TO

WALK

THE Earth in Safety The United States’ Commitment to Humanitarian Mine Action and Conventional Weapons Destruction

7 t h E d i t i o n J u n e 2 0 0 8 U n i t e d S t a t es De p a r t m e n t o f S t a t e B u r e a u o f P o l i t i c a l - M i l i t a r y A f f a i r s

U.S. Humanitarian 

Mine Action Program

Defining Humanitarian 

Mine Action

Conventional 

Weapons Destruction 

The Menace of MANPADS

 Reports 

 Special 
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 

Introduction 1

 SPECIAL REPORTS

U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program 2

Defining Humanitarian Mine Action 4

Conventional Weapons Destruction 7

The Menace of MANPADS 8

Country Profiles 10

AFRICA 12

Angola 13

Benin 14

Burundi 14

Central African Republic 14

Chad 15

The Democratic Republic of the Congo 16

Eritrea 16

Guinea-Bissau 17

Kenya 18

Mauritania 18

Mozambique 19

Namibia 20

Republic of Congo 20

Rwanda 20

Senegal 21

Sudan 22

Togo 23

Uganda 23

ASIA 24

Afghanistan 25

Cambodia 26

Laos 28

Philippines 28

Sri Lanka 29

Tajikistan 29

Thailand 30

Vietnam 30

EUROPE 32

Albania 33

Azerbaijan 34

Bosnia and Herzegovina 35

Bulgaria 35

Croatia 35

Estonia 36

Georgia 36

Hungary 37

Kosovo 37

Macedonia 38

Montenegro 38

Serbia 39

Ukraine 39

LATIN AMERICA 40

Argentina 41

Chile 41

Colombia 41

Ecuador 42

Honduras 42

Nicaragua 43

Suriname 43

THE MIDDLE EAST 44

Iraq 45

Jordan 46

Lebanon 47

Tunisia 48

Yemen 49

 MINE ACTION PROGRAMS (SIDEBARS)

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 14

U.S. Agency for International Development’s 17

Leahy War Victims Fund

U.S. Department of Defense Humanitarian 21

Demining Research & Development Program

U.S. Department of Defense 33

Humanitarian Demining Training Center

Organization of American States 42

Mine Action Information Center 46

Mine Detection Dog Center 48

for Southeast Europe

International Trust Fund for 49

Demining and Mine Victims Assistance

 Recipients of mine action assistance 50

U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program 51

Funding History Chart (FY 1993-2008)

Table of Contents

One of the houses built with the assistance of MAG 

(Mines Advisory Group), on a former U.S. Marine 

Corps firebase in Quang Tri province, Vietnam, in 

conjunction with MAG’s clearance of landmines and 

unexploded ordnance at that firebase, funded by 

the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement. In addition to conducting 

classic demining and clearance of explosive remnants 

of war, MAG also integrates community development 

projects such as this one in its humanitarian mine 

action projects in Vietnam.

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

Every edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, archived at 

www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/walkearth, is a look back 

in time. This edition examines the United States’ mine 

action and conventional weapons destruction work in 

2006 and 2007. Why the lag? It takes awhile to compile 

the information for these reports; however, the effort was 

worth it as 2006 and 2007 marked two more years of solid 

accomplishments. For example, thanks in part to United 

States’ assistance, in 2006 Macedonia was rendered free 

from the humanitarian impact of landmines and explosive 

remnants of war (“impact free”), and the last “hidden 

killers” were finally cleared from Mozambique’s Sena 

Railway. Also in 2006, progress was made with the NATO 

Partnership for Peace destruction initiative in Ukraine, 

which included the elimination of 1,000 MANPADS that 

were excess to Ukraine’s defensive needs.

In 2007, the annual number of reported casualties from 

landmines and explosive remnants of war worldwide 

decreased to 5,751, down sharply from approximately 

26,000 just four years ago. Even factoring in the difficulty 

of accurately accounting for all casualties, it is clear that the 

United States, other donors, the mine-affected countries 

themselves, and brave deminers all working together 

have made the landmine problem surmountable in our 

lifetime. In 2007, the United States’ destruction of atrisk MANPADS surpassed 24,000 since we first began to 

prevent these threats to global aviation from falling into the 

wrong hands. Also in 2007, we celebrated the destruction 

of a symbolic millionth light weapon in five countries, a 

major milestone in the United States’ efforts to reinforce 

peace and the rule of law. Finally, in 2007 we marked 

the 10th Anniversary of our Public-Private Partnership 

program in which the United States encourages civil society 

participation to help make our world impact free from all

conventional weapons.

