FOURTH EDITION • SEPTEMBER 2002

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE • BUREAU OF POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS

THE UNITED STATES COMMITMENT

TO HUMANITARIAN DEMINING
THE UNITED STATES COMMITMENT

TO HUMANITARIAN DEMINING

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY:

Prepared by the United States Department of State

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs

Fourth Edition • September 2002
Introduction................................................................................................................3

Country Index............................................................................................................4

Glossary ....................................................................................................................5

Overview of U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program ............................................6

U.S. Demining Program Funding History (FY 1993-2002) (Chart) ..............7

Humanitarian Mine Action ......................................................................................9

U.S. Humanitarian Demining Programs

Africa......................................................................................................................11

Asia ........................................................................................................................25

Europe....................................................................................................................32

Latin America ........................................................................................................42

The Middle East ....................................................................................................48

Appendices

A: Quick Reaction Demining Force ....................................................................54

B: Mine-Detection Dogs ......................................................................................55

C: Humanitarian Demining Technology Research and Development ............56

D: Slovenian International Trust Fund for 

D: Demining and Victims Assistance..................................................................58

Table of Contents

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 3

By the end of 2002, the United States will have provided more than $600,000,000 to 43 countries, as

well as to northwest Somalia, for various humanitarian demining efforts, such as deminer training, mine

awareness and mine clearance, orthopedic assistance to, and socioeconomic reintegration programs

for, landmine accident survivors and their families.

More than $100,000,000 of this total was spent in

Fiscal Year 2002, one of the largest commitments of

any nation involved in financing humanitarian demining activities. 

The goals of the U.S. Humanitarian Demining

Program are simple and direct: to reduce the loss of

life and limb of innocents; to create conditions for the

safe return of refugees and internally displaced persons; and to afford opportunity for economic and

social reconstruction. Our principal means of achieving these objectives is to assist all mine-afflicted

countries in establishing a sustainable, indigenous

demining capacity with the appropriate resources

and skills needed to sustain that degree of progress

that allows a country to declare itself mine-safe.

This, the fourth edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety:

The United States Commitment to Humanitarian

Demining, tells the U.S. story, but not the whole

story. Foreign governments, the United Nations,

other international and non-governmental organizations, and mine-affected countries also play a critical

role in supporting humanitarian demining programs.

The impact of these collective contributions has

already been felt in many of these countries. In the

near future several countries will be able to declare

themselves mine-safe, while many other countries are

even now capable of sustaining their own mineaction activities. Hundreds of thousands of refugees

and internally displaced persons have returned to

their homes. Tens of thousands of acres of land formerly fallow because of the presence of landmines

are now burgeoning with agricultural produce necessary to sustain life. Roads to marketplaces are now

open; access to potable water is once more available; previously empty schools again are the centers

of learning for the nations’ young.

Most importantly, the number of reported landmine

casualties continues to drop, while landmine survivors are once more assuming their rightful roles as

contributing members of their societies.

The success stories in this publication attest to the

United States Government’s belief that when we

assist other countries in meeting needs such as clearing landmines, we are serving America’s long-term

interests and staying true to America’s permanent

values. The U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program,

as are our other assistance efforts, is more than foreign aid; these programs also aid America. Our

assistance helps define America’s role in the world,

often contributes to the economic well being of our

own citizens and those of other countries, and

advances our interest in peace, stability, and freedom abroad. 

Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr.

Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs

and Special Representative to the President

and Secretary of State for Mine Action

Introduction

The United States first became involved in humanitarian demining in

1988 when the U.S. Agency for International Development sent a team

to assess the landmine situation in Afghanistan. Five years later, U.S.

demining-related programs were underway in Afghanistan and in

seven other countries.
Afghanistan ....................................26

Albania............................................33

Angola ............................................12

Argentina ........................................43

Armenia ..........................................34

Azerbaijan ......................................35

Bosnia-Herzegovina ......................36

Cambodia........................................27

Chad ................................................13

Costa Rica ......................................43

Croatia ............................................37

Djibouti ............................................14

Ecuador ..........................................47

Egypt................................................49

Eritrea..............................................15

Estonia ............................................38

Ethiopia ..........................................16

Georgia ..........................................39

Guatemala ......................................44

Guinea-Bissau ................................17

Honduras ........................................45

Jordan ............................................50

Laos ................................................28

Lebanon ..........................................51

Macedonia ......................................40

Mauritania ......................................18

Moldova ..........................................40

Mozambique ..................................19

Namibia ..........................................20

Nicaragua ......................................46

Oman ..............................................52

Peru ................................................47

Rwanda ..........................................21

Senegal............................................22

Somalia (northwest Somalia)........22

Sri Lanka ........................................29

Sudan ..............................................23

Swaziland ......................................23

Thailand ..........................................30

Vietnam ..........................................31

Yemen..............................................53

Yugoslavia ......................................41

Zambia............................................24

Zimbabwe ......................................24

Country Index

Country Page Country Page

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
ADP Accelerated Demining Program (Mozambique)

AHDC Armenian Humanitarian Demining Center 

AMAE Albanian Mine Action Executive

ANAMA Azerbaijan Agency for National

Mine Action

BHMAC Bosnia-Herzegovina Mine Action Center

CMAC Cambodian Mine Action Center

CROMAC Croatian Mine Action Center

DoD (U.S.) Department of Defense

DOS (U.S.) Department of State

EOD Explosive Ordnance Disposal

FAA Forças Armadas de Angola

(Angolan Armed Forces)

FRUD Front for the Restoration of Unity and

Democracy (Djibouti)

FSA Freedom Support Act

FY Fiscal Year

GOA Government of Armenia

GoD Government of Djibouti

GOG Government of Georgia

GoS Government of Sudan

GRZ Government of the Republic of Zambia

HALO TRUST Hazardous Area Life-Support

Organization Trust

HI Handicap International

HMAU Humanitarian Mine Action Unit (Thailand)

IADB Inter-American Defense Board

ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross

IDP Internally Displaced Person

IND National Demining Institute (Mozambique)

ITEP International Test and Evaluation Program

ITF Slovenian International Trust Fund for Demining

and Victims Assistance

JAF Jordanian Armed Forces

LAF Lebanese Armed Forces

LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Sri Lanka)

LWVF (USAID) Senator Patrick J. Leahy

War Victims Fund

MAC Mine Action Center

MAG Mines Advisory Group

MAPA (UN) Mine Action Program for Afghanistan

MDD Mine-Detection Dog

MOA Memorandum of Agreement

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

MPS Ministry of Public Safety (Costa Rica)

NADR Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism, Demining

and Related 

NAM Moldovan National Army

NDF Namibian Defense Force 

NDO National Demining Office

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NPA Norwegian Peoples Aid

NVESD Night Vision and Electronic Sensors

Directorate, U.S. Army Communications –

Electronics Command

OAS Organization of American States

OHDACA (DoD) Overseas Humanitarian,

Disaster, and Civic Aid 

PAHO Pan American Health Organization

PCC U.S. National Security Council’s Policy

Coordinating Committee (Subgroup on

Mine Action)

PFLOG Popular Front for the Liberation of

Oman and the Gulf 

PM/HDP (DOS) Bureau of Political-Military Affairs,

Office of Humanitarian Demining

Programs

PRM (DOS) Bureau of Population, Refugees and

Migration

QRDF Quick Reaction Demining Force

R&D Research and Development 

ROA Royal Omani Army

RPA Rwandan Patriotic Army

SADF South African Defense Forces

SPLM/A Sudan Peoples Liberation

Movement/Army

TMAC Thailand Mine Action Center 

TSZ Temporary Security Zone (Eritrea)

UN United Nations

UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund

UNITA União Nacional para a Independencia

Total de Angola 

UNMAS UN Mine Action Service

UNOCHA UN Office for Coordination of

Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan 

USAID U.S. Agency for International Development

UXO Unexploded Ordnance

VVAF Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation

WRF World Rehabilitation Fund

Glossary

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 5
A U.S. Government Policy Coordinating Committee

(PCC) Subgroup on Mine Action, chaired by the

National Security Council, with the U.S. Department

of State (DOS), the U.S. Department of Defense

(DoD), the U.S. Agency for International

Development (USAID), and the Central Intelligence

Agency as members, is in charge of approving,

developing, and coordinating U.S. humanitarian

demining assistance. A typical U.S. program

involves assisting a country in the establishment of a

mine action center (MAC), a mine-awareness program, and a demining training program. As the

country develops its mine-clearance capabilities, the

PCC Subgroup will periodically evaluate the development of the program. When the program reaches

self-sustainment, the United States passes off its

active role to the host nation.

The DOS, through its Bureau of Political-Military

Affairs, Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs

(PM/HDP), is the lead agency in coordinating U.S.

humanitarian demining programs worldwide. With

basic funding from the Nonproliferation,

Antiterrorism, Demining and Related (NADR) programs appropriation, PM/HDP oversees the day-today management of bilateral demining assistance

programs. USAID promotes sustainable development

by providing humanitarian services in post-conflict

situations. USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian

Response, Office of Transition Initiatives, bridges the

gap between emergency humanitarian assistance

and long-term development assistance by supporting

organizations and people in emergency transition in

conflict-prone countries. In addition, USAID’s Senator

Patrick J. Leahy War Victims Fund (LWVF) contributes

to improving the mobility, health, and social integration of the disabled, including landmine survivors.

Typically, USAID works through non-governmental

organizations (NGOs) to develop a country’s capacity of sustainable services for amputees. 

Generally, DoD funds a humanitarian demining program’s start-up costs, and DOS provides subsequent

funds to procure the necessary equipment for mineaffected countries to conduct mine-clearance operations. From 1994 through 2001, DoD spent more

than $115,000,000 on mine-action programs in

more than 30 countries. An additional

$32,000,000 was appropriated for DoD-sponsored

demining operations in Fiscal Year (FY) 02, including

$12,600,000 for humanitarian demining technology research and development (R&D). The components of the DoD humanitarian demining program

are: (1) mine-awareness education; (2) MAC development; (3) civil-military cooperation; (4) victim

assistance; and (5) demining training—or train-thetrainer—the core of the program. More than 4,000

indigenous trainers have benefited from this core

program. 

The U.S. Government has now approved programs

to assist 43 landmine-affected countries and northwest Somalia. Through its Humanitarian Demining

Program and Emergency Demining Initiative, the list

of recipients is expected to expand as the United

States approves more applicant countries each year.

To Walk the Earth in Safety describes the extensive

history of the U.S. commitment to humanitarian demining in these 44 locations. The following table

depicts all U.S.-funded humanitarian demining support since FY93, support intended to promote our

interests in peace, prosperity, and regional stability.

Overview of U.S. Humanitarian

Demining Program

To Walk the Earth in Safety: The United States Commitment to

Humanitarian Demining informs the reader of the U.S. commitment to

rid the world of landmines that are threatening civilian lives. Through

objectives defined by the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program, we are

able to reduce the number of civilian landmine casualties; return

refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) threatened by landmines to their homes; and enhance the political and economic stability

of those countries affected by landmines.

6 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 7

COUNTRY SOURCES FY93 FY94 FY95 FY96 FY97 FY98 FY99 FY00 FY01 FY02 (Est) SOURCE TOTAL

U.S. DEMINING PROGRAM FUNDING HISTORY (FY 1993–2002) (DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS)

Afghanistan DOS NADR - - - - 1,000 2,200 2,615 3,000 2,800 3,300 14,915 

ERF (State) - - - - - - - - - 3,000 3,000 

DoD ARCENT - - - - - - - - - 770 770 

DOS FMF 500 500 1,000 1,000 - - - - - - 3,000 

DOS PRM 1,500 1,500 1,000 1,000 2,000 - - - - - 7,000 

DOS IO 1,000 - - - - - - - - - 1,000 

USAID - 3,400 1,800 - - - - - - - 5,200 

CDC - - - - - - - - - 600 600 

Country Total 3,000 5,400 3,800 2,000 3,000 2,200 2,615 3,000 2,800 7,670 35,485 

Albania ITF - - - - - - - - 684 300 984 

SEED - - - - - - - 1,049 - - 1,049 

Country Total - - - - - - - 1,049 684 300 2,033 

Angola DOS NADR - - - - 1,000 2,400 - 3,096 2,844 2,800 12,140 

DoD OHDACA - - 3,900 - 100 - - - - - 4,000 

USAID Leahy - - - 2,500 768 732 - - 1,000 1,500 6,500 

DOS FMF - - 1,170 2,000 - - - - - - 3,170 

Country Total - - 5,070 4,500 1,868 3,132 - 3,096 3,844 4,300 25,810 

Argentina DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - - - 700 700 

Country Total - - - - - - - - - 700 700 

Armenia DOS NADR - - - - - - - 300 850 1,200 2,350 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 577 - 1,520 2,097 

USAID Leahy 318 830 - - - - - - - - 1,148 

Country Total 318 830 - - - - - 877 850 2,720 5,595 

Azerbaijan DOS NADR - - - - - - - 500 1,100 1,380 2,980 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 140 577 - 1,950 2,667 

Country Total - - - - - - 140 1,077 1,100 3,330 5,647 

Bosnia DOS NADR - - - - - 300 2,305 - - - 2,605 

DoD OHDACA - - - 1,238 375 2,100 - - - 29 3,742 

ITF - - - - - - 6,175 5,500 5,161 5,000 21,836 

DoD HAP/EP - - - 550 - - - - - - 550 

DOS PKO - - - 1,000 - - - - - - 1,000 

SEED - - - 8,500 5,000 7,000 - - - - 20,500 

CDC - - - - - - - 300 500 500 1,300 

Country Total - - - 11,288 5,375 9,400 8,480 5,800 5,661 5,529 51,533 

Cambodia DOS NADR - - - - 1,000 2,000 1,500 2,580 2,468 2,290 11,838 

DoD OHDACA - 300 2,100 902 1,800 - - - 219 185 5,506 

USAID Leahy 202 575 - - - 750 1,300 390 1,904 2,000 7,121 

DOS FMF - 750 1,300 1,000 - - - - - - 3,050 

DOS PKO - - - 250 - - - - - - 250 

DOS PRM 1,643 - - - - - - - - - 1,643 

Country Total 1,845 1,625 3,400 2,152 2,800 2,750 2,800 2,970 4,591 4,475 29,408 

Chad DOS NADR - - - - - 400 732 622 300 350 2,404 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - 1,500 1,000 17 - 91 2,608 

Country Total - - - - - 1,900 1,732 639 300 441 5,012 

Croatia DOS NADR - - - - - - 600 - - - 600 

ITF - - - - - - - 2,975 2,658 3,200 8,833 

Country Total - - - - - - 600 2,975 2,658 3,200 9,433 

Djibouti DOS NADR - - - - - - - 746 400 404 1,550 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 227 723 - 950 

Country Total - - - - - - - 973 1,123 404 2,500 

Ecuador DOS NADR - - - - - - 1,000 1,000 963 370 3,333 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 412 700 700 1,812 

Country Total - - - - - - 1,000 1,412 1,663 1,070 5,145 

Egypt DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 10 708 - 718 

Country Total - - - - - - - 10 708 - 718 

El Salvador USAID Leahy - - 1,000 - 500 - - - - - 1,500 

CDC - - - - - - - 150 300 300 750 

Country Total - - 1,000 - 500 - - 150 300 300 2,250 

Eritrea DOS NADR - - - - 500 919 - 500 1,050 1,602 4,571 

DoD OHDACA - 400 2,790 537 218 525 10 - 5 - 4,485 

DOS FMF - 200 460 613 - - - - - - 1,273 

DOS PKO - - - 287 - - - - - - 287 

CDC - - - - - - - 150 150 150 450 

Country Total - 600 3,250 1,437 718 1,444 10 650 1,205 1,752 11,066 

Estonia DOS NADR - - - - - - 335 300 - 200 835 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 698 853 54 1,605 

Country Total - - - - - - 335 998 853 254 2,440 

Ethiopia DOS NADR - - - - 500 1,220 - 250 - 1,275 3,245 

DoD OHDACA - 392 2,140 537 290 610 10 - 5 - 3,984 

USAID Leahy 730 - - - - - - - - 800 1,530 

DOS FMF - 300 300 400 - - - - - - 1,000 

DOS PKO - - - 500 - - - - - - 500 

CDC - - - - - - - 200 350 350 900 

Country Total 730 692 2,440 1,437 790 1,830 10 450 355 2,425 11,159 

Georgia DOS NADR - - - - - 39 - 27 1,000 1,100 2,166 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 577 - - 577 

Country Total - - - - - 39 - 604 1,000 1,100 2,743 

Guinea-Bissau DOS NADR - - - - - - - 99 489 - 588 

Country Total - - - - - - - 99 489 - 588 

Jordan DOS NADR - - - - 400 500 1,900 1,511 947 850 6,108 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 859 1,555 4 - 2,418 

DOS FMF - - - 300 - - - - - - 300 

CDC - - - - - - - 200 300 300 800 

Country Total - - - 300 400 500 2,759 3,266 1,251 1,150 9,626 

Laos DOS NADR - - - - 1,000 1,700 1,800 1,486 993 1,328 8,307 

DoD OHDACA - - 80 1,800 3,900 2,330 622 - - - 8,732 

USAID Leahy - - 750 - 800 1,000 1,800 - - 1,000 5,350 

DOS FMF - - - 500 - - - - - - 500 

DOS PKO - - - 250 - - - - - - 250 

Country Total - - 830 2,550 5,700 5,030 4,222 1,486 993 2,328 23,139 
8 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

U.S. DEMINING PROGRAM FUNDING HISTORY (FY 1993–2002) (DOLLARS IN THOUSANDS)

COUNTRY SOURCES FY93 FY94 FY95 FY96 FY97 FY98 FY99 FY00 FY01 FY02 (Est) SOURCE TOTAL

Lebanon D0S NADR - - - - - 291 530 1,282 1,000 1,200 4,303 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 15 - 105 120 

USAID Leahy - - - - - 300 500 - 600 - 1,400 

Country Total - - - - - 591 1,030 1,297 1,600 1,305 5,823 

Macedonia DOS PKO - - - - - - - - 1,000 - 1,000 

Country Total - - - - - - - - 1,000 - 1,000 

Mauritania DOS NADR - - - - - - 534 461 400 - 1,395 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 450 1,123 1,123 698 3,394 

Country Total - - - - - - 984 1,584 1,523 698 4,789 

Moldova DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 71 - - - 71 

Country Total - - - - - - 71 - - - 71 

Mozambique DOS NADR - - - - 200 1,000 1,900 3,840 2,180 2,110 11,230 

DoD OHDACA - 5,065 1,100 100 2,484 1,600 1,100 - - 14 11,463 

USAID Leahy 1,000 - 1,900 - 633 1,000 - - - - 4,533 

DOS FMF - 400 - 200 - - - - - - 600 

DOS PRM - 500 500 - - - - - - - 1,000 

CDC - - - - - - - 200 300 300 800 

Country Total 1,000 5,965 3,500 300 3,317 3,600 3,000 4,040 2,480 2,424 29,626 

Namibia DOS NADR - - - - 400 708 1,053 485 40 65 2,751 

DoD OHDACA - 65 1,100 100 1,485 1,650 - - - 23 4,423 

DOS FMF - - 270 400 - - - - - - 670 

Country Total - 65 1,370 500 1,885 2,358 1,053 485 40 88 7,844 

Nigeria DOS NADR - - - - - - - - - 1,449 1,449 

Country Total - - - - - - - - - 1,449 1,449 

Cent Am/OAS DOS NADR - - - - 500 1,400 2,242 1,903 1,350 1,679 9,074 

(Hond., Costa DoD OHDACA - 10 300 200 1,480 1,720 600 460 1,170 600 6,540 

Rica, Guat. & DOS FMF 500 350 200 400 - - - - - - 1,450 

Nicaragua) USAID "MITCH" - - - - - - - 2,000 - - 2,000 

Country Total 500 360 500 600 1,980 3,120 2,842 4,363 2,520 2,279 19,064 

Oman DOS NADR - - - - - - - 1,017 273 495 1,785 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 4 179 870 - 1,053 

Country Total - - - - - - 4 1,196 1,143 495 2,838 

Peru DOS NADR - - - - - - 1,000 1,000 861 225 3,086 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 411 750 700 1,861 

Country Total - - - - - - 1,000 1,411 1,611 925 4,947 

Rwanda DOS NADR - - - - 500 625 750 285 400 350 2,910 

DoD OHDACA - - 4,580 100 1,610 1,500 - - - - 7,790 

DOS FMF - - 300 400 - - - - - - 700 

Country Total - - 4,880 500 2,110 2,125 750 285 400 350 11,400 

Senegal USAID Leahy - - - - - - - 500 500 

Country Total - - - - - - - 500 500 

Somalia DOS NADR - - - - - 343 1,150 1,400 1,400 1,200 5,493 

Country Total - - - - - 343 1,150 1,400 1,400 1,200 5,493 

Sri Lanka DOS NADR - - - - - - - - - 625 625 

USAID Leahy - - 100 200 200 200 300 400 400 800 2,600 

CDC - - - - - - - - 50 50 100 

Country Total - - 100 200 200 200 300 400 450 1,475 3,325 

Sudan DOS NADR - - - - - - - - - 178 178 

Country Total - - - - - - - - - 178 178 

Swaziland DOS NADR - - - - - 210 - - - - 210 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 828 8 - - 836 

Country Total - - - - - 210 828 8 - - 1,046 

Thailand DOS NADR - - - - - - 1,050 1,220 1,270 650 4,190 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 893 1,042 240 151 2,326 

Country Total - - - - - - 1,943 2,262 1,510 801 6,516 

Vietnam DOS NADR - - - - - 139 1,096 1,000 1,650 1,500 5,385 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - 387 68 638 1,093 

USAID Leahy 2,250 980 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 15,230 

CDC - - - - - - - - - 100 100 

Country Total 2,250 980 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,639 2,596 2,887 3,218 3,738 21,808 

Yemen DOS NADR - - - - - 270 1,462 1,236 1,023 750 4,741 

DoD OHDACA - - - - 78 3,622 216 710 5 - 4,631 

Country Total - - - - 78 3,892 1,678 1,946 1,028 750 9,372 

Yugoslavia DOS NADR - - - - - - 500 - - - 500 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - 500 3,800 - - 4,300 

ITF - - - - - - - 899 1,945 - 2,844 

SEED - - - - - - 1,636 4,628 - - 6,264 

Country Total - - - - - - 2,636 9,327 1,945 - 13,908 

Zambia DOS NADR - - - - - - - 12 772 816 1,600 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - - - - - 192 192 

Country Total - - - - - - - 12 772 1,008 1,792 

Zimbabwe DOS NADR - - - - - 680 743 1,140 523 - 3,086 

DoD OHDACA - - - - - 1,500 1,000 765 - 14 3,279 

Country Total - - - - - 2,180 1,743 1,905 523 14 6,365 

Multi-country DOS NADR - - - - - 865 7,524 7,202 10,061 8,562 34,214 

or Unallocated DoD OHDACA - 800 400 1,200 6,172 6,108 1,377 7,424 3,441 13,836 40,758 

USAID Leahy - 500 485 115 925 1,200 3,600 7,649 4,264 800 19,538 

ITF - - - - - - - 768 1,236 14,000 16,004 

CDC - - - - - - - - 2,500 2,400 4,900 

Account Totals 

DOS NADR - - - - 7,000 18,210 34,320 39,499 39,407 40,303 178,739 

DoD OHDACA - 7,032 18,490 6,714 19,992 24,765 9,680 20,974 10,884 22,200 140,731 

USAID Leahy 4,500 2,885 5,735 4,315 5,326 6,682 9,000 10,439 9,668 8,400 66,950 

ITF - - - - - - 6,175 10,141 11,684 22,500 50,500 

DoD RDT&E - - 10,000 3,000 14,746 16,663 17,234 18,847 12,728 13,512 106,730 

CDC - - - - - - - 1,200 4,450 5,050 10,700 

All Other 5,143 7,900 8,300 19,550 7,000 7,000 1,636 7,677 1,000 3,770 68,976 

GRAND TOTAL (all accounts) $9,643 $17,817 $42,525 $33,579 $54,064 $73,320 $78,045 $108,777 $89,821 $115,735 $623,236

NOTES: 1. Does not include FY1999/2000/2001/2002 PM/HDP Admin Funds.

2. Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance in Central America (MARMINCA) figures are included in DoD for OAS. 3. DoD RDT&E totals only shown.
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 9

Mine Awareness (or Mine-Risk

Education)

Teaching people how to recognize, avoid, and

inform demining authorities of the presence of landmines helps to reduce the number of casualties significantly. Mine awareness utilizes a variety of

materials and media to convey important messages.

The materials, and the manner in which mine

awareness is presented, must be sensitive to the cultural mores of the local population. For example, in

Afghanistan, women, not men, teach mine awareness to other women. 

Mine awareness attempts to educate whole populations, allowing them to incorporate safety procedures into their daily lives, not just during a single

event. Often, young children are a target audience

for mine awareness. Mine-awareness teachers must

discourage children from picking up and playing

with mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

Educating children to the dangers of landmines and

UXO is often difficult, because they are fascinated

with these toy-like metal and plastic objects. Still, the

majority of mine casualties are young men.

Informing adolescents and adults about the types of

mines they may encounter and the injuries they

inflict, and teaching them the proper procedures to

follow if a mine is found can save lives. 

U.S. military personnel provide mine-awareness

training. These personnel are fluent in the languages of mine-affected countries, and they undergo country-specific cultural training prior to engagement in this activity. 

Mine Detection

A Landmine Impact Survey helps to determine the

nature and extent of the landmine problem in a specific country. The conduct of this survey entails identifying the broad areas within a country where

mines exist and roughly estimating the extent of the

problem. Areas where mines do not exist are also

recorded in the survey. Next, a Technical Survey is

conducted to obtain more specific detail on the

landmine problem. Mined areas are demarcated

and the number and types of mines found within the

area are noted. 

There is no single technology to employ in all circumstances, in all terrain and weather conditions,

and against all types of mines. Metal detectors and

hand-held probes remain the primary means to find

many individual mines. The technology of these two

devices is essentially 60 years old. Increasingly,

however, deminers are recognizing the value of

mine-detection dogs (MDDs), and the integration of

man, dogs, and machines. Dogs are able to detect

the chemical explosives in mines and are becoming

increasingly important as their success rate increases and their reputation for safe and efficient mine

detection spreads. Various mechanical technologies

have greatly assisted overall mine-clearance efforts,

significantly reducing areas that ultimately require

manual mine clearance.

Even with advanced mine-detection methods, the

locations of the majority of landmines in the ground

today are unknown. International law requires that

persons laying mines identify the type of landmines

emplaced and make maps of their locations so that

they may be removed at the conclusion of hostilities.

Whether they are combatants in a war between

nation-states or factions in a civil war, hostile parties

are increasingly ignoring international law, placing

mines indiscriminately without marking or recording

their use or emplacement. Even when maps and

other records are available, natural events may,

over time, make them useless. To complicate matters, mines migrate from their original location as a

result of shifting sands, as in the desert of the

Middle East, or when heavy rains wash away the

topsoil in tropical areas, as in Central America or

Africa.

Humanitarian Mine Action

Humanitarian mine action is comprised of four major components:

mine awareness, mine detection, mine clearance, and

survivor assistance. Depending on the needs of a given country,

the United States may assist with one, some, or all four of these

mine-action activities. In most instances, the affected nation will

establish a MAC or a national demining office (NDO) to coordinate demining priorities and mine-action activities.
Mine Clearance

Clearing mines is slow, laborious, tedious, and highly dangerous. U.S. law states that “as a matter of

policy, U.S. Forces shall not engage in physically

detecting, lifting, or destroying landmines, unless it

does so for the concurrent purpose of supporting a

U.S. military operation; or provides such assistance

as part of a military operation that does not involve

the armed forces.” Therefore, U.S. military personnel

use a train-the-trainer approach to assist a country in

clearing landmines. These personnel train an initial

team of host-nation personnel in mine-clearance techniques, including medical evacuation procedures in

the event of a demining accident. This indigenous

cadre, in turn, trains another group, and so forth,

until a large number of the country’s nationals are

sufficiently competent to clear mines safely and efficiently.

Once found, mines will not be removed from their

location. Rather, the landmines will be left in place,

marked, and then destroyed. If the terrain is suitable,

specially equipped vehicles are maneuvered through

the minefield in order to destroy multiple mines. The

United Nations (UN) standard for a successful mineclearance operation is that landmines and UXO

down to 20 centimeters be destroyed. A process

much like mine detection, called quality assurance, is

generally used to assess mine-clearance operations.

MDDs are very efficient for this process.

Survivor Assistance

The last mine-action component is survivor assistance

that requires a long-term commitment to both the

landmine survivor and to his or her family members.

Although important, it is not enough simply to treat

the initial injuries. Many children are landmine survivors. As a child grows, new prosthetic limbs are

required, and a lifetime of additional operations and

expenses is necessary. Over time, the psychological

injury to landmine survivors also becomes a factor in

their recovery and for their family members as well.

For these reasons, mine-action programs encourage

a holistic approach to providing assistance to the survivors of landmine injuries.

As a general rule, neither PM/HDP nor the DoD uses

humanitarian demining funds for survivor assistance.

PM/HDP does fund some survivors’ assistance initiatives from a special fund appropriated to support the

Republic of Slovenia’s International Trust Fund (ITF)

for Demining and Victims Assistance. However, the

major PM/HDP-managed demining fund does not

support such initiatives. The DoD, using Overseas

Humanitarian, Disaster, and Civic Aid (OHDACA)

and other operations and maintenance funds, pays

for Blast Resuscitation and Victims Assistance.

Additionally, USAID and the State Department’s

Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM)

fund programs to alleviate the suffering of landmine

accident survivors and their families. USAID uses

money from the LWVF to provide long-term treatment

and prosthetics to these survivors. PRM’s programs

assist with the resettlement of refugees and internally

displaced persons, many of whom are endangered

by landmines in the course of flight from their homes

and subsequent return. 

10 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Assembling prostheses

for landmine survivors

in Vietnam (Source:

USAID)

Demining in Cambodia

(Source: PM/HDP)
AFRICA

RUSSIA

FINLAND

LIECH. AUSTRIA

ITALY

SPAIN

SWEDEN

NORWAY

GERMANY

FRANCE

PORTUGAL

HUNGARY ROMANIA

BULGARIA

TURKEY

DENMARK

POLAND

BELARUS

UKRAINE CZECH SLOVAKIA

GREECE

CYPRUS

ANDORRA

NETH.

BELGIUM

IRELAND

YUGOSLAVIA

ALBANIA

MOLDOVA

LITHUANIA

LATVIA

ESTONIA

LUX.

BOSNIA

CROATIA SLOVENIA

SWITZERLAND

MACEDONIA

GREENLAND

ICELAND

BRAZIL

KENYA

ETHIOPIA

ERITREA

SUDAN

EGYPT

NIGER

MAURITANIA

MALI

NIGERIA SOMALIA

NAMIBIA

LIBYA

CHAD

SOUTH AFRICA

TANZANIA

DEM. REP.

OF CONGO

ANGOLA

ALGERIA

MADAGASCAR

MOZAMBIQUE

BOTSWANA

ZAMBIA

GABON

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

MOROCCO TUNISIA

UGANDA

SWAZILAND

LESOTHO

MALAWI

BURUNDI

RWANDA

TOGO

BENIN

GHANA

IVORY COAST LIBERIA

SIERRA LEONE

GUINEA BURKINA

GAMBIA

CAMEROON

SAO TOME & PRINCIPE

ZIMBABWE

CONGO

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

WESTERN SAHARA

DJIBOUTI

SENEGAL

GUINEA-BISSAU

Canary Islands JORDAN

ISRAEL

LEBANON

ARMENIAAZERBAIJAN

GEORGIA

KYRGYZSTAN

TAJIKISTAN

KUWAIT

QATAR

U. A. E.

OMAN

YEMEN

SYRIA IRAQ

IRAN

OMAN

SAUDI ARABIA

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

CHINA

KAZAKHSTAN

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN

NEPAL

BHUTAN

SRI LANKA

BANGLADESH

MONGOLIA

U. K.

MALTA

U.S.A.

CANADA

Sahara Desert

Plateau 

of

Tibet

Ural Mts.

Kalahari

Desert

A t l a s M t s . Caucasus

Himalaya

ATLANTIC Alps

INDIAN

OCEAN

ARCTIC

OCEAN

OCEAN

R hine

Danube

Dnieper

Volga

Ob' 

Yenisey

Irtysh

E uphrates

Indu s

Nile

Ganges

Amazon

Niger

Congo

Orange

Zambezi

L. Victoria

L. Chad

L. Malawi

L. Balkhash

Baffin Bay

Norwegian Sea

Greenland 

Sea

North

Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Baltic

Sea

Black Sea

Aral Sea

Arabian Sea

Bay

of

Bengal

Barents

Sea

Kara

Sea

R e d S e a

C a s p i a n S e a

AFRICA

EUROPE

ASIA
More than three decades of internal conflict have left Angola with one of the

world’s most serious landmine problems.

Because no comprehensive national mine survey exists, the actual number of landmines in the country is unknown, with estimates ranging up

to 7,000,000. Large quantities of UXO also are present, with an estimated 2,610 confirmed and suspected UXO locations. Eight of

Angola’s 18 provinces are heavily mined, including Moxico, Malange,

Kuando-Kubago, and Bie, covering nearly 50 percent of the country in

a band from the northwest border with the Congo to the southeast border with Namibia. Combatants planted these mines to destroy or deny

access to Angola’s infrastructure. Landmines pose a critical obstacle to

freedom of movement and to restarting Angola’s domestic food production. Mines are concentrated around roads, railways, bridges, and

public facilities such as schools, churches, water supply points, and

health care facilities, as well as near some provincial capitals, military

facilities, footpaths, and fields. These mines hinder humanitarian aid

programs, economic reconstruction, and the resettlement of Angola’s

4,965,000 refugees and IDPs. Landmines affect a large portion of the

population, with 80,000 amputees and an ever-expanding number of

victims under the age of 15. The country experiences an estimated 800

landmine casualties a year.

In FY02, the United States provided

Angola with approximately $4,300,000

in financial assistance, including

$1,500,000 of LWVF funds: $980,000 to the Hazardous Area LifeSupport Organization (HALO) Trust to continue clearance operations in

Bie and Huambo Provinces; $980,000 to Norwegian People’s Aid

(NPA) for operations in Moxico and Huila provinces; $560,000 to

Menschen Gegen Minen for clearance in Malange and Huila provinces;

and $280,000 for Mines Advisory Group (MAG) operations in Moxico

province. These NGO demining efforts will provide for resettlement of

IDPs, increased agricultural land for subsistence farming, and access to

water and firewood for the resident civilian population. These demining

activities will also open roads and rural areas to provide access routes

for humanitarian relief.

In FY01, the United States provided $3,844,000 to Angola for mine

action, including $2,844,000 in NGO grants. HALO Trust received

$800,000, and NPA received $2,044,000. HALO Trust continued landmine and UXO removal in the Kuito area of Bie Province, one of the

most mine-contaminated areas in Angola and the province with one of

the largest number of IDPs. NPA continued manual demining operations in Moxico and Huila Provinces to clear land for IDP resettlement

and agricultural use. In 2000, USAID’s LWVF signed an agreement

with the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) to provide

orthopedic service in Luena to an additional 3,000 people as well as

establish a satellite workshop in Saurimo. In addition, a small business

development effort promoted a new emphasis on economic rehabilitation. 

Since FY95, the United States has contributed $25,810,000 in

humanitarian demining assistance to Angola. This assistance is provided exclusively through NGOs, primarily to facilitate IDP and refugee

resettlement and for the delivery of humanitarian assistance. The DoD

Humanitarian Assistance Program has provided excess equipment to

supplement the mine detectors, vehicles, and safety and communications equipment previously purchased with U.S. funds. In Angola,

approximately one in 334 inhabitants is an amputee, and the United

States has funded programs to assist these landmine victims. USAID

has contributed $6,500,000 to Angola since 1996 through the LWVF.

USAID contributed $1,000,000 to support the International Committee

of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) Prosthetic Production and Fitting Operation,

and more than $3,000,000 to the VVAF to establish a regional rehabilitation center that will meet the mobility needs of 3,600 Angolans.

LWVF has supported VVAF to meet the physical, social, and economic needs of mine victims and other amputees in Luena City, Moxico

Province. The United States has also funded a feasibility study by the

Landmine Survivors Network on Angolan mine victims. The study

examined the potential for launching a locally managed network of survivors to raise awareness on activities designed to alleviate suffering.

U.S. humanitarian demining assistance

has augmented that of other nations and

NGOs so that Angola could train and equip more than 800 deminers,

medical technicians, and supervisors, return thousands of refugees and

IDPs to Angola’s central highlands—a high priority area for government and international community resettlement programs—and provide

prosthetics and training in their use to thousands of landmine victims.

USAID funds produced and repaired 1,500 prostheses and orthoses,

while producing and delivering approximately 800 mobility aids (e.g.,

crutches, wheelchairs, etc.). In 2001 alone, Angolan and NGO

deminers, supported with U.S. financial assistance, cleared more than

841,887 meters2 of land, resulting in increased access to agricultural

land, water and firewood, the opening of additional areas for the resettlement of IDPs, and more frequent delivery of humanitarian assistance. 

With U.S. and international support, Angola continues to make

progress in eliminating landmines, a major hindrance to the implementation of humanitarian aid programs, economic reconstruction, and

internal movement and resettlement in those areas of the country that

are relatively free from conflict. In June 2002, the National Institute for

the Removal of Obstacles and Explosive Devices handed over two

demined areas of Bie Province to the local government. The first area of

some 75,000 meters2 will be used to build schools and houses for 12,000

IDPs. The second cleared area of almost 52,000 meters2 is in the village

of Cavanga on the outskirts of Cuito. Since 1995, more than 316,000

landmines and more than 86,500 pieces of UXO have been destroyed,

and almost 10,000,000 meters2 of land have been rendered mine-safe.

Angola

AFRICA

12 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

The Landmine

Problem

Accomplishments

United States

Assistance
Chad

AFRICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 13

Thirty-seven years of invasion and

rebellion have left Chad with an

extremely severe mine and UXO problem. The Libyan occupation of the northern half of the country in the

1980s resulted in large (2–60 kilometers long) defensive minefields

around all the population centers of Chad’s desert. Rebellions in the

south, east, and west also left a large number of small, nuisance minefields and thousands of tons of UXO spread throughout many regions.

At the end of these conflicts, the country had an estimated 500,000

landmines. A Landmine Impact Survey, funded by the United States

and the United Kingdom that was completed in May 2001, identified

the presence of landmines and UXO in 249 of 347 localities, and

determined that the most severely affected areas are in the north and

east of the country. UXO, which is estimated to have contaminated

almost 7.9 million meters2 of land, is found in homes, schools, former

ammunition storage areas, and abandoned combat vehicles. The population in the vicinity of military firing ranges is in particular danger,

with abandoned UXO and munitions causing at least 19 casualties a

year. According to the Survey, there were 339 landmine and UXO victims between March 1999 and March 2001, half due to mines and half

to UXO. Approximately 50 percent of the victims succumbed to their

injuries. UXO also blocks nomadic herders from access to water and

agricultural land, while livestock are poisoned by toxins leached from

UXO into the soil, or by licking UXO in an effort to increase salt

intake.

In FY02 the United States contributed

$441,000 to Chad’s demining program.

These funds are providing the National

High Commission for Demining with a capability for emergency medical air evacuation from remote field operations to N’djamena, the

location of the only hospital in the country capable of performing lifesaving surgery. Without this medical evacuation capability, Chad’s

demining operations would be forced to shut down.

In FY01, the United States contributed $300,000 to Chad’s

humanitarian demining program for the purchase of demining equipment, while the government of Chad provided the equivalent of

$1,000,000 (USD) for demining operations.

The United States has contributed more than $5,000,000 to

Chad’s humanitarian demining program since it began in 1998. This

assistance has helped fund the renovation of Chad’s NDO building,

the establishment of a national MAC, and the creation of a database

identifying the location of minefields. 

The United States played a key role in

launching Chad’s demining program in

January 1998. U.S. military personnel trained a cadre of Chadian deminers, who are now capable of independently training personnel in

humanitarian demining techniques and procedures. The United States

also provided necessary demining equipment. With the start of demining operations in late September 2000, progress has been made in

reducing deaths and injuries, and reopening access to cropland, water,

and housing. 

After 18 years, mine-clearance operations have reopened the traditional route of villagers, camel herders, merchants, and traders into

northern Faya, significantly easing and securing the life of the locals.

The reopening of the road south of Faya to the capital has enhanced

the life of the local residents by improving communications with the

capital and the rest of Central and West Africa. In Moyto, 10,500

meters2 of land have been opened to agriculture. In Massenya, UXO

removal has allowed the airport to reopen, and the demining of

Ounianga-Kebir has opened it for future tourism and trade. Continued

U.S. humanitarian demining assistance will enable the Government of

Chad to demine its northern provinces and to benefit from economic

and social development in those regions.

Between September 2000 and June 2002, U.S.-trained Chadian

deminers had cleared 1.3 million meters2 of land and, in the process,

destroyed approximately 3,950 landmines and more than 157 metric

tons of UXO. Demining operations are currently underway at

Ounianga-Kebir, Fada, the Fada-Kiko road, and Biltine. Deminers are

also destroying thousands of serviceable landmines half-buried in

abandoned Libyan ammunition dumps. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Djibouti

AFRICA

14 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Djibouti has a small landmine problem

as a result of an internal conflict during

1991–1994 between the Front for the

Restoration of Unity and Democracy (FRUD) and the Government of

Djibouti (GoD). The exact number of landmines and the areas of their

concentration are not known. A small UXO threat also exists.

According to figures provided by the Djiboutian military, landmines

killed 31 and injured 90 people between 1997 and early 2000.

However, only one landmine incident has been reported since the

peace agreement between the Djibouti government and the FRUD was

signed in February 2000. In 2001, a landmine blew up a military vehicle in Obok, killing one soldier and injuring four others. 

Djibouti’s northern plateau, the most heavily contested area during the civil war, contains most of the suspected minefields or mined

routes, particularly in the districts of Obok and Tadjoura, north of

Djibouti City. In the town of Obok, the Djibouti army laid mines to

protect an army camp and key installations. FRUD forces are said to

have also mined these areas as well as access roads out of Obok and

sites near the village of Andoli. A section of road leading south from

the town of Ali Sabieh to the border is also mined. Deminers conducted a Landmine Impact Survey in these areas in September 2001 to

determine the extent of the landmine and UXO problems. 

