Reference :
V-P-ZW-E-00153
Date :
31/10/2013
Caption :
Minefield between Crooks Corner and Sango border post. Dressed in heavy protective clothing, the mine-removal team from the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) are briefed by a team leader before embarking on a simulation of a search for mines.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
The team works daily in gruelling temperatures averaging 39 degrees Celsius. No demining takes place during the rainy season (November to March) owing to the impact of rainfall and erosion on the state and position of mines. Roads made impassable by heavy rains within the wildlife conservation area that surrounds the minefields also prohibit safe evacuation of any personnel that may be injured.
According to the Zimbabwe Mine Action Centre (ZIMAC), which supervises demining activities throughout the country, ZNA deminers can remove more than 175 anti-personnel mines daily from an area measuring over 3,000 square metres. In 2013, nearly 5,000 landmines have so far been removed and destroyed. However, ZIMAC estimates that over three million anti-personnel mines in six distinct minefields across Zimbabwe still need to be detected, removed and destroyed. Under international law, Zimbabwe must complete a survey of its minefields by 1 January 2015.
29-11-2013 Web Feature
More than 30 years after the cessation of fighting along the Zimbabwe/Mozambique border, families and communities living within the 210 square kilometres that make up the region daily suffer the scourge of anti-personnel mines. Since 1980, more than 1,500 people and 120,000 livestock have been killed and 2,000 people have been maimed by mines on the Zimbabwean side of the border. The ICRC and the Zimbabwe Mine Action Centre (ZIMAC) have been working together for the past two years to increase the amount of mine-risk education carried out in communities affected by anti-personnel mines.
ICRC’s work to reduce harm caused by anti-personnel mines in Zimbabwe:
The ICRC has been working with Zimbabwe Mine Action Centre (ZIMAC) to improve the safety, quality and pace of humanitarian demining in the 53-kilometre minefield from Crooks Corner to Sango Border Post in south-east Zimbabwe, on the border with Mozambique.
Since February 2012, 69 deminers have been trained on current international humanitarian mine action standards, and ICRC has also donated 50 sets of mine detection and protective equipment for the use of deminers.
In order to enhance ZIMAC’s ability to provide lifesaving medical services to deminers, 16 medics and one doctor have been trained on trauma response and five medical trauma kits have been donated by the ICRC.
The ICRC has facilitated training on mine risk education for eight ZIMAC staff and donated 5,000 children’s exercise books to schools giving guidance on how to identify and avoid anti-personnel mines.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
4272x2848
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