I invite you to examine this report in order to see the scope 

of the U.S. conflict-remediation and peace-building efforts 

around the world, and to learn about the organizations 

with which we cooperate closely to allow more people to 

“walk the Earth in safety.”

We are pleased to offer the 7th Edition of To Walk the Earth in Safety, the 

report of the interagency U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program for 

Fiscal Years 2006 and 2007. This report also describes the conventional 

weapons destruction efforts of the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement located in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs. This office directs programs that encompass humanitarian mine 

action, and elimination of at-risk small arms, light weapons, man-portable 

air-defense systems (MANPADS), and munitions.

On the cover

A new generation of Vietnamese children, living and 

playing in complete safety on the site of a former U.S. 

Marine Corps firebase in Quang Tri province. All of 

the unexploded ordnance that resulted from attacks 

on the base, as well as all of the landmines that once 

protected the base’s perimeter, were carefully cleared 

by MAG (Mines Advisory Group) under a grant from 

the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement. 

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

In 2007, the U.S. Department of State’s Office of 

Weapons Removal and Abatement marked the 10th

anniversary of its Public-Private Partnership program, 

which enlists civil society support for clearing 

persistent landmines and explosive remnants of 

war, teaching mine risk education, and rendering 

assistance to survivors of landmine accidents around 

the world. Since its founding in October 1997, this 

Public-Private Partnership program has grown to 

include 63 nongovernmental organizations, civic 

associations, educational groups, and corporations. To help save natural resources and protect our environment, this 

edition of To Walk the Earth In Safety was printed on 10 percent 

post-consumer-waste recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks.

Stephen D. Mull

Acting Assistant Secretary of State

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs

INTRODUCTION: A Message from Acting Assistant Secretary Stephen D. Mull

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 

Maps courtesy of the University of Texas 

Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 

U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program

The United States remains the world’s top contributor to 

humanitarian mine action (HMA), having spent well over 

$1.2 billion since 1993. The U.S. continues to contribute 

tens of millions of dollars annually to help rid the world 

of the “hidden killers” that remain from past conflicts, 

the overwhelming preponderance of which have been 

manufactured and employed by other countries and foreign 

combatants. In fiscal year 2006, the United States dedicated 

$75,997,000 to mine action, and in FY 2007, the U.S. 

spent $82,092,000 more. 

The funding history table on pages 51–55 charts all 

U.S.-funded humanitarian mine action since FY 1993. 

In addition, conventional weapons destruction activities 

supported by the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) through the end 

of FY 2007 are summarized on page 7. 

Endeavors to eradicate persistent landmines, abandoned 

ordnance, explosive remnants of war (ERW), at-risk 

stocks of aging munitions, and surplus conventional 

weapons around the world support the U.S. goal to improve 

sustainable development and global peace. These efforts 

provide a humanitarian response to the harmful social and 

economic effects generated by such arms and munitions, 

and advance peace and security by promoting regional 

stability through the use of HMA and conventional 

weapons destruction as confidence-building measures. 

This benefits society by reducing the number of civilian 

casualties, allowing refugees and internally displaced 

persons to return to their homes, and enhancing the 

political and economic stability of countries affected by 

these hidden killers and dangerous depots.

A typical U.S. humanitarian mine action program involves 

assisting a mine-affected country to establish a mine action 

center or national demining office, establish a mine risk 

education program and a demining training program, and 

often includes funding actual mine-clearance and ERWclearance operations. As the country develops its demining 

capabilities, and the program becomes self-sustaining, the 

United States relinquishes its active role to the host nation.

The mission of the Department of State’s Office of 

Weapons Removal and Abatement is to develop policy 

options, implement arms destruction and mitigation 

programs, and engage civil society in a synergistic effort 

to reduce the harmful worldwide effects generated by 

the indiscriminate use of persistent mines and illicit and 

abandoned conventional weapons of war. Among its several 

responsibilities, PM/WRA oversees day-to-day management 

of bilateral mine action assistance programs. In addition, 

PM/WRA encourages the participation of civil society in 

mine action through its unique Public-Private Partnership 

program (www.state.gov/t/pm/wra/partners).

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) 

promotes sustainable development by providing 

humanitarian services in post-conflict situations. Its Bureau 

of Humanitarian Response, Office of Transition Initiatives, 

bridges the gap between emergency assistance and longterm development by supporting organizations and people 

in emergency transition in conflict-prone countries. In 

addition, USAID’s Leahy War Victims Fund helps to 

improve the mobility, health, and social integration of the 

disabled, including landmine survivors. Typically, USAID 

works through nongovernmental organizations to develop a 

country’s capacity for sustainable services for amputees and 

other conflict survivors.