In FY02, the United States provided

$290,000 in assistance to the humanitarian demining program in Djibouti.

Complementing U.S. assistance, the GoD assigned additional personnel to the Djibouti MAC, demonstrating the high level of commitment

the GoD has for its demining program. The United States provided

$1,130,000 in assistance in FY01 to fund a U.S. military train-thetrainer program for Djiboutian military personnel, and the provision

of mine-clearance supplies and equipment. Since FY99, the

United States has provided Djibouti with $2,386,000 for humanitarian

demining.

U.S. military personnel have been

instrumental in the training of the first

Djiboutian deminers. They completed training the first cadre of 35

Djiboutian deminers in May 2001, and some of these deminers immediately began to clear areas around military bases in the north. With

U.S. assistance, the GoD has outfitted a MAC, refurbished the facilities for demining training, and taken delivery of an initial complement

of vehicles, including ambulances, for transporting deminers and mine

victims. To date, Djiboutian demining teams have destroyed 274 landmines and 28 pieces of UXO, and cleared 5,662 meters2 of land that

has been returned to productive use. This demining effort is especially important to economic development and alleviating impoverishment in the north of the country. With the current rate of progress,

Djibouti should be mine-safe by the end of 2003.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Eritrea

AFRICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 15

Thirty years of civil strife and the war

between 1998–2000 with Ethiopia have

left Eritrea with a severe landmine problem and an estimated 300,000 IDPs. The National Demining Center in

Asmara estimates some 1,500,000 to 2,000,000 mines and an equal

amount of UXO in the country. Since 1995, the Eritrean Historical

Research Department has identified more than 100 minefields in 38

villages. Ten of the 11 major battle sites believed to contain mines are

in the northern and northwestern provinces; the 11th is in a southeast

province. The majority of landmines are around the cities of Keren,

Nafka, and Asha Golgol. Combatants used landmines to defend

strongholds around cities and populated areas, military camps, and

roadways. Landmines are also found in rural farmlands, near water

sources, and along the borders.

The landmines and minefields, many located in populated areas,

routinely inflict casualties on people and animals, and they present

major problems to Eritrea’s reconstruction, rehabilitation, and development efforts. Landmines in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ)

pose a major danger to IDPs now returning to their homes. The UN

estimates that landmine incidents in 2000 inflicted 200 casualties, at

least 69 of these fatalities in the TSZ since Eritrea and Ethiopia ended

their border war that year.

The United States contributed

$1,230,000 to Eritrean demining

endeavors in FY02. The assistance is

funding the training and equipping of two demining companies and

the establishment of an MDD capability to support national demining

objectives. In FY01, the United States gave Eritrea $1,055,000 in

humanitarian demining assistance. 

Since FY94, Eritrea has received more than $10,240,000 in U.S.

humanitarian demining assistance. The funds have paid for the establishment of a national demining headquarters in Keren, renovation of

two regional demining headquarters, training of deminers and medical

personnel, and the shipment of 60 trucks from Germany used to transport demining teams. In August 2001, a DOS contractor, funded with

previously allocated assistance, completed training of a second company of 80 Eritrean deminers and medical staff. Training of an additional 80 Eritrean personnel is now underway.

Since 1996, the first Eritrean demining

company, trained by U.S. military personnel, has cleared significant amounts of land for farming, grazing,

road building, utility projects, and harvesting natural resources.

During the 1998–2000 war, this demining company removed or

destroyed more than 1,600 mines and 4,000 UXO items, opening

1,650,000 meters2 of land and 110 kilometers of road. Hundreds of

thousands of Eritrean refugees from Sudan have resettled the cleared

land. It is significant to note that the demining company has not suffered a single serious injury, and mine-awareness programs have

reduced civilian casualty rates dramatically. Additionally, eight teams

of MDDs and their handlers began mine-clearance operations in late

summer 2001. The successes of the Eritrean humanitarian demining

program are making a vital contribution to the country’s continued

economic growth. For example, by June 2002, deminers had cleared

207,731 meters2 of land near the town of Tserona. This area is in close

proximity to 11 small villages with six schools and a population of

3,613. The cleared land will now be used for agricultural production

and grazing livestock.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
AFRICA

16 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Ethiopia

The Government of Ethiopia’s Mine

Action Office estimates that 1,500,000

to 2,000,000 landmines, as well as a

large quantity of UXO, litter its territory, threatening every province,

particularly Tigray. Prior to the border war with Eritrea in 1998–2000,

the Ethiopian Demining Headquarters identified 97 minefields in three

regions of the country where it was operating. Many of the mines and

minefields are near populated areas in which both people and livestock

have become casualties. Flooding and erosion exacerbate the problem.

The greatest danger to people and livestock comes from UXO rather

than landmines, because the minefield locations are fairly well known,

but the UXO is randomly distributed. UXO accounted for more than

70 percent of the casualties in 2001. According to the country’s

demining headquarters, since 1995 landmines have killed at least 172

civilians and injured 113, while Ethiopian deminers have suffered 4

deaths and 16 wounded in clearance operations. More than half of

these casualties occurred in 2000. During the same period, landmines

and UXO killed almost 2,000 animals. In the Tigray region, landmines

and UXO have killed 119 people and injured another 216 between

1998 and 2001.

In FY93, the United States began funding humanitarian demining activities in

Ethiopia, and has provided more than

$10,000,000 since then. The United States provided $1,900,000 in

demining funding in FY02. In FY01, the United States provided

$5,000 in humanitarian demining assistance, along with training and

equipment for approximately 200 deminers. 

The U.S. military’s train-the-trainer

programs yielded an initial cadre of 180

Ethiopian deminers. From 1995 until the resumption of hostilities with

Eritrea in 1998, these deminers destroyed more than 68,000 landmines

and more than 364,000 pieces of UXO. After the cessation of hostilities, deminers and combat engineers cleared an additional 203,011

anti-personnel landmines and 10,319 anti-tank mines. By October

1999, deminers had also cleared 174,010,000 meters2 of land and

1,500,000 meters2 of road. The people of Ethiopia are now using the

cleared land for farming, grazing, electric power and telecommunications projects, road construction, exploitation of natural resources,

such as mining and drilling, and resettlement of refugees in more than

170 villages. RONCO Consulting Corporation, a DOS contractor,

completed training of an additional 160 deminers in September 2001.

The two new companies of manual deminers are operational and

deployed to Gerhu and Zalembassa, two priority sites in the Tigray

region. Initial survey work has resulted in more than a 90-percent

reduction of targeted areas, from 134,072,743 meters2 to 12,312,725

meters2

, in effect returning previously suspect land to use. Mine-risk

education has played a significant role in the dramatic reduction of

civilian casualties.

Since 1993, USAID has funded the Prosthetic Orthotic Training

Center in Addis Ababa. This center has provided training in the manufacture and use of prosthetic components to more than 108 technicians from 28 countries, and produced more than 6,600 prostheses,

6,200 orthoses, and 6,200 pairs of crutches.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Guinea-Bissau

AFRICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 17

There are an estimated 16,000–20,000

landmines in Guinea-Bissau, with

Senegalese forces responsible for having laid a significant quantity. Some mines date from the 1962–1974

colonial war of liberation, but the majority is attributed to the 1998–99

military mutiny. Minefields infest approximately 30 kilometers2 of

land, most of it close to populous areas in Central Bissau and its environs. In addition, UXO, much of it exposed to the weather and in a

deteriorated condition, is scattered throughout populated and agricultural areas. The mines and UXO represent a persistent danger to the

civilian population and a hindrance to the resumption of normal commercial activity.

Since the program’s inception in 2000,

the United States has provided

$588,000 in humanitarian demining

assistance. In FY01, the United States provided Guinea Bissau with

$489,000, primarily to support the mine-clearance operations of the

NGO, HUMAID, and the remainder for the purchase of equipment for

Guinea-Bissau’s MAC, which oversees demining operations throughout the country.

Since January 2000, HUMAID deminers have cleared more than 183,200

meters2 of land and destroyed more than 2,700 mines and more than

13,300 pieces of UXO. Because of these efforts, people are able to

build homes on safe land, schools have begun operating again, and

agricultural land has been cultivated for crops, such as manioc, beans,

and cashews.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Mauritania

AFRICA

18 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

An estimated 50,000–100,000 landmines remain in Mauritania from the

war in the Western Sahara. The majority

of these mines are on the Cap Blanc Peninsula. Others are at Bïr

Mogreïn, Aïn Bin Tili, and around Zouirat. On most occasions, combatants laid mines without regard to future mine-clearance requirements. Shifting of dunes, instability of the soils, absence of natural

barriers, and the lack of reliable maps present huge obstacles to locating and neutralizing landmines. The remaining landmines and UXO in

northern Mauritania continue to hinder economic development.

Although landmine casualties are not extensive, Mauritanian military

personnel and civilians have suffered injuries. Between 1978 and

1999, landmines and UXO killed 341 and injured 242 people.

Since FY99, the United States, the only

external humanitarian demining donor

to Mauritania, has provided almost

$5,000,000 to the country’s demining program. In FY02, the United

States allocated $698,000 to mine-action assistance and in FY01, the

United States provided $1,523,000 to construct a forward demining

base in northern Mauritania and to establish a long-range radio communications system. U.S. assistance also has funded a mine-awareness campaign, training of deminers, construction of a building to be

used as a demining school, establishment of an NDO, and provision of

vehicles and demining equipment, all with the objective of creating an

indigenous demining capability.

Mauritania has experienced a significant reduction in landmine casualties

since the inception of the U.S.-supported humanitarian demining program. Between 1978 and 1999, on average, the country suffered about

28 landmine casualties a year; in 2000, only two; in 2001, just one.

Through August 2002, no landmine casualties have been reported.

Through a mine-awareness program, 30,000 booklets were distributed

to schools in the north, and 6,000 brochures were distributed to military personnel clearing mines; this effort contributed to the reduction

in casualties. U.S. military personnel trained 52 Mauritanian military

deminers, who then trained additional fellow military personnel in

demining techniques. In 2001, demining teams cleared a total of 385

kilometers of roadways, including one that permitted the transport of

water from the wells in Blonouar to the population of Nouadhibou.

They also located and marked 27 minefields and cleared 141,000

meters2 of land. From 2000 through June 2002, deminers destroyed

more than 8,000 landmines and more than 5,700 pieces of UXO. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Mozambique

AFRICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 19

Twenty-six years of conflict, including a

war for independence and then civil war,

have left Mozambique littered with

landmines. The number of mines is not known; estimates range as

high as 1,000,000. Although landmines are found in all of

Mozambique’s provinces, the most heavily mined regions are in the

north, along the Zimbabwean border, Zambezia in Tete Province, and

in Maputo and Inhambane Provinces. 

Two typhoons struck Mozambique early in 2000, and subsequent

heavy flooding displaced many landmines. At the request of the

Mozambique National Demining Institute (IND), the DOS used some

of the $3,800,000 in FY00 assistance to Mozambique in funding a

U.S. contractor to address the problem. The contractor conducted high

priority demining, under IND direction, of the most dangerous threats.

Landmines continue to injure people, inhibit refugee resettlement,

and hinder economic development by preventing the rehabilitation of

key transportation links and the development of potentially fertile

agricultural land. Landmines surround entire communities and many

residents are unable to farm. Their presence also makes it difficult to

install water supply systems. In 2000, there were 20 landmine accidents, involving 29 people, eight of whom subsequently died from

their injuries.

UXO also pose a threat to the population, littering some 70

percent of the country and further hindering farming and economic

development. 

In FY02, the United States provided

$2,124,000 to fund demining operations on the Sena rail line between

Beira and the Malawi border, and to train IND staff in areas of general management, mine awareness, quality assurance, and related

administration.

Since FY93, the United States has provided nearly $29,000,000 in

humanitarian demining assistance to Mozambique. In FY01, the

United States provided nearly $2,200,000 to Mozambique for humanitarian mine action. The assistance funded U.S. demining equipment

to support operational demining elements trained by U.S. military personnel. Through the years, the United States has provided trucks,

metal detectors, protective body gear, terrain-clearing tools, and an

MDD capability, and it has supported NGO demining operations.

USAID victim assistance programs and mine-clearance operations

include LWVF financial support to a Mozambican NGO, The

Prosthetic and Orthotic Worldwide Education and Relief, to develop

prosthetic and orthotic capacity throughout the country to aid an estimated 9,000 landmine victims.

From 1992 through October 2001,

NGO mine-clearance operations, funded by the United States, such as USAID’s Demobilization/

Reintegration Project, have removed more than 17,000 landmines and

more than 29,000 pieces of UXO, cleared 11,672,779 meters2 of land,

and opened more than 4,500 kilometers of roads, including 2,400 kilometers in Sofal, Manica, and Zambezia Provinces, facilitating postwar resettlement of agricultural land, and reconnecting nearly one million people to their local economies. 

The LWVF has undertaken a number of initiatives to strengthen

Mozambican management capabilities, improve outreach, and support

private-sector opportunities to assume production and distribution of

prosthetics. Additionally, the effort put forth by the LWVF has resulted in visible change: possibly 70 percent of the amputee population

has been directly served, receiving appropriate devices to assist their

mobility. In central Mozambique, USAID funded a charter airline

company to provide all logistical support of demining operations,

including emergency evacuation of landmine victims. 

In a partnership with Japan, the United States contributed

$1,000,000 to the clearance of mines around the Massingir Dam, a

facility vital to Mozambique’s overall development strategy. The dam

is capable of supplying electricity and irrigating 9,000,000 meters2 of

land. Using trucks purchased with U.S. assistance funds to transport

deminers, HALO Trust is clearing land in the four severely mineaffected northern provinces for agriculture and refugee resettlement.

HALO Tust is also clearing key roads and power lines in that region.

Mozambican military deminers, trained by U.S. military personnel,

have cleared the Komatipoort to Maputo power lines, the capital’s

main source of electricity. The U.S. demining contractor, RONCO, is

now clearing the Sena rail line, Mozambique’s top national demining

priority, and expects this demining effort to be finished in September

2002. As of July 2002, 2,857,985 meters2 of roadbed and adjacent area

have been cleared; only the 82 kilometers of rail line between

Inhaminga and Marrimeo remain to be cleared. The restored rail line

will open large areas of the Zambezi River Valley, key to development

of the central provinces, by facilitating the export of agricultural and

mineral products to the country’s second largest city and port of Beira.

It will also allow access to Mozambique’s infrastructure and valuable

resources including coal, agricultural products, and small farms and

businesses. MDDs, provided by the United States, have increased the

operational capacity of the Accelerated Demining Program (ADP) in

the southern provinces. Refugees have returned to land that the ADP

has cleared, schools and health clinics have been built on it, and agricultural production has resumed. 

Vehicles and computers purchased for the IND have increased its

ability to carry out work as a national mine coordinator. The United

States continues to work with the IND to increase the Institute’s

responsibility in overseeing all aspects of mine action and to improve

interaction and cooperation among the various demining organizations

and NGOs operating in the country.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Namibia

Landmines and UXO had infested about

100,000 kilometers2 of land (about 12

percent of Namibia), but this area contained some of the highest population densities in the country. By the

time Namibia achieved independence from South Africa in 1989,

South African Defense Forces (SADF) had laid more than 44,000

landmines in defensive perimeters around military and police bases

and two water supply towers along the Namibia-Angola border in the

nation’s northwest. The resulting 10 minefields encompassed more

than 360,000 meters2 of land. The SADF also laid mines around 410

electric power pylons stretching from the northern town of Ruacana

south approximately 200 kilometers to the northern border of the

Estosha National Game Reserve. A 900-meter2 area around each pylon

contained 24–36 landmines. Hundreds of thousands of UXO continue

to be embedded along Namibia’s northern border, a major battleground during the war for independence. From December 1999

through May 2002, União Nacional para a Independencia Total de

Angola (UNITA) and factions of the Forças Armadas de Angola

(Angolan Armed Forces [FAA]) in the Angolan civil war laid landmines in the Caprivi and Kavango regions of northeast Namibia.

Although these mines affect a relatively small geographic area along

some 300 miles of the border shared by Namibia and Angola,

Namibian Police believe there is a significant quantity of mines that

endanger much of the rural population, frighten away tourists, and discourage farmers from planting crops. The mines will be very difficult

to locate because they are unmarked and unmapped. In addition, combatants probably buried many of them along the edge of rivers and,

over time, sand and vegetation growth have covered many of them.

The landmines are most probably to be found one at a time. For these

reasons, the Namibian Police expect landmine casualties will continue to occur until deminers clear the affected areas. From 1989 through

July 2002, landmines and UXO killed 135 and wounded 440 civilians.

Between 2000 and 2001, landmines killed 23 and injured 138 people

just in the Kavango and Caprivi regions.

In FY02, Namibia received $88,000 in

U.S. humanitarian demining assistance.

The funds provided for protective clothing, supplies for field operations, and communications equipment for

the Namibian Police Force’s six Explosive Ordnance Demolition field

teams. FY01 assistance in the amount of $40,000 funded a nationwide

mine-awareness program that included ad campaigns in local newspapers and medical kits for mine-awareness teams. The campaign, using

materials printed in four indigenous languages, reached more than

400,000 inhabitants. 

Since FY94, the United States has provided more than $7,800,000

in humanitarian demining assistance. U.S. assistance has funded a

multiphase demining program, including training, clearance, mine

awareness, medical assistance, communications and other related

equipment. The United States also provided a berm processor to

extract landmines in the berms around electric pylons. Additionally,

the U.S. Government participated in a highly successful test of a

machine built in Namibia, the Rotar, to sift mines from the soil. The

Rotar proved so effective that the DoD paid for the development of an

improved system. Finally, when rugged terrain hampered UXO disposal efforts in the northern regions, the United States purchased 4x4

vehicles to enable deminers to reach the clearance sites.

Overall, the establishment of Namibia’s

demining program is complete. In

1998, U.S. military personnel completed the train-the-trainer program

for the Namibian Defense Force (NDF) and Police, instructing 114

military engineers and police in demining operations. A U.S.-funded

contractor provided additional training that was completed in 2001.

Deminers have cleared more than one million meters2 of land, restoring it to productive use, and destroyed more than 5,000 mines and

200,000 UXO. By January 2001, the NDF had cleared all known

minefields and 410 electric power pylons. The Namibian Police

Explosive Ordnance teams continue to respond to UXO reports and to

conduct mine-awareness programs. Unquestionably, the intense mineawareness campaign can be credited with having reduced the number

of accidents from mines and UXO between 2000 and 2002. The equipment that the teams received in FY02 allows them to respond more

quickly to reports of mines and UXO and to be closer to the people

who are threatened. Now that the Angola civil war no longer poses a

cross-border threat, the military and police are able to complete the

clearance of mines and UXO along the northern border. The DOS will

continue to provide funding for mine-action activities as appropriate. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

AFRICA

20 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
Rwanda

AFRICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 21

Rwanda emerged from its 1900–1994

civil war with an estimated

100,000–250,000 landmines scattered

throughout the country. Despite the lack of written records and maps,

the Government of Rwanda believes that the heaviest concentrations

of landmines, some 50,000–60,000, were in the Kigali area and in four

prefectures in the North and Northwest, about 10 kilometers from the

border with Uganda, an area approximately 120 kilometers long. An

additional 1,200 kilometers2 of suspected mine-contaminated land is

situated south of this region. Significant portions of Rwanda’s roads

were mined, cutting off entire regions and hindering the flow of

humanitarian aid and commodities. Overall, the mines and UXO have

been a major impediment to the economic and social development of

the country. Moreover, the thick vegetation and steep hilly terrain have

posed enormous challenges to mine-clearance activities. 

The United States is the sole donor to

the country’s humanitarian demining

program. In FY02, Rwanda received

$350,000 in U.S. humanitarian demining assistance to promote mine

awareness, conduct mine-clearance operations, and purchase demining equipment. FY01 assistance of $400,000 enabled Rwanda’s

NDO to continue its aggressive mine-awareness campaign, replenish

some of the equipment it had used in conducting mine-clearance operations in rough terrain, and provide deminers and medics with refresher training. 

Rwanda has been receiving U.S. humanitarian demining assistance since FY95, with total contributions approaching $11,500,000.

In 1995, U.S. military personnel established an NDO in Kigali and

trained 120 Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) personnel in humanitarian demining techniques. The U.S. military trainers also provided a

new mine detector that could function more effectively in soil with a

high metal content and locate plastic mines more easily. U.S. military

personnel returned in 1996 to conduct refresher training, and to assist

the NDO in integrating MDDs, funded by USAID, into its demining

operations. In 1997, U.S. military personnel established a computer

training program at the NDO, revitalized the NDO’s data collection

center, and conducted mine-awareness training. Another U.S. military

team, including explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialists,

trained 93 RPA deminers and EOD personnel. In 1998 and 1999, U.S.

assistance funded the renovation of NDO facilities at the Rebero training camp, the purchase of additional demining equipment, and provided enhanced EOD training. 

U.S. demining assistance has dramatically impacted Rwandan society.

Through the end of 2001, more than 200 U.S.-trained deminers and

EOD personnel have cleared more than 500,000,000 meters2 of land,

and destroyed more than 27,250 mines and thousands of UXO.

