landmines have become increasingly insidious in nature.  Some are crafted entirely of non-metal pieces to preclude their being picked-up by metal detectors.  Others, when stepped on, will initiate a three-second fuse before detonating – the idea being if a group of people are moving together, the mine will explode under the centre of the group rather than the front, thus injuring more people.  Yet another, commonly referred to as a Bouncing Betty, will spring out of the ground exploding at chest level, firing shrapnel in all directions.  The most basic landmine, and the one most commonly found in Mozambique, was manufactured for less than US $3.

The detrimental effects of landmines are not limited to death and dismemberment. When compared to the death rates associated with HIV/AIDS and malaria – hell, even car accidents, land mines do not come close.  However, the landmine problem is every bit one of economics as it is one of personal.  In Mozambique, upwards of 80% of the country’s GDP is generated in Maputo, the capital, which is home to roughly 5% of the population.  Many of Mozambique’s rural majority are subsistence farmers – eating only what they manage to grow.  If a farmer suspects that his field has been mined, this farmer is deprived of his means of support.  This can erode his economic stability and propagate poverty within his family.  The same goes for other important infrastructures such as wells and streams for water.  It is important to note at this point that it doesn’t really matter anymore if there actually is a mine in the farmer’s field.  His suspicion that there is one, and his unwillingness to risk is life and thus the welfare of his family precipitates the mines affects. The damage is done.  

In 2005 there were an estimated 15,000 landmine fatalities, and currently there are as many as 500,000 landmine survivors.  75% of these people are civilians.  Being a landmine survivor means losing one or both of your legs and therefore, your economic freedom.  In 1997 in Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, was adopted.  Member states agreed to cease the production, sale and use of landmines.  Currently, 80% of the world’s nations have signed on, but with some notable exceptions such as China and the United States, there is still work to be done.  

Anti-landmine advocacy groups are expanding their mandate to include an attempt to band cluster munitions.  Cluster munitions are bombs that break open in mid-flight and scatter hundreds or thousands of smaller bomblets.  These bomblets are designed to explode on contact, but many, upwards of 10% by some estimates, don’t.  They can then be detonated much in the same way a landmine can, and it has been suggested that static electricity from the clothing of a passerby may be enough to trigger a detonation.  Cluster munitions are sill widely used.  As a result of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon during the summer of 2006, there are an estimated 500,000 bomblets currently scattered across the Lebanese countryside.  This sad fact will set post conflict development back by decades and puts Lebanon in the same situation Mozambique found itself in almost 30 years ago – a wealth of amputation waiting in the ground.