The Department of Defense (DoD) manages a 

Humanitarian Demining Research and Development 

Program that is improving the technologies and means 

to detect and clear landmines and explosive remnants of 

war. One of its recent, successful projects has been the 

development, testing, and deployment of the Handheld 

Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS), the 

biggest breakthrough in detection technology since 

World War II. 

DoD also manages the Humanitarian Demining Training 

Center; the Center’s key contribution has been to teach 

U.S. Military Forces to train foreign deminers to conduct 

humanitarian mine action to International Mine Action 

Standards. In some situations, DoD funds a humanitarian 

mine action program’s start-up costs, and PM/WRA provides 

subsequent funds to procure the necessary equipment, 

provide training (such as for host-nation demining program 

managers), and supply continued support until the program 

reaches the U.S. government’s end-state.

The Department of Health and Human Services, through 

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provides 

technical and financial support to several nongovernmental 

organizations and U.N. agencies for public health projects 

related to survivors’ assistance. These projects include the 

provision of direct support to survivors as well as sciencebased assistance in identifying new survivors and assessing 

their health needs.

S pecial R eports : U.S Humanitarian Mine Action Program U.S Humanitarian Mine Action Program : S pecial R eports

Formally established in 1993, with roots to late 1988 when the term 

“humanitarian demining” was coined in Afghanistan, the interagency 

U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program is the largest and one of 

the world’s oldest such programs. It is comprised of the Department 

of State, Department of Defense, U.S. Agency for International 

Development’s Leahy War Victims Fund, and Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention. Collectively, the program operates worldwide 

to clear landmines and all types of explosive remnants of war, 

provide mine risk education, render survivors assistance, advance 

the technology of mine clearance through cutting-edge research 

and development, train deminers in affected countries to the highest 

international standards, and support foreign public health projects 

related to survivors’ assistance.

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 
 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 

S pecial R eports : Defining Humanitarian Mine Action Defining Humanitarian Mine Action : S pecial R eports

International law, such as Amended Protocol II to the 

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, to 

which the United States is a party and which it has 

ratified, requires that those who lay mines identify the 

types of landmines emplaced, and map their locations 

so that the mines can be removed at the conclusion of 

hostilities. However, insurgent groups and sometimes 

nations have ignored international law, and placed mines 

indiscriminately without marking or recording their use or 

location. Even when maps and other records are available, 

natural events may, over time, diminish their utility. 

For example, mines tend to migrate from their original 

locations as a result of shifting desert sands or from heavy 

rains in tropical areas that wash away topsoil.

Mine Detection and Clearance 

Before clearance can begin effectively in an affected country, 

a Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) is conducted, ideally to 

determine the specific nature and extent of the landmine 

situation. The LIS identifies broad areas within a country 

where mines exist and estimates the impact these mines 

have on local communities. Areas where mines do not exist 

are also recorded; this is called area reduction. Although 

mine clearance and mine risk education often must begin 

before the survey is complete, the LIS provides mine action 

authorities an important tool for development planning. 

Following the LIS, a technical survey is conducted to 

document specific details of the landmine contamination. 

Mined areas are demarcated, and the number and types of 

mines and explosive remnants of war are recorded. 

Defining Humanitarian Mine Action

The United States believes that humanitarian mine action (HMA) 

should focus on making the world “mine impact-free” (i.e., free from 

the humanitarian impact of landmines) instead of “mine free.” This is 

because it is impossible to guarantee that every single landmine is 

cleared from an affected country or region. Furthermore, it is more 

practical, feasible, cost-effective, and morally defensible to clear mines 

that have a humanitarian impact than to spend dwindling donations 

on seeking the last landmine in a remote location. Suspected or 

known mined areas that pose a lesser humanitarian threat or that are 

less economically critical may be cleared later, while available funds 

are devoted to clearing mined areas or countries where landmines 

and unexploded ordnance continue to pose a grave menace to the 

civilian population.

U.S. humanitarian mine action focuses on three major “pillars,” 

which are: 

• Mine detection and clearance

• Mine risk education and 

• Mine survivors’ assistance

Depending on the needs of a country, the United States may assist 

with financial support in one, two, or all three pillars. Research and 

development in new demining technologies is also a component 

of HMA.

 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 

(continued on page 6)

An old Soviet-built army truck rusts in a minefield in the 

Middle East. Unfortunately, not all minefields are as well 

fenced and marked as this one.