Rwanda’s main and secondary roads are now clear of landmines,

allowing valuable exports, necessary imports, consumer goods, and

international aid to flow freely. Much of the cleared land supports subsistence farming, an aid to decreasing the food shortage. The occurrence of landmine casualties has dropped substantially, thanks to the

removal of the most dangerous landmines and successful mine-awareness campaigns. In 1994, two landmine casualties were reported each

day, and now less than two casualties occur each month. Some

400,000 refugees and IDPs have returned to their villages, many to

houses that the RPA built on cleared land. The humanitarian demining

program in Rwanda is now at the sustainment phase, and the country

expects to be mine-safe by early 2004.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Senegal

In 1982, supporters of the Mouvement

des Forces Democratiques de la

Casamance demanded that the Government of Senegal grant independence to the Casamance region, an isolated section of southwestern Senegal located between Gambia and

Guinea-Bissau. This demand sparked a 19-year-long conflict, which

only recently began to be resolved.

The conflict worsened in the late 1990s with the appearance of

anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. These landmines have adversely

affected the population (an anti-tank mine killed two people in

September 2001), agricultural activities and tourism, as well as hampering donor and NGO efforts in the region. No accurate information

is available regarding the total quantity of landmines or the number of

landmine casualties.

In July 2001, USAID, through the

LWVF, began providing the first of the

$499,751 committed to Senegal, to

Handicap International (HI) to support its mine-awareness and minevictim assistance programs. One component of HI’s effort is designed

to facilitate the rehabilitation of people with disabilities in the

Casamance region. A second component supports local associations

that assist people with landmine injuries during their treatment and

ease their return to family and communities. The third facet of the program is the conduct of training sessions to disseminate mine-awareness messages throughout each regional village.

To facilitate the rehabilitation of landmine victims, HI is promoting the

decentralization of orthopedic services in the region. Additionally, HI

has collected data on mine accidents and produced maps that indicate

mine locations. This information enables HI to target prevention activities more effectively. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

Somalia (northwest Somalia)

Northwest Somalia has a severe landmine and UXO problem. Several conflicts have left large quantities of landmines and UXO along the border between northwest Somalia and

Ethiopia, the perimeters surrounding military installations, important

access routes, and urban areas. Following the Ethiopia conflict, the

Somalian Army laid mines near the border and around nearby military

bases as a defense strategy. The civil war in 1988 continued the practice of laying mines, restricting both military and civilian movement

within the country. The Somalia MAC has confirmed the presence of

at least 28 mined roads and 63 known and 17 suspected minefields.

In FY02, the United States provided

$1,200,000 in humanitarian demining

assistance to northwest Somalia to fund

mine-clearance operations conducted by HALO Trust. In FY01, the

United States also funded ($1,400,000) HALO Trust operations, and

provided equipment to the NDO. Prior to FY01, the United States

funded a Technical Survey conducted by Care International, in partnership with Minetech, a commercial firm from Zimbabwe. Since

1998, the United States has given almost $5,500,000 in demining

assistance to northwest Somalia.

Through February 2002, HALO Trust

had cleared 19,663,265 meters2 of land,

while destroying 1,333 mines and pieces of UXO. Refugees have

returned to their homes on the land cleared in Burao.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

AFRICA

22 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
AFRICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 23

Sudan

Sudan has a serious landmine and UXO

problem as a result of its 1983–2002

civil war. Both the Government of

Sudan (GoS) and armed opposition groups, such as the Sudan Peoples

Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), deployed landmines to interdict roads and to protect fixed garrisons. Local records indicate that

between 1989 and February 2002, an estimated 1,160 persons became

landmine victims in the Nuba Mountains region of southern Sudan.

Both mines and UXO currently hinder the movement of cease-fire

monitors, humanitarian goods, and civilian populations.

In late April 2002, the United States

deployed a portion of its Quick

Reaction Demining Force (QRDF) to conduct mine-clearance operations in the Nuba Mountains.

The QRDF’s mine-clearance operations opened eight kilometers of a critical stretch of road, lessening the likelihood of additional casualties as

refugees and IDPs returned to areas where mines were known to exist

and into other areas suspected of being mined. These mine-clearance

operations also contributed to the success of the first phase of the

ceasefire between the GoS and the SPLM/A and the operations of the

Joint Military Commission, an international agency in which the

United States plays a leading role.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

Swaziland

Swaziland has one minefield in the

extreme northeastern part of the country

along its border with Mozambique. It is

approximately 10 kilometers long and varies in width from 50–100

meters. The minefield is believed to contain about a dozen mines.

Since FY98, the United States has provided more than $1,000,000 in assistance. The funds provided for training ofdeminers and demining equipment. In 1999 and 2000, U.S. military

personnel conducted train-the-trainer programs, and the DOS provided mine detectors and protective gear.

U.S. training has created an indigenous

Swazi capability to conduct humanitarian demining operations using methods

that meet UN and international standards. U.S humanitarian demining

assistance to Swaziland has ended.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Zimbabwe

The Zimbabwean NDO estimates that the

War of Liberation, which ended in 1980,

caused 656 kilometers2 of land to be

infested with 2,500,000 landmines. Although combatants did not prepare

or maintain minefield records adequately, the NDO believes that the

majority of the mines are in fields stretching some 700 kilometers along

the borders shared with Zambia and Mozambique. This is a remote region

of the country with rough terrain, making landmine surveys difficult to

conduct. Three landmine casualties were reported in 2000. 

In FY02, the United States provided

$314,000 in assistance to Zimbabwe. U.S.

assistance has funded mine-awareness

materials, U.S. military training of three platoons of Zimbabwean Army

Combat Engineers in minefield survey procedures, basic demining techniques, medical orderly skills, vehicle maintenance, and the purchase of

equipment and vehicles necessary to outfit and transport the platoons. In

addition, an NDO is in place, and the training in staff management and

organizational structure is now complete.

In FY01, the United States provided $595,000 to fully equip a third

demining platoon. Since FY98, U.S. contributions for humanitarian demining have totaled almost $6,750,000.

The NDO’s mine-awareness unit, responsible for training in target audience analysis and the design of a mine-awareness information campaign, has helped

reduce the country’s landmine casualty rate. Zimbabwean Army Combat

Engineers and private sector deminers have destroyed 26,000 landmines

and have cleared more than 2,600,000 meters2 of land, opening large tracts

at Victoria Falls to tourism and the Zambezi Valley for resettlement. The

clearing of a minefield with an area of 1,800,00 meters2 at the Forbes

Border Post outside Murare in December 2001 paved the way for the

Zimbabwean Revenue Authority to expand the Post, and facilitated the

maintenance of the railway line to Beira, Mozambique.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

Zambia

Nearly 20 years of fighting for independence, beginning in the 1960s when freedom fighters from the neighboring countries of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe waged their anticolonial wars, have left Zambia with a landmine problem of largely

unknown dimensions. The Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ)

is unable to estimate the quantity and type of landmines in its soil, because

combatants laid the mines in a “nuisance pattern” and accurate records

were not maintained. GRZ requests to former colonial authorities and former liberation movement participants to obtain information about the

landmines they emplaced have not been successful. The Government’s

best estimate is that landmines affect 2,500 kilometers2 of land in five

provinces, stretching from Mwinilunga bordering the Democratic

Republic of the Congo in the Northwestern Province, and continuing

along its western borders to Lundazi in the Eastern Province. Landmines

also infest the Western, Southern, Lusaka, and Central Provinces. A highdensity minefield threat does not appear to exist, but rather a threat of isolated and nuisance mines along routes and around camps that the freedom

fighters once used. Nevertheless, large amounts of productive land in the

mine-affected provinces have been virtually “no-go” areas for more than

30 years. The fear of mines has prevented the use of roads, schools, waterways, rural health centers, even airports, and has impeded socio-economic development. Since Zambia achieved its independence in 1980, landmines have killed or maimed at least 200 people. The number may be

higher, because hospitals do not specifically identify landmine victims in

their overall casualty records.

In FY02, the United States allocated

$992,000 to support mine-action activities, including staff management, survey

and database management, mine-clearance operations, medical support,

and additional mine-risk education conducted by U.S. military personnel.

In FY01, the DOS provided $700,000 to help establish a mine-action

program. 

The U.S. contractor RONCO continues to

train and equip the Zambian National

MAC, and prepare Landmine Impact Survey Teams and manual deminers

for deployment into minefields. In May 2002, deminers were deployed to

Siavonga and quickly finished their first assignment. Zambia is now

well on the way to establishing an indigenous, sustainable humanitarian

demining capability. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

AFRICA

24 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
ASIA

RUSSIA

FINLAND

AUSTRIA

ITALY

SPAIN

SWEDEN

NORWAY

GERMANY

FRANCE

PORTUGAL

HUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

TURKEY

DENMARK

POLAND

BELARUS

UKRAINE

LIECH CZECH

SLOVAKIA

GREECE

CYPRUS

ANDORRA

NETH.

BELGIUM

IRELAND

YUGOSLAVIA

ALBANIA

MOLDOVA

LITHUANIA

LATVIA

ESTONIA LUX.

BOSNIA

CROATIA

SLOVENIA

SWITZERLAND

MACEDONIA

GREENLAND

ICELAND

CANADA

KENYA

ETHIOPIA

ERITREA

SUDAN

EGYPT

NIGER

MAURITANIA

MALI

NIGERIA

SOMALIA

LIBYA

CHAD

TANZANIA

ANGOLA

ALGERIA

MADAGASCAR

MOZAMBIQUE

ZAMBIA

GABON

C.A.R.

TUNISIA

MOROCCO

UGANDA

MALAWI

BURUNDI

RWANDA

BURKINA

CAMEROON

CONGO

DEM. REP.

OF CONGO DJIBOUTI

Canary Islands

JORDAN

ISRAEL

LEBANON

ARMENIA

AZERBAIJAN

GEORGIA

KYRGYZSTAN

TAJIKISTAN

KUWAIT

QATAR

BAHRAIN

U. A. E.

OMAN

YEMEN

SYRIA

IRAQ

IRAN

OMAN

SAUDI ARABIA

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

KAZAKHSTAN

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN

MYANMAR

THAILAND

CAMBODIA

NEPAL BHUTAN

VIETNAM

SRI LANKA

LAOS

BANGLADESH

MALAYSIA

INDONESIA

AUSTRALIA

EAST

TIMOR

CHINA

BRUNEI

SINGAPORE

PHILIPPINES

MALAYSIA

INDONESIA

JAPAN

MONGOLIA

SOUTH KOREA

NORTH KOREA

U. K.

MALTA

Atlas Mts.

S ahara D

esert

Plateau

of

Tibet

Gobi

Desert

Ural Mts.

Siberia

H i m a l a y a

Alps

Caucasus

PACIFIC

INDIAN

ARCTIC

OCEAN

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

OCEAN

OCEAN

Nile

Congo

Niger

Ganges

Volga

Ob'

Yenisey

Lena

Yangtze

Yukon MacKenzie

Rhine

Danube

Dnieper

Euphrates

Irtysh

Angara

Aldan

Lena

Amur

Huang

Indus

Salween

Mekong

L. Victoria

L. Chad

L. Malawi

L. Balkhash

L. Baykal

Chukchi Sea

Beaufort Sea

Hudson Bay

Gulf of

Alaska

Baffin Bay

Norwegian Sea

Greenland Sea

North

Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Baltic

Sea

Black Sea

Aral Sea

Arabian Sea

Bay

of

Bengal

South

China

Sea

Sea of Japan

East

China

Sea

Yellow

Sea

Sea of Okhotsk

Bering Sea

Barents Sea Kara

Sea

Leptev Sea

Caspian

Sea

Red Sea

AFRICA

EUROPE

ASIA
Afghanistan

ASIA

26 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Afghanistan remains severely affected by

landmines and UXO. According to the UN

Mine Action Program for Afghanistan

(MAPA), the situation has worsened since the coalition activities began on

October 7, 2001. Prior to the current conflict, MAPA identified 723 kilometers2 of land as being mine-affected, and had assessed 344 kilometers2

of this area as being a high priority for clearance. The UN estimates that

the country is infested with five to seven million landmines, but some

NGOs claim that, based on their clearance experiences in heavily mined

areas, the UN estimate is too high. The U.S. Government believes there

are more than three million landmines and a countless quantity of UXO.

The most heavily mined areas are in the provinces bordering Iran and

Pakistan. Most mines are located in agricultural fields, irrigation canals,

and grazing areas. Mines are also found on roads and in residential and

commercial areas. Security belts of landmines also exist around major

cities, airports, government installations, and power stations. An equally

significant problem is UXO that, even prior to the ongoing conflict,

inflicted extensive injuries and destruction. 

According to MAPA, there are some 200,000 mine and UXO accident survivors and, prior to the initiation of recent military activities, the

death and injury rate ran at some 150–300 per month. MAPA suggests

that “mine and UXO injuries have escalated due to the new contamination

and also due to increased population movement, often in unfamiliar areas,

as people shift to avoid areas of fighting or return to newly secure locations.” According to MAPA, UXO, not landmines, now cause approximately 80 percent of the casualties experienced in Afghanistan.

Through FY01, the United States provided its assistance for humanitarian demining activities through the UN Office

for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (UNOCHA).

UN oversight of the program in Afghanistan transferred from UNOCHA

to the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) early in 2002.

In FY02, the United States provided nearly $11,600,000 to support a

wide range of mine-action initiatives in support of MAPA. Of this amount,

HALO Trust received $3,200,000 to clear landmines from priority sites,

such as roads, key economic infrastructure, residential areas, and other

sites used by humanitarian relief organizations. Another $3,100,000 went

to RONCO, a U.S. commercial demining firm, to provide specialized

UXO removal training to Afghan demining NGOs, so that they will be

able to restore the full tempo of UXO and mine-clearance operations

around the country. An FY02 assistance grant of $700,000 went to the

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to fund mine-risk education

initiatives, to be implemented by Save the Children, an American NGO.

In addition, the DoD contributed more than $3,700,000 of the FY02 total

assistance to provide technical advisors and to support clearance efforts

around the critical airstrips of Kandahar and Bagram. Finally, the U.S.

Centers for Disease Control provided $800,000 to the VVAF to provide a

post-conflict landmine/UXO contamination assessment. The purpose of

the assessment is to determine the level of new contamination by landmines and UXO, and to measure the incidence of war-related injuries and

disabilities. The United States divided its FY01 contribution of

$2,800,000 between UNOCHA ($800,000 for demining equipment,

$900,000 for mine clearance) and HALO Trust ($1,100,000 for mine

clearance). 

Since FY89, the United States has provided more than $39,000,000

in humanitarian demining assistance to Afghanistan. In 1998, the U.S.

Government tested a prototype system—the Airspade—to uncover landmines and eliminate the need for probing. In 1989, USAID funded the

original MDD program, turning it over to the UN in 1994. Today, the

MDD Center bears responsibility for the program and breeds and trains all

MDDs used in Afghanistan. Through the years, U.S. assistance has also

paid for mine-awareness programs, minefield surveys and marking,

deminer training, and mine clearance.

MAPA oversees one of the most effective

demining programs in the world. Mineawareness briefings to more than seven million people have contributed

significantly to lowering the landmine casualty rate by an estimated 50

percent through mid-2002. By the end of 2001, Afghani deminers had

cleared more than 224 kilometers2 of high-priority, mine-infested land and

321 kilometers2 of former battlefield areas, while destroying approximately 210,000 landmines and 985,000 pieces of UXO. 

As a result of these efforts, more than 1.5 million refugees and IDPs

have been able to return to their homes. In addition, the cleared land has

enabled MAPA to provide employment opportunities to more than 9,200

farmers and industrial workers, increased agricultural outputs (valued at

$14.2 million U.S. dollars), and livestock production (valued at $43.4 million U.S. dollars). 

In spite of the current military situation, MAPA reports that clearance

operations have returned to 100 percent of their previous capacity, and

although ongoing security constraints limit operations in some areas,

MAPA is expanding its mine-clearance capacities. In 2001, 113 clearance

teams were in operation, and MAPA plans to increase the number of teams

to 201 by the end of 2002.

In the first quarter of 2002, mine-clearance organizations coordinated

by MAPA cleared 23,825,611 meters2 of high-priority areas contaminated

with mines and UXO, and destroyed 17,728 mines and 1,864,052 UXO

items. In addition, another 32,091,000 meters2 of land have been returned

to productive use in various communities. This turnover is due to successful survey work conducted under MAPA’s auspices. It estimates that

another 75,000,000 meters2 of land will be cleared by the end of 2002, and

a further 60,000,000 meters2 of land will be turned over as a result of survey work that has shown that some land suspected of being mined is not.

Also in the first quarter of 2002, MAPA reported that 751 anti-tank

and 16,196 anti-personnel mines and 251,169 UXO devices have been

cleared. MAPA has reported that the clearance of cluster munitions is

being achieved at a rate faster than anticipated. All known cluster munition strike sites have been surveyed where access has been possible and

are now in the process of being cleared.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Cambodia

ASIA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 27

The Cambodian Mine Action Center

(CMAC) estimates that between

300,000 and 1,000,000 landmines and

more than 2,500,000 pieces of UXO are

contaminating 2,000 kilometers2 of Cambodian soil. The northwest

region remains the most heavily mined area, accounts for the largest

number of casualties and, therefore, is the highest demining priority.

In addition, two central and southern provinces contain large areas of

suspected minefields. A combined CMAC and Geo-Spatial survey

found that mines and UXO had contaminated 45.5 percent of the villages surveyed. Aerial-delivered UXO is found mainly in the eastern

and central provinces. Landmines and UXO have killed or injured

more than 30,000 people. In 2001, 813 casualties were recorded, and

in 2000, the number of casualties was 847. However, these figures are

significantly lower than in the preceding years, and the number continues to drop. Despite this progress, mines and UXO constitute a serious problem and a long-term threat that has a severe impact on the

socio-economic development of the country. 

In FY02, the United States allocated

$4,475,000 for humanitarian demining

in Cambodia, and in FY01, it provided

more than $4,500,000 for mine clearance and the acquisition of demining equipment and personal protective gear.

Cambodia has received almost $30,000,000 in U.S. humanitarian

demining assistance since FY93. This funding has augmented financial assistance from the UN Development Program Trust Fund and

other international donors, allowing Cambodia to obtain necessary

demining training and equipment. Between 1994 and 1997, U.S. military personnel trained 1,200 Cambodians in basic mine-awareness

activities, demining techniques, and medical skills. In addition, the

UN, using U.S. assistance funds, provided additional demining training to 537 Royal Cambodian Armed Forces engineers. In FY01 and

FY02, U.S. military teams were sent to instruct medical, explosive aid,

and vehicle maintenance disciplines. In 2000, the DoD provided a

highly effective system for vegetation clearance—the Pearson

Survivable Demining Tractor and Tools—to an NGO operating in

Cambodia for field-testing and evaluation. The LWVF supports a variety of programs addressing the physical, social, and economic reintegration of persons disabled by landmines. Since 1996, USAID has

invested more than $7,000,000 in Cambodia’s prosthetics and rehabilitation programs to strengthen the range of services provided through

national rehabilitation centers to landmine survivors. The funds support the Disability Action Council, a semi-autonomous body that has

been delegated authority by the Royal Cambodian Government to

oversee all programs related to people with disabilities, and VVAF

supports four rehabilitation centers in the country.

The Cambodian humanitarian demining program is now in the sustainment phase, with a fully trained staff of about 2,400 Cambodians, 35

foreign technical advisors, and six UN staff members. The information

in the Cambodian Red Cross Mine Incident Database has proved

invaluable to CMAC, NGOs, and donors in making informed planning

and prioritization decisions. U.S. and international assistance has lowered reported landmine casualties from 2,799 in 1996 to 813 in 2001,

a reduction of almost 70 percent. 

These statistics reflect the success of large- and small-scale mine

clearance and mine-marking operations, as well as an aggressive

mine-awareness campaign conducted by demining groups and other

NGOs. One of every 45 Cambodians is an amputee, and USAID funds

have not only enabled Cambodia’s prosthetics and rehabilitation programs to provide mobility assistance to nearly 10,000 landmine victims and other people with disabilities, but also have been instrumental in the development and success of a national coordinating agency

for the disabled. Since 1992, when funding support for the VVAF

Cambodia Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Program began, the Kien

Khleang Physical Rehabilitation Center has become a globally recognized facility offering a full range of services. USAID’s program has

provided and fit landmine victims with 7,200 prostheses and 7,200

orthotic braces.

The U.S.-funded heavy equipment, including tractors, vegetationcutters and mini-flails, continues to assist deminers greatly, accelerating the pace of their activities by as much as 60 percent. From 1992 to

June 2001, CMAC deminers cleared some 87,500,000 meters2 of land

and destroyed 143,000 mines and 620,000 pieces of UXO, while

HALO Trust has cleared 16,000,000 meters2 of land and eliminated

approximately 30,000 mines and nearly 25,000 pieces of UXO. In just

under two years, MAG has cleared nearly 269,000 meters2 of suspect

land, finding 168 mines and 637 pieces of UXO. Almost 90 percent of

the clearance effort has been to reclaim land for resettlement, agriculture, and roadways.

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

The Landmine

Problem
Laos

ASIA

28 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Between 1964 and 1973, intense ground

combat and the air campaign during the

war in Vietnam that released approximately two million tons of ordnance—up to 30 percent of which may

not have exploded—left more than 87,000 kilometers2 of Laos,

approximately two-thirds of the country’s land area, infested with

landmines and UXO. No realistic estimates exist of either the number

of landmines or of unexploded submunitions, referred to by the Laos

as “bombies.” The presence of UXO is widespread in nine of Laos’s

17 provinces, and the most contaminated areas are in the northern

provinces of Houaphan and Xieng Khouang, and along the border

with Vietnam. The widespread UXO contamination not only causes

death and injuries, but also denies the use of agricultural land and prevents the restoration of economic infrastructure in those regions. From

1987 through 1996, the number of UXO victims averaged 240 annually, a sharp drop from the average of 1,100 annually for 1973 through

1976. Nevertheless, UXO continues to wound and kill a significant

number of Lao citizens, and inhibits efforts to expand agriculture and

infrastructure. In 2001, mines caused 122 casualties; of the 122, 51

were children, 35 were fatalities.