©iStockPhoto.com/Claudia Dewald
 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 

Many countries have stockpiles of conventional weapons and 

aging, often unstable, munitions dating back to the Cold 

War (or even earlier eras) that are no longer needed for their 

national security. These stockpiles and weapons frequently 

pose a major public-safety hazard in populated areas as well 

as an environmental threat. Since they are often poorly 

secured, these munitions and conventional weapons are easy 

targets for terrorists, criminals, and insurgent groups.

The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/

WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs helps develop 

and implement U.S. policies regarding 

conventional weapons and munitions. 

These efforts include supporting 

initiatives at the United Nations and other 

international organizations to address illicit transnational 

arms transfers through marking and tracing of small arms 

and light weapons (SA/LW) and strengthening controls on 

arms brokers. PM/WRA may also establish U.S.-funded 

destruction operations within the host country, taking into 

account factors such as regional stability, counter-terrorism 

and force protection, and mitigation of the humanitarian 

impact of illicit SA/LW and abandoned ordnance.

Conventional Weapons Destruction 

Through a similar process, PM/WRA and the Defense Threat 

Reduction Agency (DTRA) offer technical assistance on 

physical security and stockpile management issues to teach 

weapons custodians and ammunition technicians U.S. weapons 

standards and procedures. PM/WRA and DTRA work closely 

with the host nation to develop and execute projects that meet 

the needs of the requesting government, are cost-effective, 

and promote regional security. Since the program’s inception 

in 2001 through the end of 2007, more than one million 

weapons, 80 million rounds of ammunition, and over 24,000 

MANPADS have been destroyed. PM/WRA has implemented 

SA/LW destruction programs in the 

following countries with their cooperation: 

Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, 

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, 

Burundi, Cambodia, Guinea, Lesotho, 

Liberia, Montenegro, Mozambique, Nicaragua, the Philippines, 

Romania, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Serbia, and Sudan.

This edition of To Walk The Earth In Safety includes current 

conventional weapons destruction projects funded wholly or 

in part by the United States through PM/WRA in fiscal year 

2006 and fiscal year 2007. For more recent updates on all 

PM/WRA activities, visit www.state.gov/t/mp/wra.

S pecial R eports : Defining Humanitarian Mine Action (cont.)

No single technology can be employed to find and remove 

mines in all circumstances, in all terrains and weather 

conditions, and against all mine types—not even the new 

Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS), 

which uses a combination of metal detection and groundpenetrating radar to differentiate between landmines and 

harmless metal debris. The primary tools, which have been used 

to find mines for over 60 years, are mine detectors and handheld probes. Mine detecting dogs (MDDs), and mechanical 

demining tools, such as flails and tillers, are also used. 

Other bio-sensors such as bees and African pouch rats have 

also been tested, but have not been as widely accepted and 

deployed as MDDs which are relatively robust and generally 

successful if properly trained and cared for, and teamed 

with a well-trained human handler. In conjunction with mine 

clearance, a quality assurance program is used to assess the 

efficacy of these operations, and MDDs can assist this process.

U.S. law states: “...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, as described in 

the “U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program” section, use 

a “Train-the-Trainer” approach to assist a country in clearing 

landmines. These U.S. Special Operations Forces who have 

graduated from DoD’s Humanitarian Demining Training 

Center educate an initial team of host-nation deminers in 

mine-clearance techniques and procedures. In turn, this 

indigenous team trains others until an adequate number of 

the country’s nationals are sufficiently competent to mark and 

clear mines safely and efficiently without U.S. help.

Mine Risk Education

The majority of mine casualties are young men who encounter 

mines during their daily activities, such as farming or 

The United States is a global leader in combating the illicit trafficking and 

accumulation of conventional weapons and munitions of all calibers. 

While acknowledging the legitimacy of the legal trade, manufacture, 

and ownership of arms, the U.S. works to improve global and national 

mechanisms for controlling conventional weapons, providing physical 

security and stockpile management for at-risk arms and munitions 

depots, and destroying excess weapons around the world.

PM/WRA SA/LW Program Funding

FY 2006

$8,662,500 

FY 2007 

$16,167,000

shepherding animals. Adult men are often hurt while trying 

to disarm mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) to recover 

the scrap metal and sell it. Children are typically hurt or 

killed while playing with mines and UXO. Women become 

casualties while gathering firewood or water, or while working 

in their gardens.

Various nongovernmental organizations, often supported 

by the U.S. and other donors, provide mine risk education 

(MRE) to at-risk populations. Teaching people how to 

recognize and avoid landmines and explosive remnants of 

war, and to inform demining authorities of the presence 

of such hazards, can help to reduce casualties. MRE uses 

a variety of materials and media to convey important 

messages. U.S.-created MRE materials, and the manner 

in which the information is presented, are sensitive to 

the cultural mores of the local population. U.S. military 

personnel also conduct mine risk education during trainthe-trainer humanitarian mine action deployments. They 

are fluent in the language of each mine-affected county 

to which they deploy, and they undergo country specific 

cultural training prior to engaging in this activity.

Survivors’ Assistance

Survivors’ assistance requires a long-term commitment to 

landmine survivors and often to their family members too. 

Treating the initial injuries is not enough because as the 

wounds heal, new prostheses to fit the growing or wilting 

limb are needed, as is training to relearn daily personal 

care and income-producing skills. The psychological 

injury to a landmine survivor is also a factor in that 

person’s recovery and for the family members; the survivor 

must overcome both physical difficulties and feelings of 

inadequacy or worthlessness to regain a productive life. 

For these reasons, mine action programs encourage a 

holistic approach to providing assistance to the survivors 

of landmine injuries.

 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Conventional Weapons Destruction : S pecial R eports
 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 

S pecial R eports : The Menace of MANPADS

After the November 2002 

attempted shoot-down of a civilian 

airliner in Kenya with MANPADS, 

the United States redoubled its 

already considerable efforts to keep 

these weapons from falling into 

the wrong hands. Countering the 

proliferation of MANPADS is an 

overriding U.S. national security 

priority. At the direction of the White House, a MANPADS 

interagency task force was created that coordinates the 

efforts of the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of 

Defense, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and other 

Federal agencies and organizations. Within the Department 

of State, the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and the 

Bureau for International Security and Nonproliferation have 

responsibility for the MANPADS security situation.

The international Civil Aviation Organization, the 

United Nations, the G-8, the Wassenaar Arrangement, 

the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, 

the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Organization 

of American States, and other international and regional 

organizations have recognized the MANPADS threat and 

The Menace of MANPADS

have encouraged steps to reduce 

the number of these weapons 

available on the black market. 

The Office of Conventional 

Arms Threat Reduction in 

the Bureau for International 

Security and Nonproliferation 

works to prevent transfers of 

MANPADS—and the technology 

to produce them—to undesirable end-users through 

bilateral and multilateral engagement, with an emphasis 

on responsible export controls.

The U.S. Department of Defense supports international 

negotiations by providing expertise on the proper management 

and control of MANPADS, and by enforcing stringent 

physical security and accountability for MANPADS in U.S. 

possession. In 2001 the Department established the Golden 

Sentry program to monitor end-use sale of MANPADS 

through foreign military sales to ensure that they are 

not diverted to criminal use. The Defense Security and 

Cooperation Agency administers the Golden Sentry program, 

the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the U.S. Army 

provide support. 

Man-portable air-defense systems or MANPADS (also referred to as 

shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles) are small, light, and easy to transport 

and conceal. Estimates of global MANPADS production range from 

750,000 to 1,000,000, with thousands believed to be outside government 

control. The U.S. Department of State estimates that since the 1970s 

MANPADS were employed against more than 40 civilian aircraft, 

resulting in at least 28 crashes and over 800 deaths worldwide. 

Two insurgents in Iraq with SA-7b and SA-14 MANPADS

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The Menace of MANPADS : S pecial R eports

Anatomy of a Typical MANPADS

Launch tube

Thermal Battery Grip Stock

Missle

Control section Flight motor

Warhead

Internal eject motor

Infared seeker

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

An SA-7 MANPADS
COUNTRY 

PROFILES

in this edition

of To Walk the

Earth in Safety
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 13

Angola

Angola’s landmine and unexploded ordnance 

(UXO) contamination is the product of 

four decades of continuous conflict, beginning with a war for 

independence in the 1960s followed by 30 years of civil war. 

Landmines and UXO continue to pose an immediate threat 

to local populations, preventing the normalization of lives, 

creating an obstacle to humanitarian assistance, and inhibiting 

the economic recovery of the country. The Landmine Impact 

Survey (LIS) for Angola provides the most accurate picture of the 

socioeconomic impact on communities there, confirming that 

mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) impact more than 

2.2 million people in 1,968 communities across all 18 provinces. 

In addition, Angola has an estimated two million at-risk, militarytype small arms and light weapons in civilian hands and many 

more in unsecured government stockpiles. The Angolan Army is 

currently undergoing a national inventory and there is ongoing 

destruction of surplus dangerous weapons and ammunition. 

Between FY 2002 and FY 2007 the U.S. Department of State 

spent over $1.8 million to help Angola destroy surplus weapons 

and ammunition. 