Laos received $2,328,000 in U.S.

humanitarian demining assistance in

FY02. In FY01, the United States allocated almost $1,000,000 in total assistance, $293,000 for demining

equipment, and $700,000 for the Lao Trust Fund.

The United States is the single largest donor to the mine and UXO

clearance program in Laos, having contributed more than $23,000,000

since FY96, and it is also the most significant provider of a variety of

humanitarian demining-related assistance, including training and U.S.

Defense Security Cooperation Agency funds. The United States funds

operating expenses throughout the country and has provided particular support to the UXO LAO National Training Center and community mine-awareness visits. U.S. assistance helped establish the NDO,

and supports the Center, staffed by Lao instructors, that offers courses in community awareness, mine and UXO clearance techniques,

medical training, and leadership development. U.S. funds also supported mine and UXO awareness in seven provinces, mine and UXO

clearance in another six provinces, and established rapid response

teams in the remaining four provinces. Additionally, the U.S.

Government contributed five prototype demining technologies for

evaluation in 1998.

Since 1995, the LWVF has contributed more than $5,350,000 to

support rehabilitation services for UXO and landmine victims, UXO

awareness programs, and to develop emergency response capabilities

to UXO traumas. In 1995, a $2,100,000 grant was awarded to the

Consortium, a partnership developed by several U.S. NGOs, to

upgrade medical, surgical, and emergency facilities and services while

promoting mine awareness. Under a current $2,600,000 partnership

with the Consortium, the LWVF is supporting the upgrade of medical,

surgical, and emergency services, facilities and human resources and,

in collaboration with UNICEF, a national primary school UXO awareness curriculum.

U.S. military personnel have trained

more than 1,200 Lao, creating an

indigenous demining capability as well as the capacity to train additional personnel. From FY96, when U.S. assistance began, through

June 2001, UXO LAO personnel have destroyed almost 363,000

pieces of UXO, and cleared more than 32,700,000 meters2 of land,

now used primarily for agriculture. UXO LAO personnel also conducted mine-/UXO-awareness visits in more than 2,400 villages. Thus

far, more than 300 Lao medical staff members have received training

in emergency rehabilitation or laboratory services, and one provincial

and five district hospitals have received medical equipment and supplies. The LWVF assistance has also provided free medical treatment

to UXO victims. With U.S. help, Laos has decreased steadily the cost

per hectare for its clearance operations, and maintained an excellent

safety record. Laos is now in the sustainment phase of its program.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Sri Lanka

ASIA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 29

In March 2002, the Government of Sri

Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of

Tamil Eelam (LTTE) signed a ceasefire

agreement and began planning for peace talks to take place in a neutral country. The 18-year-long civil war left many landmines and UXO

in the ground. Because no accurate countrywide survey of the

mine/UXO threat has been conducted, an accurate estimate of their

numbers and the areas they affect is impossible to calculate. The most

heavily mined and UXO-littered areas are Jaffna in the north (controlled by the Government of Sri Lanka) and the areas directly to the

south of Jaffna, stretching to Trincomalee and Batticaloa on the east

coast (controlled by the LTTE). The overall number of refugees and

IDPs expected to resettle in Sri Lanka is estimated to be about

800,000. Through the year 2000, 499 landmine casualties were reported, most of which were military personnel.

Following a request from the

Government of Sri Lanka for demining

assistance in March 2002, the United

States conducted an initial assessment of the mine situation. In April,

two QRDF demining teams with MDDs were deployed to Sri Lanka

from their home base in Mozambique. The two teams were tasked to

perform emergency clearance operations supporting the return of

refugees and IDPs to areas from which they had fled during the war.

The United States contributed

$1,475,000 in FY02, bringing U.S.

contributions to a total of $3,325,000 since FY95. QRDF team mine

clearance began in early May 2002 in the key village of Sarasalai,

about 15 kilometers from Jaffna, where many Tamil civilians, taking

advantage of the ceasefire, are returning to their homes and fields in

the area. As of early August 2002, the QRDF teams had returned

32,500 meters2 of land to safe use in the Jaffna area, having destroyed

621 mines and 60 UXO devices in the process. More than 100,000

IDPs have returned to their homes in the north and east since

December 2001. In July 2002, a joint DOS-DoD demining assessment

team visited Sri Lanka to examine further possible demining steps,

such as military-to-military training for humanitarian demining, and in

August, the United States provided additional funding to continue

QRDF operations through October 2002.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Thailand

ASIA

30 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

During the past four decades, Thailand’s

internal and external conflicts have left

landmine and UXO contamination

along all four of its borders, with new mines being laid along the

northwestern Thai-Burma border. The Thailand Mine Action Center

(TMAC) estimates that the country’s soil contains more than one million mines and UXO. The results of a Landmine Impact Survey show

that landmines and UXO are present at 933 sites occupying an area of

2,500 kilometers2

, affecting 530 communities with a cumulative population of more than 400,000. The principal socio-economic impacts

of landmine and UXO contamination are reduced availability of land

for cultivation and grazing, and decreased access to forest resources.

According to TMAC, landmines and UXO have killed or injured

3,468 people since 1997; however, the casualty rate is decreasing, with

346 casualties reported during 1999–2000.

The United States provided $801,000 in

humanitarian demining assistance to

Thailand in FY02. Some of the funds

enabled U.S. military personnel to conduct two final train-the-trainer

sessions. Remaining funds supported field operations conducted by

Thai demining forces. In FY01, Thailand received $1,510,000 in

assistance, $1,160,000 for demining equipment, and $350,000 for an

MDD program. 

U.S. humanitarian demining assistance to Thailand has totaled

more than $6,500,000 since FY98. In addition to providing essential

demining equipment, the funds have helped to establish facilities for

basic demining training at Ratchaburi, and a demining school at Lop

Buri to teach mine awareness. The funds also helped to establish the

MDD program. A total of 26 dogs were purchased for both

Humanitarian Mine Action Unit (HMAU) and MDD-handler courses.

U.S. military personnel have trained more than 200 Thais to international humanitarian demining standards.

The DoD has provided several systems for field testing in

Thailand: the Pearson Survivable Demining Tractor and Tools, the

Tempest, Thiokol demining flares, and liquid explosive foam. TMAC

personnel not only demonstrated the effectiveness of two vegetation

clearance systems, they also gained invaluable experience in integrating mechanical systems into their demining operations.

In June 2000, the Government of

Thailand dedicated the TMAC.

Demining continues in the Sa Kaeo, Chantaburi, Ratchaburi, and

Nong Ya Khao Provinces. A quality assurance committee has, for the

first time, approved the use of TMAC-cleared land. This significant

step highlights TMAC’s achievements in becoming a bona-fide MAC.

Through the combined efforts of the HMAU, manual deminers,

machines and dog teams, 56,544 meters2 of land have been cleared in

the Nong Yah Kaew village in Sa Kaew Province. TMAC’s U.S.-

trained trainers at Ratchaburi have instructed 18 Thai civilian deminers, and they are now a most effective resource for mine-awareness

activities in their communities. In May 2002, two cleared areas totaling almost 40,000 meters2 were returned to the Subtaree Village in

Chantaburi Province. Local communities continue to reap benefits

from these handovers, planting cassava and other crops. Overall, by

the end of 2001, Thai deminers had destroyed almost 1,000 mines and

approximately 1,300 pieces of UXO, while clearing more than

4,956,000 meters2 of land. With U.S. support, Thailand has emerged as

a regional leader in humanitarian demining.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Vietnam

ASIA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 31

As a result of 30 years of war, Vietnam

has an estimated 350,000–800,000 tons

of landmines and various types of UXO

scattered throughout all 61 provinces and major cities. The current

estimated area of contamination is 16,478,000,000 meters2

. Quang Tri

Province, which adjoins the former border between North and South

Vietnam, is one of the most affected regions of Vietnam, although

mines and UXO also pose a threat near its border with China and in

regions bordering Laos. A 1999 Government of Vietnam report

claimed that, as of May 1998, landmines and UXO had killed 38,248

and injured 64,064 people. USAID has observed that, with more than

2,000 landmine casualties annually, Vietnam has been left with perhaps the world’s highest proportion of amputees.

Vietnam received $3,638,000 in U.S.

humanitarian mine-action assistance in

FY02. In FY01, the United States allocated $3,218,000 in assistance for the purchase of demining equipment, including personal safety equipment, metal detectors, and vehicles, and for assistance to survivors of landmine accidents. The assistance also supported a much-needed Landmine Impact Survey to determine the scope of the landmine and UXO problem, and to assist the

Vietnamese in identifying areas where landmines and UXO pose the

greatest threat to civilians, arable land, and economic infrastructure.

Complementary projects include the funding of a computer system

and database designed to identify the location of landmines and the

location and type of UXO used during past conflicts. Another new

computer system will assist the Government of Vietnam in managing

its mine and UXO clearances efforts, and in FY01, DoD conducted a

special computer course for Vietnamese deminers.

Although Vietnam did not formally enter the U.S. Humanitarian

Demining Program until 2000, the United States provided funds in

1998 and 1999 to Peace Trees Vietnam, an NGO, and to James

Madison University, to establish a mine-awareness training center.

The center, located at Dong Ha, in Quang Tri Province, focuses on

mine awareness for children, using local “people’s committees” to

conduct the training. Additionally, U.S. Army Pacific, the U.S. Pacific

Command’s Army component, provided a field hospital to augment

the ability of the Quang Tri Provincial Medical Department to provide

medical assistance to mine/UXO victims and injured deminers. 

Since 1991, the LWVF has been a leader in providing support for

rehabilitation assistance in Vietnam. To date, the LWVF has provided

more than $16,000,000 through numerous NGOs and private voluntary organizations. 

Through the LWVF, more than 3,000

rehabilitated personnel have received

training, nine rehabilitation centers have been renovated and upgraded, and more than 52,000 people have been provided with mobility

assistance.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
EUROPE

RUSSIA

RUSSIA

FINLAND

AUSTRIA

ITALY

SPAIN

SWEDEN

NORWAY

GERMANY

FRANCE

PORTUGAL

HUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

TURKEY

DENMARK

POLAND

BELARUS

CZECH UKRAINE

SLOVAKIA

GREECE

CYPRUS

ANDORRA

NETH.

BELGIUM

IRELAND

YUGOSLAVIA

ALBANIA

MOLDOVA

LITHUANIA

LATVIA

ESTONIA

LUX.

BOSNIA

CROATIA

SLOVENIA

SWITZERLAND

MACEDONIA

GREENLAND

ICELAND

U. S. A.

CANADA

BRAZIL

KENYA

ETHIOPIA

ERITREA

SUDAN

EGYPT

NIGER

MAURITANIA

MALI

NIGERIA

SOMALIA

NAMIBIA

LIBYA

CHAD

SOUTH AFRICA

TANZANIA

DEM. REP.

OF CONGO

ANGOLA

ALGERIA

MOZAMBIQUE MADAGASCAR

BOTSWANA

ZAMBIA

GABON

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

TUNISIA MOROCCO

UGANDA

SWAZILAND

LESOTHO

MALAWI

BURUNDI

RWANDA

TOGO

BENIN

GHANA

LIBERIA IVORY COAST

SIERRA LEONE

GUINEA

BURKINA

GAMBIA

CAMEROON

SAO TOME & PRINCIPE

ZIMBABWE

CONGO

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

WESTERN SAHARA

DJIBOUTI

SENEGAL

GUINEA BISSAU

Canary Islands

JORDAN

ISRAEL

LEBANON

ARMENIA

AZERBAIJAN GEORGIA

KYRGYZSTAN

TAJIKISTAN

KUWAIT

QATAR U. A. E.

OMAN

YEMEN

SYRIA

IRAQ IRAN

OMAN

SAUDI ARABIA

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

KAZAKHSTAN CHINA

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN

MYANMAR

NEPAL

BHUTAN

SRI LANKA

BANGLADESH

MONGOLIA

U. K.

MALDIVES

Atlas Mts.

Sahara Desert

Plateau

of

Tibet

Gobi Desert

Ural Mts.

Kalahari

Desert

Siberia

H i m a l a y a

Alps Caucasus

ATLANTIC

INDIAN

OCEAN

OCEAN

ARCTIC

OCEAN

Nile

Niger

Ganges

Volga

Ob'

Yenisey

Lena

Yangtze

Yukon

MacKenzie

Zambezi

Rhine

Danube

Dnieper

Euphrates

Irtysh

Aldan

Lena

Amur

Huang

Indus

Congo

Great Lakes

Great

Slave L.

Great

Bear L.

L. Winnipeg

L. Victoria

L. Chad

L. Malawi

L. Balkhash

L. Baykal

Chukchi

Sea Beaufort Sea

Hudson Bay Baffin

Bay

Norwegian

Sea

Greenland

Sea

North

Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Baltic

Sea

Black Sea

Aral Sea

Arabian Sea

Bay

of

Bengal

Sea of

Okhotsk

Barents Sea

Kara

Sea

Leptev

Sea

Caspian Sea

Red Sea

AFRICA

EUROPE

ASIA
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 33

EUROPE

Albania

The Albanian Mine Action Executive

(AMAE), the demining coordination

agency of the Government of Albania,

estimates that mines placed by Serb and Kosovar Albanian forces

before and during the Kosovo conflict affect almost 14,000,000

meters2 of land. Some 36 kilometers in the Kuski and Hasi Districts

appear to have been mined within 300–400 meters of the border with

Kosovo, and 18 of 24 kilometers of the country’s border territory in

the Troopja District are suspected of mine contamination. In addition,

reports indicate that mines are located in the Barjam Curri District on

the border with Montenegro, and other unrecorded minefields were

emplaced in border regions during the Cold War by past regimes.

Presently, there is no way to assess accurately the quantity of landmines in these respective areas. UXO is also a problem as a result of

the NATO bombing campaign in the spring of 1999. The Government

of Albania also includes in its UXO problem some 13 “hot spots,” former military ammunition storage depots, but the quantities of UXO

are also unknown. Since the beginning of 1999, landmines and UXO

have inflicted at least 225 casualties, with more than 20 victims dying

from their wounds. 

The United States provides demining

assistance to Albania through the ITF.

Since the inception of the program in

FY00, the United States has given $1,733,000 to support mine action.

Approximately $1,000,000 in FY00 and $700,000 in FY01 were dedicated to mine clearance. In FY02, nearly $300,000 was contributed to

support mine-clearance efforts in partnership with a corresponding

Swiss donation.

Mine-awareness and mine-clearance

programs are largely responsible for a

sharp drop in landmine and UXO casualties. Demining operations

commenced in early June 2000, with commercial demining teams

from Bosnia working on AMAE-assigned priority demining tasks. In

2001, a Swiss demining NGO joined the Bosnian commercial mineclearing teams. To date, more than 423,000 meters2 of land have been

returned to safe use, 38 Albanian deminers have been trained and

equipped, more than 2000 mines and UXO have been destroyed, and

30 mine victims have received assistance.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
34 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

EUROPE

Armenia

The war between Armenia and

Azerbaijan during 1988–1994 is the primary source of Armenia’s landmine

problem. The Government of Armenia (GOA) estimates that between

80,000 and 100,000 mines are in its soil. This number includes active

minefields along the line of contact in the sparsely populated Tavush

region in the northeast that are still being maintained for defensive

purposes. While the GOA has stressed that the most severe landmine

problems are in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, problems also exist

in the southeast, in the Syunik region along the now peaceful border

between Armenia and Armenian-occupied Azerbaijani territory. This

region, which includes the cities of Goris and Kapan, has suffered at

least 40 to 50 civilian landmine-related deaths and injuries in the last

seven years. According to the GOA, approximately 1,800 to 2,500

kilometers2 of land are known or suspected to be mine-affected. In

addition, the GOA suspects that there is UXO along border areas, in

and around villages, in agricultural areas and pastures, along roads and

near bridges, and in forests.

In FY02, the United States provided

$2,720,000 in humanitarian demining

assistance to Armenia to fund a U.S.

contractor, RONCO Consulting Corporation, to train the newly established Armenian Humanitarian Demining Center (AHDC) in the operation and management of a national humanitarian demining program.

The funds provided for training and equipping the first demining company, medical technicians, an MDD section, and effectively integrating the MDDs into survey and clearance operations.

The GOA has expressed a firm commitment to address the landmine problem and to maintain an effective organization capable of

implementing national demining policy and priorities. As a result of

this commitment, the U.S. Embassy in Yerevan provided $1,800,000

of its Freedom Support Act (FSA) funds that will be used to augment

the existing demining program, assist the GOA to establish a National

Demining Training Center, and purchase a mechanical vegetation

removal/area reduction system. During FY02, U.S. military personnel

trained and equipped a second demining company and medical section, and provided advanced training in management, mine awareness,

and information management. In FY02, 178 deminers, medics, MDD

handlers and staff personnel were trained and equipped.

In FY01, Armenia received $850,000 in humanitarian demining

assistance from the United States. The funds helped the GOA renovate

facilities, train its National MAC staff, and develop mine awareness,

information management, and Landmine Impact Survey, Technical

Survey, and Level III Survey capabilities.

The construction of the AHDC was

completed, and it is now open for training. The Center has generated valuable local and national publicity for

the program. Training includes mine awareness, information management, area reduction, and special courses of instruction for survey personnel. The kennels for the indigenous MDD capability have been

completed and training has begun.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 35

Azerbaijan

The conflict with Armenia over the

Nagorno-Karabakh region in 1988–

1994, and other Azerbaijani land that

Armenian troops held, left Azerbaijan with a landmine and a UXO

problem. The UN estimates that landmines and UXO affect 604 kilometers2 of liberated Azerbaijani land in 64 villages within 11 affected

districts. Although no accurate estimate of the total number of landmines is available, the ICRC believes that there are 50,000 mines just

in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. A ceasefire has been maintained

since 1994, although Armenia continues to occupy 20 percent of

Azerbaijani territory. The Government of Azerbaijan has decided that

the IDPs from Fizuli and Agdam, which Azerbaijan reclaimed shortly

before the ceasefire, should return home. Many of the 800,000 IDPs

have already returned, but they run the risk of injury, primarily from

UXO; the landmine threat is secondary. Yet landmine contamination

seriously constrains the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts of the

Government and international agencies. The Director of the

Azerbaijan Agency for National Mine Action (ANAMA) has stated

that landmines have caused 1,400 casualties to soldiers and civilians,

including 300 fatalities, since 1998. In the region of Fizuli, an area of

600 kilometers2

, some 145 mine- and UXO-related accidents have

been recorded.

In FY02, the United States provided

$3,330,000 in humanitarian demining

assistance to Azerbaijan to fund a U.S.

contractor, RONCO Consulting Corporation, to assist the Government

to establish a national mine-action capacity, including a national

MDDs capability within the ANAMA infrastructure. The funds provided for maintaining the current operational capacity of Relief

Azerbaijan, the national demining NGO, training and deploying a new

survey team, an EOD team, developing and deploying the national

Monitoring and Training Team, and integrating the MDDs with survey

and clearance operations. The DoD conducted demining and EOD

training for Azeri military personnel.

The Government has expressed a firm commitment to address the

landmine problem and to maintain an effective organization capable of

implementing national demining policy and priorities. As a result of

this commitment, the U.S. Embassy in Baku provided $1,100,000 of

its FSA funds to augment the existing demining program. During

FY02, U.S. military personnel trained 55 deminers in four major subjects: basic demining, management training, basic medical skills, and

mine-risk education for the general population. At the completion of

the training, the U.S. military team left behind $400,000 worth of

demining equipment to be used by the trained personnel. In FY02, a

total of 100 deminers, medics, MDD handlers, and staff personnel

were trained and equipped. Deminers have cleared more than 775,000

meters2 of land in the Fizuli and Geranboy regions, and destroyed 45

mines and almost 1,000 pieces of UXO in the process.

In FY01, Azerbaijan received $1,100,000 in U.S. assistance,

including $600,000 for an expatriate MDD capability; $250,000 for

additional demining equipment; and $250,000 to establish an indigenous MDD capability organic to the ANAMA.

A Landmine Impact Survey has been

conducted. An MDD program has also

been established, and training for this program continues successfully.

U.S. assistance has funded the training of more than 100 Azerbaijani

deminers and, in conjunction with UNICEF, a program of mine-awareness instruction for 800 teachers, 500 medical personnel, and 200 representatives from public organizations. ANAMA is currently developing all components of mine action in order to acquire a national, sustainable capability for humanitarian demining that includes an infrastructure to support the return of IDPs to their homes. The Regional

Training Center at Fizuli is operational and is being used to expand

national demining. In 2002, U.S.-trained mine-clearing personnel

focused on clearing those areas with wineries, a move that is expected

to help Azerbaijan restore its war-torn economy. To date, Azerbaijani

deminers have cleared more than 981,000 meters2 of land and

destroyed more than 1,300 mines and UXO.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

EUROPE
36 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

EUROPE

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Bosnia-Herzegovina has a substantial

landmine problem, the result of the fiveyear civil war that broke apart Yugoslavia.

Although the Bosnia-Herzegovina Mine Action Center (BHMAC) has

records for more than 18,000 minefields with 307,000 mines, it believes

that in excess of 600,000 mines and an undetermined quantity of UXO has

contaminated an estimated 4,200 kilometers2 of land. Heavy concentrations of landmines are found in regions where ethnic conflict occurred,

particularly along front-line areas that shifted during the course of the war,

and along the Inter-Entity Boundary Line separating the Federation of

Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska, the two constituent political entities of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Combatants mined road networks,

power plants, bridges, dams, and other infrastructure components. Since

the end of the war in 1995, landmines have killed 318 people, including

33 deminers, and injured another 945; 74 of these 945 were deminers.

The United States has supported demining activities in Bosnia-Herzegovina

since FY96, with total expenditures through

FY02 amounting to more than $50,000,000, an investment larger than to any

other mine-affected country. U.S. assistance focused primarily on Bosnian

demining capacity during FY96–97 ($16,700,000), the establishment of the

national MAC (initially under UN management), and the training and equipping of substantial civilian and military demining capabilities. During

FY98–01, U.S. assistance totaling $28,600,000 funded clearance operations

by international and local demining firms and NGOs. Initially, the United

States used a combination of direct funding ($4,600,000) and the World Bank

Demining Trust Fund ($2,700,000) to finance clearance projects. By the end

of 1998, however, when the U.S. Congress established a separate fund for

mine action in the Balkans, all funding shifted to the ITF. 

In FY02, the United States provided approximately $5,000,000 to support mine action in Bosnian-Herzegovina. This includes some $3,200,000 for

tenders by commercial and non-governmental demining organizations to support mine clearance and other related projects, and another $1,200,000 for victims’ assistance initiatives. Other major U.S. projects for 2002 include the

establishment of a regional MDD training center (to be funded from prior year

funds), and a collaborative effort with the European Union and the ITF to fund

a Landmine Impact Survey for the BHMAC. This survey, designed to assist

Bosnian mine-action authorities in the prioritization of clearance tasks and the

allocation of resources to accomplish them, will be conducted by the local

demining NGOs trained and equipped by the United States during the

1996–97 timeframe. 

Initial assistance funded the establishment of a national MAC in Sarajevo

under UN auspices, a mine-clearance training school at Brus, and three

80-man humanitarian demining groups based at Banja Luka, Tuzla, and

Mostar. Each demining group was equipped with nine MDDs and a handler. These 27 dogs and their handlers represented the initiation of MDD

technology in the Balkan region, and their highly successful use established the benchmark for future MDD programs elsewhere in the

Balkans. The groups operated under local leadership trained and supervised by international humanitarian demining experts whom RONCO, a

U.S. contractor, provided. Previous U.S-led and -supported efforts have

created a large cadre of Bosnian civilian demining organizations and

deminers, and ongoing efforts are improving the effectiveness of the

Bosnian military in humanitarian demining. These efforts continue as an

increasingly indigenous force grows, with only six international and

NGO mine-action representatives remaining. Locally produced mine

flails have been used and exported to other mine-affected countries. Also

in 1996, the United States, DC Comics, and UNICEF collaborated to

distribute a special edition of the Superman comic book devoted to mine

awareness. 

During March-June 1997, the United States, using RONCO-provided humanitarian demining trainers, conducted a training program, and

provided necessary demining equipment for 450 military deminers representing the three Entity Armies. This military demining capacity was

further augmented with U.S. assistance during late 1997–early 1998

when U.S. military personnel, in collaboration with the NATO

Stabilization Force, established three Entity Army demining training

centers and conducted a demining train-the-trainers course of instruction. The resulting 71-man Bosnian instructor cadre provided the

Bosnian military establishment the ability to train its own demining

teams and replacement personnel. 

Other key accomplishments during the 1997–98 timeframe were

clearance of nearly 2,000,000 meters2 of land and the destruction of more

than 1,600 mines and 2,000 items of UXO by U.S.-funded demining

groups; the provision of rehabilitation treatment to 33 mine victims at

the Slovene National Rehabilitation Institute in Ljubljana (1998); a collaborative effort with the DoD R&D Program to test prototype demining

technologies (1997); the turnover of ownership and control of the three

civilian demining groups to Bosnian national demining authorities,

including about $3,000,000 worth of equipment and 27 MDDs (May

1997); the conduct of joint venture demining operations involving international demining firms and the U.S.-trained and -equipped Bosnian

demining groups (1997–98); and the accreditation by the BHMAC of

mine clearance by Entity Army demining units, as accomplished in

accordance with international humanitarian standards (July 1998). This

last endeavor, in effect, doubled the combined Bosnian civilian/military

humanitarian demining capability. Between 1999 and the end of 2001,

U.S. and other donor ITF funding has helped to clear 134,368,616

meters2 of land and the removal or destruction of more than 20,000 landmines and UXO devices. The Government is now focusing on removing

mines from high-threat areas. Other mine-action activities, such as mine

awareness, surveying and marking hazardous areas, and prioritizing land

needed for settlement or economic development complement the mineclearance operations and contribute to reduction of casualties.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 37

Croatia

Croatia has a serious landmine problem

stemming from its 1991–1995 war with

the Yugoslav Federation. An estimated

1,000,000 to 1,200,000 landmines and UXO affect almost a tenth of

Croatian territory. The Croatian Mine Action Center (CROMAC) estimates that minefields cover a total of approximately 1,700 kilometers2

of land. The mine-affected areas run the length of the country, roughly paralleling the lines of confrontation between Croatian and Serbian

forces during the war. From 1991 through December 2000, the

Croatian Center for Demining recorded 1,320 landmine incidents that

killed 365 and wounded 1,281 people with many of the wounded

requiring amputations. Casualty estimates also indicate that mines and

UXO killed nearly 300 children and injured even more. A mineawareness program, begun in 1998, seems to be having a positive

effect. There were 21 mine-related incidents in 2000, causing 12

deaths and 18 injuries; this represents a significant reduction from the

51 killed or injured during 1999. As of the end of March 2001, five

mine incidents have been reported in which one person was killed and

five others injured.

Since 1998, the United States has provided $6,233,000 in humanitarian

demining assistance to Croatia. The

first U.S.-provided assistance ($600,000 in FY99) supported the

Return Assistance Program through contracts awarded to local demining firms with the assistance of the UN Mine Action Center in

Croatia. This U.S. policy initiative, designed to facilitate reconstruction, rehabilitation, and reconciliation efforts in Croatia, provided

mine-clearance assistance to municipalities, thereby encouraging the

return of ethnic minorities and other displaced persons. In late 1998,

the U.S. Congress appropriated $28,000,000 to fund all mine action in

the Balkans through matching donations to the ITF. Consequently, in

FY00, the United States contributed $2,975,000 to demining in

Croatia, followed by another $2,658,000 in FY01. Demining work

funded by U.S. contributions was contracted by the ITF, in coordination with the CROMAC. In FY02, the United States expanded its support due largely to Government’s self-help efforts. The Croatian government has deposited $3,200,000 in the ITF to support demining

within its national territory, and the United States has matched that

amount and earmarked the matching contribution to support mineaction projects in Croatia.

Since 1999, the United States has funded demining projects in Croatia that

have returned nearly 3,500,000 meters2 of land to safe use, and

destroyed more than 800 mines and 300 items of UXO. The United

States has also financed the development of a locally manufactured

remote-controlled mini-mine flail vehicle and, in a funding partnership

with U.S. winemakers, has earmarked donations to the ITF for the

clearance of mines in wine-growing regions of Croatia. Both projects

have significant economic as well as humanitarian benefits: the miniflail has proved to be highly successful in Croatia, and it has potential

for export to other mine-affected countries, while the clearance in the

wine-growing sectors of Croatia is contributing to the rehabilitation of

the Croatia wine-making industry. U.S. funds have supported a number of other projects tendered by the ITF, all of which are focused on

economic and social development.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

EUROPE
38 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

EUROPE

Estonia

Although Estonia’s landmine and UXO

problem dates back to World War I, the

majority of UXO on the ground today

date from World War II. In addition, caches of buried UXO are found

on a routine basis during planned demining/excavations, as well as in

newly constructed building projects both in the city and in the countryside. While it is difficult to estimate the exact number of landmines,

Estonian authorities believe that the number of UXO is in the hundreds of thousands. Since 1992, the Government of Estonia has reported finding more than 27,500 pieces of UXO and landmines on its territory, mostly in the Narva region in the northeast, in the Voru region,

and along the Emajogi River in the east-central Tatu region, where

large battles occurred in 1944. An area of about 20 kilometers2 in the

Narva region has a particularly heavy concentration. Through June

2002, UXO had already killed 46 people and wounded 148; three

fatalities and nine injuries occurred in 2001.

In FY02, the United States allocated

$254,000 to the Government of Estonia

to procure equipment and provide

equipment familiarization. Estonia received $853,000 in humanitarian

demining assistance in FY01.

Since FY99, Estonia has received almost $2,500,000 in U.S.

humanitarian demining assistance. These funds have enabled the

Government to establish an NDO to coordinate demining activities,

develop a comprehensive mine-/UXO-awareness program, acquire

modern demining equipment and protective clothing, and expand

demining/UXO clearance operations to allow establishment of a training center in Tartu where U.S. military personnel conducted a trainthe-trainer program. U.S military trainers have completed Phases I, II,

and III of the train-the-trainer program, as well as Phase IV (which is

the transition to DOS and host-nation advisory assistance). Twentyseven U.S.-trained Estonian personnel are now competent to conduct

meticulous, safe humanitarian demining in accordance with international standards.

Beginning in 2000, the Government of

Estonia’s Self-Defense Board, an

organization with experience in demining and now possessing modern

equipment, training, and organization, has been conducting proactive,

rather than reactive, landmine and UXO clearance operations. Since

1992, Estonia has cleared more than 45 miles2 of farmland, returning

it to productive use, and destroyed nearly 27,500 pieces of UXO. In

addition, with U.S. assistance, Estonia was able to complete UXO

clearance of the Pakri Islands (18 miles2

) and declare them safe for

public recreation.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 39

Georgia

The landmine and UXO problem in

Georgia stems primarily from the conflict in the Abkhazia region of the country in 1992–1994. Ongoing partisan activity in some parts of Abkhazia

also contributes to the problem. According to the Ministry of Defense

of the Government of Georgia (GOG), between 20,000 and 70,000

mines are in the soil, contaminating approximately 18,500,000 meters2

of land in Abkhazia and 220,000 meters2 of land in the rest of the

country. The majority of the mines are located in Abkhazia in northwestern Georgia. The remainder are in the South Ossetia/Tskivani

region in north-central Georgia; the former Soviet ammunition storage

facility in Osiauri in eastern Georgia (an estimated 2,000 mines);

Kopitnari air base in western Georgia (an estimated 1,000 mines);

Omal; Shenako; areas near Georgia’s northern border with Chechnya;

and parts of the Georgia-Armenia and Georgia-Azerbaijan borders.

Many of these mines are located around former Soviet and present

Russian military bases. Others are in minefields adjacent to or collocated with residential, agricultural, and grazing areas, posing a serious

danger to both people and livestock. The GOG estimates there are

approximately 15,000 items of UXO present, mainly in Orfilo in the

Akhaltsikhe region in southern Georgia, and at the former Russian

military base at Vaziani, under Georgian control as of July 1, 2001.

Mines and UXO restrict the operations of aid agencies, hinder efforts

to rebuild Georgia’s shattered infrastructure, and undermine tourism,

the former economic mainstay of the country. Since 1994, landmines

and UXO have killed four military personnel and wounded 70 civilians; two military personnel and 208 civilians were also injured. A significant number of the dead and injured were children.

The United States provided $1,100,000

in humanitarian demining assistance to

Georgia in FY02, the bulk of it to continue support of HALO Trust’s mine-clearance operations, the balance

to purchase mine detectors, body armor, and vehicles. In FY01,

Georgia received $1,000,000 in U.S. assistance to fund three manual

mine-clearance teams for HALO Trust’s mine-clearance operations in

Ochamchire Province.

In the fall of 2000, U.S. military personnel trained and equipped 45

Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani deminers in compliance with

UN international humanitarian demining standards. The training also

included emergency medical treatment and communications. Since

beginning mine-clearance operations in Ochamchire Province in April

2001, HALO Trust has cleared more than 50,000 meters2 of land, and

destroyed more than 140 landmines and more than 300 pieces of

UXO. HALO Trust also conducted mine-awareness briefings to more

than 9,000 people. Overall, since 1997, HALO Trust has cleared more

than 3,900 mines and 2,500 pieces of UXO. The two new manual

teams, one mine marking/EOD/survey team, one mine-awareness

team, and continued support to the mechanical teams in 2001 are

responsible for this increase in the deminers’ productivity.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

EUROPE
Moldova

Moldova declared itself mine-safe in

March 2001. Its landmine and UXO

problem dated to World War II. The

landmine problem escalated in 1992 during a civil war between

Moldovans and Transnistrians (ethnic Russians), which created the

Transnistrian Separatist Region located east of the Niestr River. The

Joint Control Commission, with representatives from Moldova, the

Transnistrians, and Russia, currently administers the disputed

Transnister area with the Republic of Moldova. The UXO problem

was countrywide. About 75–80 percent of the ordnance was from

World War II battles that occurred throughout the country, while the

remaining ordnance was from the 1992 civil war. Mined areas were

limited to the Transnister region, encompassing approximately

850,000 meters2

.

Moldova received $71,000 in U.S.

humanitarian demining assistance in

FY99 to provide the Moldovan

National Army (NAM) with the necessary modern metal detectors and

personal protective equipment to conduct demining operations efficiently and safely.

By the fall of 2000, NAM deminers had

cleared the single remaining minefield

in the country, restoring 210 acres of agricultural land for use as

orchards, pastureland, and firewood gathering. Altogether, Moldovan

deminers destroyed more than 2,100 landmines.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments

40 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

EUROPE

Macedonia

Macedonia has a small landmine problem along its border with the province of

Kosovo resulting from the 1999 conflict

in Yugoslavia between Serbian military and police forces and

Albanian Kosovar forces. Serbs planted the mines in this territory to

block access to routes and forestall possible ground attacks by NATO

forces in support of the Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army. There are

a number of known but unmarked minefields in the mountains along

the border with Kosovo, but Macedonian border guards fear that additional landmines may exist in the area, posing a threat not only to their

patrolling activities, but also to local civilians and their livestock. A

more pressing problem with UXO exists as a consequence of a conflict in early 2001 between the Macedonian Army and indigenous

Albanian guerrilla forces. The fighting had ceased by August, and in

early September a combined team of representatives from the DOS,

the ITF, and Macedonia conducted an assessment of the situation. The

results of the contamination assessment confirmed that the main problem areas were concentrated in the north/northwestern regions of the

country, and U.S. demining assistance to Macedonia commenced in

October 2001.

Since October 2001, the United States

has provided $1,000,000 in demining

assistance to Macedonia, with the assistance of the ITF. Almost $400,000 was expended to fund six Bosnian

demining teams to conduct emergency clearance work. These teams

were provided by the same demining NGO that had been created

under the U.S. program in Bosnia during the 1996–97 timeframe. At

the same time, The United States also made an in-kind contribution of

demining equipment valued at approximately $500,000, consisting of

vehicles, metal detectors, radios, medical gear, a computer, and other

office equipment. In FY02, the United States provided $505,000 that

was shared between Bosnian deminers who assumed a landmine/UXO

clearance project and a train-and-equip program for Macedonian

clearance teams.

Through June of 2002, more than

3,300,000 meters2 of land have been

returned to safe use, and 18.8 kilometers of railroad and 3,076 houses

and other outbuildings have been cleared. The training of a

Macedonian clearance cadre of more than 60 personnel, including 16

EOD specialists schooled at the EOD Center in Slovenia, was completed in July 2002.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 41

EUROPE

Yugoslavia

Within Yugoslavia, the province of

Kosovo has had a serious landmine and

UXO problem as a result of its civil war

with greater Serbia in 1999 and the subsequent NATO air strikes

against Serbian military and internal security forces located in the

province. The UN identified approximately 800 mine-affected areas

and more than 300 UXO sites in the interior of the province and along

the borders with Albania and Macedonia. According to the UN, UXO

have killed at least 86 and injured 351 people.

Since FY99, the United States has provided more than $13,900,000 in demining assistance to Kosovo through a

variety of funding sources, including UNICEF and the ITF. In 1999,

the United States provided slightly more than $2,600,000 in mineaction assistance, including mine-awareness education for Kosovar

refugees prior to their return from camps in Albania and Macedonia to

Kosovo, and emergency demining operations province-wide. The

United States also funded UXO clearance operations, bringing in

experienced technicians from Mozambique during the 1999, 2000 and

2001 demining seasons for this specialized task. These clearance

teams focused primarily on dud-fired cluster bomb submunitions that

posed the major threat to the civilian population. U.S. funding support

of clearance efforts in Kosovo peaked at more than $9,300,000 in

FY00. FY01 funding ($1,945,000) was dedicated to “mop-up” clearance tasks in preparation for the 2002 demining season with a shift in

demining responsibility to indigenous clearance teams. The United

States also has provided technical support to Serbia, which established

an NDO in 2001.

Landmine and UXO clearance operations included schools, houses, roads,

agricultural areas, water pipelines, irrigation channels, and power

lines, and a customs post for the UN on the Albania-Kosovo border.

U.S. assistance also helped to equip the UN Mine Action Coordination

Center and supported mine-awareness programs sponsored by

UNICEF and other NGOs. These operations made life safer for the

Kosovar population, and were particularly crucial in helping thousands

of returning refugees prepare for the harsh living conditions during the

winter of 1999 in this war-torn province. 

Kosovo was declared mine-safe at the end of the 2001 demining

season, and the task of eliminating the small residual threat was turned

over to a local Kosovar demining force under UN supervision. U.S.-

funded clearance teams were responsible for clearing almost

4,900,000 meters2 of land and destroying 54 mines and more than

4,600 cluster bomb submunitions and other UXO.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
LATIN

AMERICA

PORTUGAL SPAIN

GREENLAND

U. S. A.

CANADA

MEXICO

THE BAHAMAS

CUBA

PANAMA

EL SALVADOR

GUATEMALA

BELIZE

HONDURAS

NICARAGUA

COSTA RICA

JAMAICA

HAITI

DOM. REP.

ARGENTINA

BOLIVIA

COLOMBIA

VENEZUELA

PERU

BRAZIL

FRENCH GUIANA

SURINAME

GUYANA

CHILE

ECUADOR

PARAGUAY

URUGUAY

FALKLAND ISLANDS

SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND

NIGER

MAURITANIA

MALI

NIGERIA

NAMIBIA

SOUTH AFRICA

ANGOLA

ALGERIA

GABON

MOROCCO

TOGO

BENIN

GHANA

IVORY

COAST

LIBERIA

SIERRA LEONE

GUINEA

BURKINA

GAMBIA

SAO TOME & PRINCIPE

CONGO

CONGO

WESTERN SAHARA

SENEGAL

GUINEA BISSAU

Canary Islands

A n d e s M o u n t a i n s

Appalachian Mts.

ATLANTIC

PACIFIC

OCEAN

OCEAN

Mississippi

Missouri

Colorado

Amazon

Ohio

Rio Grande

Orinoco

Negro

Madeira

Parana

Niger

Great Lakes

L. Winnipeg

Caribbean Sea

Hudson Bay

Gulf of Mexico

Bellingshausen Sea Weddell Sea

AMERICA

SOUTH

ANTARCTICA
Argentina

Costa Rica

LATIN AMERICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 43

The Government of Argentina and the

Government of the United Kingdom are

discussing terms of reference for a joint

study on how to remove the landmines on las Islas Malvinas/the

Falkland Islands.

In FY02, the United States provided

Argentina $700,000 to fund a one-time

U.S. military train-the-trainer session to

Argentine humanitarian mine-action instructors in order to increase

their ability to provide humanitarian demining training to other

nations.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

As a result of external conflict with

Nicaragua, Costa Rica was contaminated with approximately 2,000–5,000

landmines. The Organization of American States (OAS) estimated that

the mine-affected terrain represented 170,000 meters2 along the

Nicaraguan border, spanning an area from San Carlos through Los

Chiles and the frontier region near Upala along the Rio San Juan. In

1999, the Government of Costa Rica extended the affected area west

to Penas Blancas near the Pan-American Highway. To date, only three

casualties from landmine-related incidents have been reported. These

victims unsuspectingly wandered into minefields.

The United States contributed

$1,850,000 to the OAS/Inter-American

Defense Board (IADB) for mine-action

operations in FY02. In FY01, the United States contributed

$2,520,000 to OAS/IADB’s humanitarian demining initiatives

throughout Central America. This funding sustained mine-clearance

activities, medical evacuation support for deminers, and an MDD program. In January 2001, the U.S. Government presented Costa Rica’s

Ministry of Public Safety (MPS) with four MDDs to be used in demining operations. Also included in the donation were two trucks,

medical supplies, and other mine-detection equipment to facilitate

mine-action efforts. Since 2000, USAID, in a combined effort with the

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), has contributed $500,000

to improve the physical, social, and economic status of people in

Central America coping with landmine injuries, war wounds, and

other disabilities.