In 2006 the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of PoliticalMilitary Affairs provided $5,125,497 in humanitarian mine action 

assistance to Angola through nongovernmental organizations, 

resulting in the clearance of 887 kilometers of road and 1,159,718 

square meters of land. The HALO Trust (HALO) received two 

grants from PM/WRA. One was for $2,301,497 to clear land and 

roads in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo and Bie. HALO’s 

second grant, totaling $447,017, established a Weapons and 

Ammunition Disposal Team to destroy weapons and ammunition 

handed over as part of a national voluntary disarmament 

initiative and to support Angolan security services in the disposal 

of unwanted or degraded weapons and ammunition. Between 

June and December 2006, HALO destroyed 7,633 weapons and 

17,040 items of ammunition. PM/WRA granted $1,550,000 to 

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) for clearance operations in Kwanza 

Sul province and $1,274,000 to MAG (Mines Advisory Group) 

for survey teams and manual and mechanical demining teams 

operating in Moxico province. Also in 2006, PM/WRA provided 

a $100,100 grant to the Survey Action Center to complete the 

LIS data analysis and produce a final report and maps on the 

survey’s findings. This report is expected to provide policymakers 

at the provincial, national, and international levels with detailed 

and standardized data regarding the socioeconomic impacts of 

landmines and UXO upon communities throughout Angola. 

In support of national capacity building, PM/WRA provided 

a grant for $347,582 to the United Nations Development 

Program (UNDP) for the establishment of regional Quality 

Assurance/Quality Control Teams under the National InterSectoral Commission for Demining and Humanitarian Assistance. 

PM/WRA supported Roots of Peace with an additional $100,000 

grant for mine action projects in Angola.

PM/WRA invested $4.5 million more for humanitarian mine 

action in Angola in FY 2007. Funds supported mine clearance 

by HALO, MAG, and NPA, making over one million square 

meters of land and 322 kilometers of road safely accessible to 

the people of Angola. A grant of $750,000 enabled HALO to 

destroy an additional 7,878 weapons and 106.5 tons of excess or 

unstable bombs and ammunition.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy War 

Victims Fund provided $1 million in financial and technical 

assistance to landmine survivors in Angola in 2006. To learn 

more about the Leahy War Victims Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/

our_work/humanitarian_assistance/the_funds/lwvf.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Research and Development Program in partnership with HALO 

began a technology evaluation of the Rotary Mine Comb, 

valued at $337,000, in October 2006. Intermeshing tines on 

two rotors gently extricate large buried objects, including antitank mines, from the soil and push them to the side of the host 

vehicle’s path. HALO reports positive risk-reduction results with 

the Comb in sandy soil, achieving up to 500 meters of road 

clearance per day. Then in FY 2007, the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program contributed $7,000 

to assess the effectiveness of its humanitarian mine action efforts 

in Angola over the years.

Deborah Netland, Program Manager for PM/WRA, next to a small batch of a large stockpile of 

assault rifles, superfluous to Angola’s security needs, that was about to be cut up and have its 

metal recycled. This was part of a weapons destruction project executed by The HALO Trust 

and funded by PM/WRA. A truck-mounted metal cutter is visible in the background.

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

A frica

Afr ica Angola • Benin • Burundi • Central African Republic • Chad • The Democratic Republic of the Congo • Eritrea • Guinea-Bissau • Kenya • Mauritania • Mozambique • Namibia • Republic of Congo • Rwanda • Senegal • Sudan • Togo • Uganda
Chad

The landmine and explosive remnants of war 

problem in Chad is a result of 30 years of 

internal conflict and the 1973 Libyan invasion. Ninety percent 

of identified mined and explosive remnants of war (ERW) 

affected areas are located in the Borkou, Ennedi, Tibesti, Biltine, 

and Quaddai regions. The Chadian border with Sudan’s Darfur 

region contains a number of mined areas, as well as unexploded 

ordnance (UXO) contamination. A Landmine Impact Survey 

(LIS) from 1999–2001, funded in part by the U.S. Department 

of State, identified 249 mine-impacted communities, spanning 

over 1,000 square kilometers of land; however, the Tibesti region 

was not included in the LIS due to security concerns. UXO 

were also scattered around N’Djamena in April 2006 because of 

fighting between government and rebel forces. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs granted $1,780,000 to MAG (Mines 

Advisory Group) to destroy at-risk ammunition and weapons 

caches and to clear landmines that were preventing communities, 

identified by the LIS, from having safe access to water. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA invested $200,000 for mine risk 

education (MRE) and mine survivors assistance in Chad. 