Since FY93, the United States has contributed more than

$18,600,000 to the OAS/IADB for mine-action operations. Under this

program, MPS personnel were trained and equipped for demining

operations. In addition, funding assistance was used to establish a

communications base and to purchase vehicles, field equipment, and

generators. With this infrastructure in place, the MPS began mineclearance operations in 1996. In 1999 and early 2000, RONCO

Consulting Corporation trained four MDDs and handler-pairs to conduct quality assurance and Technical Survey operations in the country.

The OAS, in coordination with the U.S.

Embassy and local organizations, has

provided prostheses, physical therapy, and economic aid for landmine

victims. According to the OAS Assistance Mission for Mine Clearance

in Central America, to date MPS personnel have cleared more than

100,000 meters2 of land and destroyed more than 330 mines. The

United States completed its assistance to Costa Rica in July 2001 after

the country reached the sustainment phase.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Guatemala

LATIN AMERICA

44 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

After 30 years of internal conflict, formerly contested zones in northwest

Guatemala harbor a moderate landmine

and UXO problem. The OAS estimates that between 1,500 and 2,000

landmines contaminate an area that encompasses the Playa

Grande/Ixcan region of Quiche and the vicinity of guerrilla base

camps near the Atitlan and Tajumulco volcanoes. The OAS also estimates that approximately 5,000 pieces of UXO infest agricultural

land, villages, and towns in 13 high-risk departments of Guatemala.

Since the final peace accord was signed in December 1996, no landmine-related casualties have been reported.

In FY02, the United States allocated

$1,850,000 to the OAS/IADB to support humanitarian demining in Central

America. In conjunction with other donors, this contribution has funded training, a landmine-/UXO-awareness campaign, and

landmine/UXO clearance in Guatemala. 

Since 2000, USAID, in a combined effort with PAHO, has contributed $500,000 to improve the physical, social, and economic status of people in Central America coping with landmine injuries, war

wounds, and other disabilities.

The DOS contributed $1,350,000 to OAS/IADB humanitarian

demining initiatives in FY01, and the DoD provided an additional

$1,170,000. U.S. assistance continued to support training, mineawareness campaigns, and mine clearance in affected areas. Earlier, in

1998, the U.S. Government furnished Guatemala with four demining

technology prototypes for field-testing. 

In 1998, Guatemala joined the OAS/IADB regional demining program that supports demining operations in that country. To date, the

United States has contributed more than $18,600,000 to the

OAS/IADB.

Since 1998, U.S. support has helped

Guatemala to destroy more than 160

mines and to restore almost 6,000 meters2 of terrain to productive use.

In 2001, the OAS estimated that demining teams had swept eight kilometers2 of land and located approximately 300 pieces of UXO. The

United States supports the Guatemalan goal of becoming mine-safe by

the end of 2002.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Honduras

LATIN AMERICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 45

As a result of conflict with neighboring

countries, Honduras is infested with an

estimated 15,000–35,000 landmines

implanted along its borders with Nicaragua and El Salvador. Although

the mined areas are not densely populated, civilian injuries are periodically reported. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch’s high winds and heavy

rains shifted previously marked minefields, making them even more

difficult to locate and subsequently clear.

During FY02, the United States contributed $1,850,000 to the OAS/IADB.

This funding allocation supported mine

clearance, victim assistance, and an MDD program. 

The DOS contributed $1,350,000 to the OAS/IADB during FY01,

and the DoD provided an additional $1,170,000. U.S. assistance to

Honduras in 2001 sustained victim assistance, mine-clearance activities, and the MDD program. In 2000, the LWVF began providing support through the PAHO to the Central American Triparite Landmine

Initiative. In partnership with PAHO, USAID is working to increase

local capacity to plan, implement, and manage appropriate strategies

for landmine victims and other Hondurans with disabilities by providing short- and medium-term technical training. Together, these organizations have contributed $500,000 to improve the physical, social,

and economic status of people in Central America coping with landmine injuries.

Under the supervision of the OAS/IADB, the United States has

supported demining operations in Honduras since FY93, providing

operational and logistical support for demining training that multinational teams conduct. Since 1993, the United States has awarded more

than $18,600,000 to the OAS/IADB for demining operations.

To date, the U.S.-trained Honduran

demining unit has cleared nine major

minefields measuring approximately 333,000 meters2 and destroyed

more than 2,200 landmines and several hundred pieces of UXO.

Honduras is expected to declare itself mine-safe by the end of 2002.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Nicaragua

LATIN AMERICA

46 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

After 12 years of armed conflict and

civil strife, Nicaragua became the most

heavily mined country in Central

America. Warring factions laid mines during this extended period of

conflict. Although it ended in 1990, an estimated 134,000 landmines

remained following the conflict. However, after 11 years of demining

efforts by government mine-clearance operations, this quantity has

been reduced significantly, to approximately 64,000 landmines. Most

of the mine-affected area is confined to the northern and southern borders and to the central departments of Esteli, Jinotega, and Matagalpa.

Landmines were also laid around installations in north-central and

central Nicaragua. According to the ICRC, 2,472 landmine-related

casualties have been reported.

Nicaragua receives assistance from the

United States through the OAS/IADB.

In FY02, the United States allocated

$1,850,000 to the OAS/IADB for mine clearance and victim-assistance programs. In FY01, $2,520,000 was allotted to the OAS/IADB to

continue support to these two programs. Additionally, in 2001, the

DoD Demining R&D Program assisted Nicaraguan authorities in conducting a metal detector evaluation to determine the most suitable

detection device for their needs. 

Prior to 2000, Nicaraguan humanitarian demining operations

were conducted on four “fronts,” working in the northern, central, and

southern sections of the country. An additional “front,” supported by

the United States and the United Kingdom, through the OAS and

staffed by 80 Nicaraguan soldiers trained by U.S. military personnel,

was launched in March 2000. In 1999 and 2000, RONCO Consulting

Corporation, a DOS contractor, trained 12 MDD and handler teams to

conduct demining operations. Soon after, Nicaragua requested four

additional dogs to support ongoing mine-clearance activities. In 2000,

the LWVF began supporting the Central American Triparite Landmine

Initiative, providing comprehensive assistance to rehabilitate people

with disabilities, including landmine survivors. Since 2000, USAID,

in a combined effort with the PAHO, has contributed $500,000 to

improve the physical, social, and economic status of people in Central

America coping with landmine injuries, war wounds, and other

disabilities. 

To date, the United States has contributed more than $18,600,000

to the OAS/IADB for humanitarian demining programs in Central

America. This allocation of funds has been used to support training of

more than 350 deminers, purchase equipment, support victim assistance, and conduct mine-awareness campaigns. The U.S. military

donated $70,000 worth of demining equipment to this program.

Although the devastation caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 thwarted humanitarian demining efforts in Nicaragua temporarily, reassessments of the extent of the post-Hurricane Mitch mine problem quickly redefined mine locations and their severity, and permitted demining

operations to resume promptly.

U.S. funds that assist the Nicaraguan

program have helped the country

become an example of one of the most successful humanitarian demining programs in the Western Hemisphere. To date, Nicaraguan

deminers have found and destroyed approximately 70,000 landmines,

and declared 24 Nicaraguan municipalities and 168 kilometers of

international borders mine-safe. In total, approximately 1,856,540

meters2 of land have been cleared. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Peru and Ecuador

LATIN AMERICA

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 47

Two separate conflicts have created the

current landmine problem in Peru. The

first was an internal conflict between the

Peruvian Armed Forces and armed insurgent groups. During this conflict, the Government of Peru used landmines in several parts of the

country to protect critical infrastructure. The Peruvian National Police

have reported that more than 54,000 anti-personnel landmines were

placed around 1,655 high-tension electrical towers throughout the

country. In the second conflict in early 1995, the brief border war

between Peru and Ecuador, mines were laid along the disputed 79-

kilometer-long Cordillera del Condor region. Landmines were also

placed haphazardly along other sensitive areas of the border during the

fighting. Although the actual number of landmines planted is

unknown, the Ecuadorian government reports that 50,000–60,000

landmines remain in its soil. The Peruvian Government estimates that

120,000 landmines are situated along its border. The environment

poses a significant challenge to mine-clearance operations. Many

mined areas are in steep terrain and covered with thick tropical vegetation. Erosion and flooding are also problems in some areas, as is the

laterite soil with a high metallic content. However, casualty rates are

relatively low because most minefields, particularly along the

Ecuadorian border and in Peru’s most severely affected region,

Cenepa Valley, are in sparsely populated areas. Twinza National

Memorial Park is a key political priority for clearance, because it is

heavily saturated with landmines and UXO. The jungle terrain in

Morona Santiago Province is challenging, because it is filled with a

mix of conventional minefields, abandoned fighting positions, and

UXO. From 1995–1999, approximately 120 landmine casualties

occurred in Ecuador. However, due to poor record-keeping, minecasualty statistics, particularly regarding civilians, are incomplete or

inaccurate. Peruvian authorities have reported a total of 179 mine victims since 1995. The casualties include 62 military personnel, 67

policemen, and 50 civilians.

In FY02, the United States contributed

more than $1,000,000 to Ecuador and

$700,000 to Peru to fund humanitarian

demining activities. 

In FY01, the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program allotted more

than $1,660,000 each to Ecuador and Peru. This contribution supported train-the-trainer programs and the provision of vehicles and demining equipment. Since 1998, the United States has contributed more

than $9,800,000 to humanitarian mine action in both Peru and

Ecuador. 

U.S. military personnel have trained Peruvian and Ecuadorian

Army personnel in basic demining techniques in each of the years

2000 through 2002. U.S. Army Psychological Operations and Civil

Affairs specialists also provided assistance to the Government of Peru

in the areas of mine awareness and mine-action management procedures. In March 2001, the Government of Ecuador signed a

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the OAS making it a partner

in humanitarian demining operations in Ecuador on a pilot basis. Peru

signed a similar MOA with the OAS in May 2001. The purpose of the

OAS Mine Action Program is to ensure that priority is given to location, demarcation, and destruction of landmines that endanger the

civilian population, as well as to the development of mine-risk awareness campaigns, victim assistance and rehabilitation programs, and

the socio-economic recuperation of formerly mined areas.

Both Peru and Ecuador have made significant progress in their respective

humanitarian demining programs. Since 1999, U.S. military personnel

have trained 612 Ecuadorians and 140 Peruvian Army personnel in

basic demining techniques. In February and July 2000, demining operations began in El Oro Province and the Oriente Region of Morona

Santiago, Ecuador, respectively. By June 2001, an estimated 4,300

landmines and UXO were destroyed in the combined regions. As of

March 2002, Ecuadorian deminers had destroyed 4,731 mines. In

Peru, the first phase of demining was completed in 1999, when land

was cleared to permit the placement of 28 border markers between the

two countries. In 2000, mine-clearance operations furthered plans for

the construction of a road from the Ecuadorian border to the Twinza

National Memorial Park. By the end of 2001, the Peruvian Army had

cleared the international canal at Rio Zarmulia on the border with

Ecuador, and destroyed 37 landmines. During the same period, the

Peruvian National Police had cleared mines around 248 high-tension

electrical towers, destroying 212 mines in the process. Currently, a

Public Mine-Awareness Campaign is taking place in El Oro and

Morona Sand Provinces.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
THE MIDDLE

EAST

RUSSIA

FINLAND

AUSTRIA

ITALY

SPAIN

SWEDEN

NORWAY

GERMANY

FRANCE

PORTUGAL

HUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

TURKEY

DENMARK

POLAND

BELARUS

UKRAINE

CZECH

SLOVAKIA

GREECE

CYPRUS

NETH.

BELGIUM

IRELAND

YUGOSLAVIA

ALBANIA

MOLDOVA

LITHUANIA

LATVIA

ESTONIA

LUX.

BOSNIA

CROATIA

SLOVENIA

SWITZERLAND

MACEDONIA

GREENLAND

ICELAND

KENYA

ETHIOPIA

ERITREA

SUDAN

EGYPT

NIGER

MAURITANIA

MALI

NIGERIA

SOMALIA

NAMIBIA

LIBYA

CHAD

SOUTH AFRICA

TANZANIA

ANGOLA

ALGERIA

MADAGASCAR

MOZAMBIQUE

BOTSWANA

ZAMBIA

GABON

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

TUNISIA

MOROCCO

UGANDA

SWAZILAND

LESOTHO

MALAWI

BURUNDI

RWANDA

TOGO

BENIN IVORY GHANA LIBERIA COAST

SIERRA LEONE

GUINEA

BURKINA

GAMBIA

CAMEROON

SAO TOME & PRINCIPE

ZIMBABWE

CONGO

DEM. REP.

OF CONGO

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

WESTERN SAHARA

DJIBOUTI

SENEGAL

GUINEA BISSAU

Canary

Islands

JORDAN

ISRAEL

LEBANON

ARMENIA

AZERBAIJAN

GEORGIA

KYRGYZSTAN

TAJIKISTAN

KUWAIT

QATAR

BAHRAIN

U. A. E.

OMAN

YEMEN

SYRIA IRAQ

IRAN

OMAN

SAUDI ARABIA

AFGHANISTAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

KAZAKHSTAN

TURKMENISTAN

UZBEKISTAN

CHINA

MYANMAR

THAILAND

KAMPUCHEA

NEPAL

BHUTAN

VIETNAM

SRI LANKA

LAOS

BANGLADESH

MALAYSIA

INDONESIA

BRUNEI

SINGAPORE

MALAYSIA

MONGOLIA

U. K.

MALTA

Atlas Mts.

Sahara Desert

Plateau

of

Tibet

Gobi Desert

U ral M

ts.

Kalahari Desert

Siberia

H i m a l a y a

Alps

Caucasus

ATLANTIC

INDIAN

OCEAN

OCEAN

ARCTIC

OCEAN

Nile

Congo

Niger

Ganges

Volga

Ob'

Yenisey

Lena

Yangtze

Orange

Zambezi

Rhine

Danube

Dnieper

Euphrates

Irtysh

Angara

Aldan

Huang

Mekong

Indus

Salween

L. Victoria

L. Chad

L. Malawi

L. Balkhash

L. Baykal

Chukchi

Sea

Beaufort Sea

Baffin Bay

Norwegian Sea

Greenland

Sea

North

Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Baltic

Sea

Black Sea

Aral Sea

Arabian Sea

Bay of Bengal

South China Sea

Barents Sea

Kara

Sea

Leptev Sea

Caspian Sea

Red Sea

AFRICA

EUROPE

ASIA
Egypt

THE MIDDLE EAST

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 49

Egypt is one of the most mine- and

UXO-afflicted countries on earth. The

Government of Egypt claims that the

country is infested with approximately 20,000,000–21,000,000 mines

and UXO, and removing or destroying them is essential to public safety and national development efforts. The largest mine and UXO problem, dating from World War II, exists in the northern portion of the

Western Desert, along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, between the

Nile Delta and the Libyan border; the most heavily mined areas are

Alexandria, El Alamein, Ras-Al-Hekilometersa, Marsa Matruth, Sidi

Barrani, and Salloum. Post-World War II mines and UXO are in the

east, in the Suez Canal area, along the western coast of the Red Sea,

and in the Sinai Peninsula. The mines and UXO affect 2,800 kilometers2 of land: 2,539 kilometers2 in the west, and 261 kilometers2 in the

east. According to the Egyptian Army, landmines and UXO have

killed at least 696 people (including 418 civilians) and injured at least

7,617 people (4,599 civilians) since the end of World War II, with the

majority of serious injuries occurring in the east.

In FY01, Egypt received $708,000 in

U.S. humanitarian demining assistance

to fund a U.S. military train-the-trainer

program and the acquisition of modern demining equipment; U.S.

training was conducted during the summer of 2001. In both 1999 and

2000, at the request of Egyptian authorities, the DoD evaluated two

mechanical demining systems in the World War II battlefields surrounding El Alamein. Humanitarian demining in Egypt is closely connected to the country’s overall development goals, particularly along

the northern Egyptian coast. Egypt also receives substantial U.S.

Foreign Military Financing funds and, in the future, the United States

expects Egypt will use some of these funds to support humanitarian

demining operations on a continuing basis.

The train-the-trainer program, conducted in Egypt from May through August

2001, focused on mine detection and disposal, mine awareness, and

survey and information management. Training also included a leadership and operations seminar for Egyptian Army battalion and company commanders. Mine-clearance operations are continuing in the Red

Sea area at Hurghada. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Jordan

THE MIDDLE EAST

50 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

According to the Royal Corps of

Engineers of the Jordanian Armed

Forces (JAF), approximately 310,000

landmines seriously affect an area of approximately 100 kilometers2

.

Most mines date from the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict. The majority of

landmines are located in two discrete areas in the northwest region of

the Jordan River Valley. One area is located near the northern end of

the Valley on the border with Syria, near Lake Tiberias, and the other

is farther south, near the northern end of the Dead Sea. Israeli-laid

minefields are located mainly in the southwest part of the country in

the Araba Valley in areas restored to Jordan after the Israeli occupation. UXO is not a serious problem in Jordan. Demining is difficult

because many of the mines, laid more than 30 years ago, have moved

due to erosion, shifting sands, rain, and mudslides. At present, the

Government’s demining operations focus on the 300 minefields in the

Jordan River Valley. The Valley is the most fertile farmland in Jordan

where arable land is scarce, and these mines severely impede the production of food crops. JAF Medical Services reports that at least 636

Jordanians, including 370 civilians, have become landmine victims

since 1967, and 92 of these victims died from injuries. The majority

of civilian casualties were farmers, shepherds, hunters, and children.

In 2000, landmines injured nine military personnel and three civilians.

In FY02, the United States provided

Jordan with approximately $850,000

for humanitarian demining assistance.

Jordan also received $951,000 in U.S. assistance in FY01, the majority of it for the purchase of demining equipment and spare parts. The

FY02 funds will bring the total U.S. humanitarian demining assistance

to Jordan since FY96 to more than $8,800,000. Jordan has used this

financial assistance to augment its equipment inventory and procure

technical advice and manpower from Israel. The funds have also

enabled Jordan to receive demining training from U.S. military forces,

and to acquire a computer-managed training system known as the

Demining Support System. Many of the remaining minefields are in

challenging environmental areas. Demining in these areas will require

heavy equipment and new technologies that U.S. funding can provide,

e.g., a bulldozer, wheel loader, rear dump truck, and manual demining

equipment (demining vests, helmets, and mine detectors). The DoD

has tested several mechanical mine-clearance systems in Jordan,

including the Mini-Flail, the Enhanced Teleoperated Ordnance

Disposal System, and the Rhino. The United States will continue to

support Jordan’s demining operations and work with the Government

toward the goal of the country becoming mine-safe early this century.

Since 1997, a national mine-awareness

program and successful demining operations have reduced civilian casualties dramatically, while the use of

more effective protective equipment has lowered military casualties

significantly. U.S. military training has improved the capabilities of

Jordan’s Royal Corps of Engineers in mine detection and disposal,

mine awareness, and survey and information management. At present,

Jordan is conducting Technical Surveys of minefields along the Syrian

border. In addition, after a joint effort to clear 10 Israeli-laid minefields in the Araba Valley, Jordan and Israel are discussing a strategy

to remove the remaining mines. U.S. assistance has helped Jordan to

keep 100 deminers in the field on a daily basis. As of July 2002,

Jordan’s Royal Corps of Engineers had cleared more than 86,600

mines from 131 minefields, restoring more than 3,000 acres of land to

safe use.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Lebanon

THE MIDDLE EAST

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 51

The French Mandate period

(1923–1943), the Lebanese Civil War

(1975–1990), and the time during which

Israel occupied south Lebanon (1978–2000), have created a country

with a large landmine and UXO problem. There are approximately

130,000 landmines and UXO in the former Israeli security zone, and

approximately 150,000 in the rest of Lebanon. In December 2001, the

Government of Israel informed the Government of Lebanon of the

presence of another 300,000 landmines, mainly along the border

between the two countries. A U.S.-funded survey conducted by

Lebanon’s Landmines Resource Center in 1998 and 1999 confirmed

that minefields and suspected minefield locations include agricultural

areas, former battlefields, and cities and villages located along old

demarcation lines. Although some minefields are marked and fenced

off, many others remain unmarked. Subsequent assessments have also

found that the threat of improvised explosive devices, coupled with

mines and other UXO, have left Lebanon with an unusually diverse

and complex problem. As of June 2002, landmines had killed 1,072

and wounded 1,622 Lebanese; 23 of the fatalities and 119 of the

injuries occurred between May 2000 and June 2002. More than 40

percent of these victims suffered injuries while engaged in agricultural activities, the major source of income for villagers. In South

Lebanon and West Bekaa, because of the presence of landmines, a

noticeable decrease in agricultural production has been noted. 

The United States provided Lebanon

with $1,305,000 in humanitarian demining assistance in FY02. With help

from the United States, Lebanon implemented an MDD program, and

provided logistical demining training services to the National

Demining Office of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). LAF officers

also received quality assurance training in FY02. In FY01, Lebanon

received more than $1,620,000 in U.S. assistance, including $700,000

for the MDD program; $100,000 to support the NDO; and $200,000

to validate the utility of a mechanical vegetation removal/area reduction system. The DoD also provided Thiokol demining flares to the

LAF for field-testing in an effort to enhance their capability to dispose

of landmines and UXO. Also in FY01, USAID funded the establishment of a mine-victim rehabilitation center in Jezzine, the site of the

highest concentration of landmine victims. According to the Land

Mine Resource Center at Lebanon’s Balamand University, landmines

killed 240 and injured 116 people in the Jezzine and East Sidon areas

during the last four years. The Resource Center provides vocational

training for 374 landmine victims, and organizes awareness campaigns warning about the dangers of landmines. 

The United States has supported the demining program in

Lebanon since 1998, and has contributed almost $6,000,000 to it. With

these funds, Lebanon acquired training in humanitarian demining,

purchased mine detectors and heavy demining equipment, and funded

an MDD program that will provide an innovative means of improving

the country’s demining capability. USAID’s FY00 funding assisted

the World Rehabilitation Fund (WRF) to implement programs aimed

at preventing landmine-related accidents and improving the physical,

social, and economic conditions of people suffering landmine-related

injuries. The U.S. military assisted in establishing an NDO and supported its further development through training and provision of

equipment. U.S. military personnel also conducted a train-the-trainer

program to improve the capability of an indigenous company of deminers in sustained operations. In addition, funds enabled the development of a national demining database. The U.S. military advised the

Lebanese on establishing a mine-information awareness program and

USAID, through the LWVF, also provided $1,400,000 to expand

socio-economic opportunities for landmine survivors, and to coordinate national efforts to address problems related to the presence of

landmines. 

The Lebanese Ministry of Defense has

cleared 445 of 2,721 minefields,

destroying nearly 52,500 mines and 52,000 items of UXO, resulting in

the clearance of 3,020,000 meters2 of land. The WRF has initiated a

nationwide survey to identify landmine victims and to map minefields.

In 2001, the LWVF began support of the WRF Program, “Expanding

Economic Opportunities for Survivors of Landmines in the District of

Jizzine.” This WRF program is the first of its kind to address the economic needs of a war-affected sector of society. The United States continues to work with Lebanon toward the goal of achieving a qualified,

trained, and equipped cadre of deminers capable of conducting the

country’s own humanitarian demining program.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Oman

THE MIDDLE EAST

52 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Oman has a small landmine and UXO

problem. The vast majority of landmines is found in the Dhofar region in

the south, the result of the 1964–1975 internal conflict between the

Government of Oman and a separatist group, the communist Popular

Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Gulf (PFLOG). The Royal

Omani Army (ROA) and its allies (Jordan, Iran, and the United

Kingdom) used landmines to protect defensive positions and to interdict the movement of separatists, and the PFLOG used landmines to

ambush ROA and allied units. The ROA states that it mapped, marked,

and then cleared some of their minefields at the conclusion of the

rebellion. The PFLOG, however, did not map, mark, or clear their

minefields. Heavy seasonal rains, terrain, and soil conditions have

caused many mines to migrate from their original positions.

According to the Government, landmines and UXO have killed at

least 12 and wounded 84 people since the end of the Dhofar rebellion,

and almost 50 livestock have become landmine casualties. In March

2001, there were two UXO incidents resulting in serious injuries.

The United States allocated $307,000 in

humanitarian demining assistance to

Oman in FY02, bringing the total U.S.

contributions to $2,650,000. In FY02, with help from RONCO, a commercial U.S. contractor, an MDD capability was established to support

demining operations, and to verify clearance of mined areas. FY01

funds of $1,143,000 were used to procure, among other things, personal protection gear ($78,500), mine-disposal technologies

($11,750), demining equipment ($161,200), logistic support

($21,100), and a U.S. military train-the-trainer program ($750,000).

Previous U.S. funding enabled the Government of Oman to develop a

survey and information management capability to define mined areas

effectively, and to archive minefield data efficiently; enhance the curriculum at the engineer school to enable it to train deminers to international standards in demining surveys, marking, and clearance operations; purchase modern detection and protective equipment to

increase safety during operations; train ROA personnel in the use of

this equipment; develop a mine-awareness capability to support

demining units at regional and local levels; and to train ROA medical

cadre and deminers in improving initial response medical and trauma

capabilities. 

In 2001, 75 ROA soldiers graduated

from engineer school, having received

U.S. military demining training, and they have begun humanitarian

demining operations in the Dhofar region. Using MDD teams, 1,500

meters2 of land were cleared and 100 percent quality assurance

obtained. RONCO also conducted demolitions training for nine Omani

military personnel.

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Yemen

THE MIDDLE EAST

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 53

Mines have been used in Yemen during

three main periods: 1962–1969,

1970–1983, and in 1994. Unconfirmed

reports indicate that approximately 100,000 landmines litter the

Yemeni landscape as a result of these three conflicts. A Landmine

Impact Survey has identified 592 mine-affected communities in 95

districts in 18 of Yemen’s 19 Governorates. Approximately 828,000

people, about six percent of the population, live in these communities.

Of the approximate 1,100 identified contaminated areas, 859 contain

mines affecting 799 kilometers2

, and UXO, located in 200 locations,

cover an area of 200 kilometers2

. Combatants laid these landmines in

an arbitrary and haphazard fashion in sand dunes and fields and alongside roads without marking their locations. The mines block access to

grazing land and to water sources for drinking and irrigation. For this

reason, herders and children who do not attend school are the most

vulnerable to landmine injuries. Since 1998, landmines have caused

more than 700 casualties. Estimates of landmine and UXO casualties

prior to 1998 are more than 2,500 killed and more than 2,200 injured. 

In FY02, U.S. humanitarian demining

assistance to Yemen amounted to

$750,000. FY01 funds of more than

$1,000,000 enabled Yemen to acquire, among other items, additional

demining equipment ($489,800), vehicles ($148,900), mine-clearance

materials ($166,200), medical supplies ($5,816), logistic support

items ($25,100), and the continuation of current mine-clearance contracts ($187,000). The vehicles equipped two new demining companies for increased mine-clearance operations. Previous U.S. funding,

now totaling more than $9,300,000, was used to purchase mine detectors and vehicles to help equip another demining company, as well as

personal protection gear for all deminers.

U.S. assistance has also funded a national demining program

infrastructure and a train-the-trainer program, conducted by U.S. military personnel. In December 1998, the first 150 Yemeni deminers

graduated from the Humanitarian Demining Training Facility in Aden.

Demining and UXO removal operations began in 1999 with the fielding of the two U.S.-trained Yemeni demining companies. At the same

time, mine-awareness and victim-assistance teams began educating

the local populace on demining efforts, while locating and offering

assistance to those injured by landmines. As part of its commitment to

the Government of Yemen, the United States will help establish a program that will assist the country in becoming mine-safe.

Yemen’s Humanitarian Demining

Program is producing visible results,

and enjoys an exceptional reputation, locally and internationally. As of

FY02, the program counted 812 fully trained personnel in specialty

areas of mine survey, mine clearance, mine awareness, and victim

assistance. The two U.S. military-trained demining companies, numbering 350 personnel, have cleared more than 19,020 landmines,

57,622 UXO, and 28 minefields, restoring more than 192 kilometers2

of land to productive use. A U.S. ophthalmology team has treated more

than 100 landmine victims and simultaneously conducted medical

training for local personnel. 

The Landmine

Problem

United States

Assistance

Accomplishments
Humanitarian crises, whether man-made or the aftermath of a natural disaster, particularly crises in which

landmines are involved, may occur without warning

and require an immediate response. Examples of such

crises include Hurricane Mitch that struck Central

America in 1998, the rapid, post air-war return of

refugees to mine-infested Kosovo in 1999, and tropical cyclones Hudah and Eline that ravaged

Mozambique in 2000, displacing thousands of landmines. To respond to such emergency situations

quickly and efficiently, the United States, in 2001,

developed a Quick Reaction Demining Force

(QRDF).

The U.S.-funded QRDF is home-based in

Mozambique. The force is deployed to demining crisis situations as directed by the U.S. Government,

which oversees recruitment, provision of equipment,

training, and supervision of QRDF personnel within

and outside the Republic of Mozambique. The United

States has also established an independent management unit in Maputo to manage QRDF operations in

coordination with Mozambican authorities. When

QRDF teams are not deployed, they perform

demining missions in Mozambique, in response to

requests from that government.

The QRDF consists of four 10-man demining teams

and associated support infrastructure. The organization is able to respond immediately to short-term, predefined demining missions. The QRDF incorporates

proved demining procedures, including the use of

MDDs, and is equipped with demining-specific tools

and materials. Once deployed, the teams locate, identify, map, record, and destroy landmines, UXO, and

improvised explosive devices found in the areas designated for clearance.

In April 2002, the QRDF responded to crisis situations in Sri Lanka and Sudan. The deployment to Sri

Lanka was in response to the Government of Sri

Lanka’s request for assistance to resettle some

200,000 IDPs who had to travel through heavily

mined areas in the Vanni and Killinochchi regions and

in the Jaffna Peninsula. The QRDF deployment provided an on-site demining capability until the UN

could begin the program of assistance, demonstrating

the U.S. Government’s continuing support for efforts

to bring peace to Sri Lanka. QRDF operations began

in early May 2002 in the key village of Sarasalai,

about 15 kilometers from Jaffna, where Tamil civilians, taking advantage of the ceasefire, were returning

to their homes and fields. As of early August 2002, the

QRDF teams had returned 32,500 meters2 of land to

safe use in the Jaffna area, destroying 621 mines and

60 UXO devices in the process.

The QRDF deployment to Sudan supported the

recently concluded ceasefire between the Government

of the Sudan and the SPLM/A, overseen by the internationally led Joint Military Commission in which the

United States plays a significant role. The Government of Sudan believes that between 1989 and

February 2002, 1,160 persons became mine victims in

the Nuba Mountains region. QRDF mine-clearance

operations will lessen the likelihood of additional

casualties as refugees and IDPs begin to relocate to

areas where mines are known to exist and into other

areas suspected of being mined. 

54 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

APPENDIX A

Quick Reaction Demining Force

Quick Reaction

Demining Force in

Sri Lanka (Source:

PM/HDP)
Demining takes place in countries with a wide range

of indigenous mine-action capabilities, and each

country has unique terrain and particular cultural situations. While no single demining technology or

demining technique will be successful in all scenarios, combinations of detection technologies and demining methods generally increase safety and efficiency and contribute to achieving international

humanitarian demining clearance standards. The

addition of MDDs to a demining program has proved

to be an approach that works in many different scenarios, and dogs are particularly effective when combined with various manual and mechanical detection

and clearance techniques. 

A dog’s olfactory capacity to find explosives has

proved highly effective. MDDs are primarily drawn

from two breeds: German Shepherds and Belgian

Malois. Two other breeds of dog are used in small

numbers or are believed to possess MDD potential:

retrievers, such as Labradors, and scent hounds, such

as Beagles. MDDs are trained to detect explosiveodor signatures, such as TNT, the scent of monofilament line, metallic wire used in booby traps and

mines, or any combination of these. Dogs are trained

to ignore other odors and distractions, and are rewarded when they alert their handler to an odor they are

trained to recognize. Initial training lasts eight to 10

weeks, followed by another eight- to 10-week period

of advanced training for the MDDs to bond with their

handler. This latter period also allows the dogs to

acclimatize to the country in which they have been

chosen to work. Their extensive training in detection

capabilities is crucial to identify nonmetallic or plastic-encased mines, demining near or on steel bridges

and railroad tracks, and demining in iron-bearing

laterite soils that render metal detectors virtually

ineffective.

MDDs have proved to be highly effective, mobile, and

affordable. There are approximately 620 MDDs either

conducting operations or in training in 23 countries

around the world; 162 of these dogs are in

Afghanistan. Seventeen other countries in the U.S.

Humanitarian Demining Program use MDDs:

Albania, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, BosniaHerzegovina, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Eritrea,

Honduras, Lebanon, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Oman,

Rwanda, Somaliland, and Thailand. In addition, the

U.S.-funded QRDF used MDDs in mine-clearance

operations in Sri Lanka and Sudan during the spring

and summer of 2002. Dogs are able to work in about

90 percent of the terrain where humans operate,

whereas flails, rollers, and sifters—because of their

design and operating limitations—operate in a mere

fraction of all the types of terrain. Moreover, dogs are

environmentally friendly, whether working agricultural lands or urban areas, whereas machinery and

explosive charges can disturb or destroy areas where

they are used. 

The landmine community considers MDDs as a valuable and reliable demining resource. In many situations, when combined with manual or mechanicaldemining techniques, dogs contribute greatly in expediting the return of mine-affected land, infrastructure,

and other facilities to a safe and useful condition in a

cost-effective manner. 

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 55

APPENDIX B

Mine-Detection Dogs

A mine-detection dog

and his handler at work

in Bosnia-Herzegovina

(Source: PM/HDP)
The DoD Humanitarian Demining R&D Program

develops and evaluates new equipment to assist the

global humanitarian demining effort. Since the program’s inception in 1995, significant progress has

been made, and many successful products have been

deployed for field evaluations in mine-plagued

nations of Africa, Central America, the Middle East,

Southeast Asia, and Europe. This program is responsible for the development of equipment that improves

the international community’s existing capabilities for

mine detection, marking, mine and vegetation clearance, and mine neutralization, as well as equipment

for training and post-clearance quality assurance.

Feedback from users and field tests is crucial to the

continued success of the program and to the cause of

global humanitarian demining. 

The program addresses the demining problem using a

systematic approach by: 

■ Attacking the problem globally through international cooperation with governments, NGOs, and

MACs;

■ Developing and evaluating new demining equipment and tools; 

■ Developing and promulgating mine and demining

information, instruction, and mine awareness; and 

■ Providing global on-site support and assistance.

International cooperation is being developed on several fronts. Intergovernmental cooperation takes

advantage of local infrastructure and distribution

channels. U.S. Army Special Forces, components of

the theater commands, EOD teams, and Army Civil

Affairs and Psychological Operations units provide

assistance through host-nation governments for

demining and mine-awareness training programs.

Intergovernmental cooperation is vital to developing

mine databases and equipment effectiveness analyses,

while international coordination is key to establishing

statements of requirements for specific humanitarian

demining technologies based on each country’s identified need. The United States cooperates globally

with governmental agencies, industry, academia,

commercial demining companies, international

organizations, NGOs, and private volunteer organizations to develop and implement systems that meet

humanitarian demining needs. 

The DoD Humanitarian Demining R&D Program

focuses on the development of equipment for personal protection, wide-area detection, handheld detection, vegetation clearance, and mechanical mine

clearance and neutralization. Despite an increase in

safety and efficiency of humanitarian demining operations, the most common method still in use today is

manual demining which makes personal protection

equipment one of the highest priorities for development. Therefore, the DoD Humanitarian Demining

R&D Program has made and continues to make significant enhancements in personal protection equipment. This equipment includes deminer protective

gear, such as helmets, visors, special boots, and body

armor. Another high priority is to improve minedetection capabilities. The challenge in improving

mine-detection equipment is discriminating the abundance of mines with low-metal content from nonexplosive metallic debris. The Program has developed

and evaluated several prototype systems for mine

detection using simple to sophisticated technologies,

such as improved metal detectors, ground-penetrating

radar, synthetic aperture radar, and other confirmation

sensors that may detect the presence of explosives in

mines. 

The international demining community has also

expressed the urgent need for cost-effective and more

efficient mine- and vegetation-clearance equipment.

The R&D Program has evaluated a variety of mechanically operated machines that have proved to increase

the speed, efficiency, and safety for both mine- and

vegetation-clearance operations. Many of these developments have included remote control technology

that purposely takes the human out of the loop for

obvious safety reasons. Many of these technologies

have been fielded around the globe to assist in mineclearing operations. These include the Tempest and

56 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

APPENDIX C

Humanitarian Demining Technology

Research and Development

Survivable Demining

Tractor and Tools in

operaton in Thailand

(Source: NVESD)
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 57

APPENDIX C

Tempest in operation in

Cambodia (Source:

NVESD)

the Survivable Demining Tractor and Tools for vegetation clearance, the Mine Clearing Cultivator, the

Floating Mine Blade, the Rhino Earth Tiller, the

Sifter, the Berm Processing Assembly, and the Miniflail for mine-clearing operations. It is clear that the

DoD has also been able to respond to unique international demining requirements with various demining

tools and equipment suited for specific needs. 

Providing highly trained and skilled personnel and

up-to-date equipment in mine-afflicted countries is

important for timely and efficient humanitarian

demining assistance. As briefly described previously,

U.S. military forces provide on-the-ground assistance

to train local personnel to recognize, detect, and clear

mines. The United States also provides technical incountry support for new R&D items that are provided

for evaluation in mine-afflicted regions. This unique

assistance plays a major role in accelerating the

development process by ensuring that lessons learned

in the field are rapidly integrated into improved demining tools, training, and information. To date this

assistance has been provided to 17 countries:

Afghanistan, Bosnia, Cambodia, Chile, Croatia, Cuba

(Guantanamo Bay), Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala,

Israel, Jordan, Kosovo, Laos, Lebanon, Namibia,

Nicaragua, and Thailand. 

On July 17, 2000, the United States signed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for an

International Test and Evaluation Program for

Humanitarian Demining (ITEP). Signers of the MOU

included Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden,

the United Kingdom, the United States, and the

European Commission represented by the Joint

Research Centre. Germany subsequently joined ITEP

in June 2002. As one of the founders of the ITEP, the

United States helped to establish a responsive and

sustained global network of test and evaluation capabilities for measuring performance and evaluating the

effectiveness and suitability of all forms of humanitarian demining equipment, systems, and methods.

This will encourage international cooperation for

humanitarian demining research, development, test,

and evaluation. ITEP collects, generates, and distributes objective and independent scientific test and

evaluation data and information on equipment, systems, and methods for use in humanitarian demining. 
In May 1998, the U.S. Congress appropriated

$28,000,000 for the Slovenian International Trust

Fund (ITF) for Demining and Victims Assistance to

assist mine-affected countries in the Balkan region.

Congress specified that the U.S. contribution would

be determined by matching the contributions from

other governments, entities, or persons to this fund. In

2002, Congress appropriated an additional

$14,000,000 in matching funds for the ITF.

Humanitarian mine-action operations using these

funds began in May 2002.

Since the United States provided its first matching

contribution to the ITF in December 1998, the concept has been successful both operationally and financially. Initially, donations to the ITF were used to

address demining needs in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Success there led to an expansion of demining operations in Albania, Croatia, and Kosovo. A further

extension of demining services to Macedonia and

Yugoslavia occurred in 2000–2001. Emergency clearance of mines and UXO continued in Macedonia in

2002. A companion program trained and equipped

Macedonian teams to assume clearance tasks by the

end of 2002. The ITF also provided technical advice

and mine-clearance assistance to Yugoslavia. U.S.

funds, joined with funds from the European Union,

will support survey work and training and equipping

teams from Serbia and Montenegro that will conduct

battlefield clearance operations in their respective

Republics. The United States is also funding specialized training on underwater clearance to tackle UXO

off the coast of Montenegro, coupled with mine clearance along the border region in the Republic of

Montenegro. The United States and the ITF, at the

request of Yugoslavia and NATO, provided technical

assistance on the removal and destruction of large

pieces of UXO. 

Contributions to the ITF come from international

organizations, such as the European Union,

UNA/USA (Adopt-A-Minefield Program), CARE,

the Siemens Corporation, and a host of governments:

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada,

Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France,

Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein,

Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia, South Korea,

Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the

United States, the major donor.

Through the end of 2001, the ITF had received contributions from 53 donors totaling just over

$70,000,000; additional pledges of $3,300,000 are

forthcoming. The donor community includes the

United States and 21 other governments, two regional governmental organizations, 14 commercial firms,

15 international civic or humanitarian assistance

organizations, and two individuals. Of the total contributions received, the United States has matched

$28,000,000, representing the amount authorized and

appropriated by the U.S. Congress. The United States

has also made several unilateral contributions to the

ITF, totaling more than $9,000,000 to meet pressing

demining needs in the Balkans that have not been

addressed by other donors. In September 2001, the

United States donated $1,000,000 to meet emergency

clearance needs in Macedonia supporting the return

of refugees and IDPs. In addition, the DoD provided

almost $4,000,000 of the U.S. unilateral donation to

help eliminate the threat posed by landmines and

UXO accumulated during the conflict in Kosovo.

A total of 43 different international and local commercial firms and NGOs have been engaged by the

ITF to conduct survey, training, and demining operations. These demining organizations have undertaken

more than 340 discrete projects coordinated by MACs

in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and

Yugoslavia. The combined results of these operations

include more than 19,300,000 meters2 of land

returned to safe use, and some 9,700 mines and

12,000 pieces of UXO destroyed. In addition, almost

600 people have received rehabilitation assistance for

mine-related injuries. This includes treatment at the

Institute for Rehabilitation in Ljubljana, Slovenia, as

well as at rehabilitation centers in BosniaHerzegovina.

The ITF has become the demining instrument of

choice for the international community in BosniaHerzegovina and in the rest of the Balkans. All

demining operations in Albania, and more than 70

percent of those in Bosnia-Herzegovina, are now conducted through the ITF, which has also played a major

role in financing demining in Croatia, Macedonia, and

Yugoslavia. This is due to the ITF’s demonstrated

ability to deliver high-quality demining results quickly, efficiently, and in a financially transparent manner,

at costs that are “donor-friendly.” The United States

strongly encourages other members of the international community to continue to attack the landmine

and UXO problem in countries in the Balkans through

contributions to the ITF.

58 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

APPENDIX D

Slovenian International Trust Fund for

Demining and Victims Assistance
Notes

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY 59
Notes

60 TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
OFFICE OF HUMANITARIAN

DEMINING PROGRAMS

BUREAU OF POLITICAL-MILITARY AFFAIRS

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

2201 C STREET, NW

PM/HDP, ROOM 1829

WASHINGTON, DC 20520–6817

www.state.gov/t/pm/hdp

FAX: 202.647.4537