PM/WRA granted $135,000 to UNICEF to train teachers, and 

educational directors and inspectors, and integrate MRE schoolbased tools/materials into primary school curriculum. PM/WRA 

provided $65,000 for rehabilitation support to approximately 

170 mine/UXO victims through the nongovernmental 

organization Secours Catholique et Développement, Center for 

Education and Prosthetics.

In FY 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian 

Demining Program contributed $596,000 to support 

humanitarian mine action in Chad. To learn more about 

the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

Chadian deminers employed by MAG carefully remove abandoned artillery shells 

from the back of a truck to prepare them for demolition in a pit that is at a safe 

distance from the nearest village. These shells remained from one of Chad’s 

conflicts with Libya. Many more abandoned munitions were added to the pit that day. 

This operation was funded by PM/WRA, whose logo is visible on the truck. 

Colonel Stu Harris (U.S. Marine Corps), then PM/WRA’s Deputy Director for Programs 

(standing on the right; now retired), helps to supervise the unloading.

MAG

MAG

BOOOMMMMM! Another collection of abandoned munitions is safely destroyed. 

They will never again pose a threat to the Chadian people or their children.

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 15

This essential well and the area surrounding 

it were once mined. Thanks to the landmine 

clearance executed by MAG through a 

grant from PM/WRA, its water may now be 

safely drawn by villagers and nomads.

Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

A frica

Benin

In FY 2007, the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program contributed $7,000 to assess humanitarian mine 

action in Benin. To learn more about the U.S. Department 

of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit www.

humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

Burundi

In FY 2007, the Office of Weapons Removal 

and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

contributed $380,900 to mitigate at-risk military-type small 

arms and light weapons (SA/LW) in Burundi. PM/WRA granted 

$99,652 to DanChurchAid to implement a SA/LW awareness 

campaign through the established National Council of Churches 

of Burundi network. PM/WRA provided $239,648 to the 

nongovernmental organization MAG (Mines Advisory Group) 

to destroy excess man-portable air-defense systems and other 

surplus weapons. An additional $41,600 provided weapons 

destruction tools for the United Nations Development Program 

to facilitate more SA/LW destruction, and build Burundi’s 

national capacity for further weapons destruction.

Central 

African Republic

Over the past several years, the Central 

African Republic (CAR) has experienced four coups and been 

further affected by regional instability and internal conflict in 

neighboring countries. This violence has resulted in significant 

movements of refugees, rebel groups, and arms across the 

CAR’s loosely controlled borders. The exact number of small 

arms and light weapons (SA/LW) in the country remains 

unknown but is considered significant. The proliferation 

of unsecured SA/LW throughout the country presents a 

clear threat to national security and local communities, and 

is contributing to the country’s worsening humanitarian 

situation. In FY 2007, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs granted $37,370 to MAG (Mines 

Advisory Group) to conduct a comprehensive assessment of 

the landmine, explosive remnants of war, and SA/LW problem 

in the CAR.

A frica

Office of Weapons

Removal and Abatement

Founded in October 2003, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau 

of Political-Military Affairs works to reduce the global humanitarian 

impact of all conventional weapons of war including landmines, 

unexploded ordnance, abandoned ordnance, man-portable airdefense systems, and small arms and light weapons.

PM/WRA develops, implements, and monitors U.S. policy 

and programs relating to conventional weapons of war, including 

landmines. Through these efforts, PM/WRA seeks to ensure 

peaceful, stable, and prosperous international environments. 

Goals concerning conventional weapons include 

preventing illicit trafficking, reducing their availability to 

criminals and terrorists, and stemming the indiscriminate use 

of such weapons. 

PM/WRA’s Public-Private Partnership program, which 

includes over 60 nongovernmental organizations (NGO) 

and corporations, enlists civil-society support for humanitarian 

mine action and related conflict-prevention and peace-building 

efforts. PM/WRA celebrated the 10th Anniversary of its PublicPrivate Partnership program in October 2007. (See the press 

release at www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2007/oct/93023.htm.)

Other U.S. agencies, NGOs, international organizations, and 

private enterprises also work closely with the PM/WRA to help 

this office demonstrate the strong commitment of the United 

States to a set of values that respects human life. 

U.S. Department of State

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA)

SA-3, Suite 6100

2121 Virginia Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C., 20522

USA

Telephone: +1 202 663 0100

Facsimile: +1 202 663 0090

E-mail: steveje@state.gov

Web site: www.state.gov/t/pm/wra 

14 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
16 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 17

Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau is affected by landmines 

and explosive remnants of war (ERW) 

due to the War of Liberation from 1963–1974, internal conflict 

from 1998–1999, and various periods of military activity along 

the country’s borders. In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department 

of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs granted the United 

Nations Development Program (UNDP) $100,000 to conduct 

a Landmine Impact Survey to provide data on the location, 

type, and socioeconomic impact of landmines and ERW in the 

country. The UNDP received an additional grant of $200,000 

to support national nongovernmental organizations’ efforts 

to develop an indigenous capacity to reduce the impact of 

landmines and ERW.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA provided a total of $599,500 to 

support ERW/humanitarian mine action activities by Landmine 

Action, the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, Cleared 

Ground Demining, and the UNDP.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Research and Development Program (HD R&D) began an 

operational field evaluation of the MAXX+ remote-controlled 

mini-excavator in January 2006 with Guinea-Bissau’s National 

Mine Action Coordination Centre. Following good results in 

vegetation clearance, the $300,000 MAXX+ cleared munitions 

contaminating populated areas around a destroyed army arsenal 

in the capital city, Bissau. In FY 2007, HD R&D contributed 

$1,144,000 more to support ERW/landmine risk education 

for affected populations and to support ERW/mine clearance. 

$68,000 of that funding was contributed by the U.S. Department 

of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Training center to provide 

“Train-the-Trainer” assistance to local deminers.

U.S. Agency for

International Development’s

Leahy War Victims Fund

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy War 

Victims Fund (LWVF) has entered its 19th year as an organization 

dedicated to helping civilians whose lives have been affected by 

conflict. The LWVF provides an average of $10 million annually 

to help those living with disabilities cope with injuries caused by 

conflict, specifically those inflicted by conventional weapons of 

war. Designed to respond to the needs of civilian victims in waraffected developing countries, the Fund’s main goal is to expand 

access to affordable, appropriate medical services, including 

prosthetics and related assistance. 

In 2003, the LWVF broadened its mission by strengthening 

its attempts to help civilian war victims and people with 

disabilities integrate economically, socially, and politically 

into their communities. Barrier-free access to school, work, 

recreation and the political process are among these 

efforts. In 2006, most activities funded by LWVF concerned 

prosthetics and orthotics. However, other activities included 

training, economic strengthening, policy and advocacy, and 

the provision of wheelchairs.

Many of those assisted have been landmine and unexploded 

ordnance survivors; however, the fund also seeks to help those 

who suffer from disabilities caused by interrupted immunization 

campaigns, such as polio. 

Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D–Vermont) created this fund in 

1989. Since then, the LWVF has provided more than $120 million 

to 26 countries in Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern 

Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Some 

of the nongovernmental organizations that received funds in 

2006 or 2007 include The Polus Center for Social and Economic 

Development, Motivation, Handicap International, and UNICEF.

Point of Contact:

Lloyd Feinberg, Manager

Leahy War Victims Fund

U.S. Agency for International Development

Washington, D.C. 20523 

USA

Telephone: +1 202 712 5725

E-mail: lfeinberg@usaid.gov

Web site: www.leahywarvictimsfund.org 

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 17

A frica

A deminer with HUMAID probes for landmines at the Estrada de Volta minefield in Bissau.

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

Eritrea

Landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) 

severely impact Eritrea, a result of the 

country’s long struggle for independence from 1962–1991, 

and its border war with Ethiopia from 1998–2000. A 

Landmine Impact Survey completed in 2004 found that 

mines or UXO affected more than 655,000 people in 481 

communities nationwide. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs invested $400,000 for humanitarian mine action in 

Eritrea. A Senior Deminer and Explosive Ordnance Disposal 

(EOD) Trainer were retained for $150,000 to ensure that 

Eritrean EOD deminers continued to operate to International 

Mine Action Standards. An additional $50,000 of the contracted 

funds was allocated to a Mine-Detecting Dog (MDD) Trainer 

to ensure that Eritrean MDD teams were able to operate at 

maximum capacity and function safely. The remaining $200,000 

was used to provide food, lodging, and medical care for 15 

MDD teams to sustain their operations as well as sustain the 

work of 200 Eritrean manual deminers. 

The Democratic 

Republic of the Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo 

(DRC) has an ongoing landmine and explosive remnants of 

war problem, a result of protracted conflict that began in 1996. 

This conflict has also resulted in the presence of large numbers 

of military small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) that fuel 

crime and unrest. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs (PM/WRA) granted $1,185,000 to 

MAG (Mines Advisory Group) for a physical survey assessment 

and destruction of at-risk SA/LW in the third and sixth 

military regions, Equateur and Katanga respectively. The main 

objective of this grant was to remove and destroy unsecured 

and abandoned SA/LW caches from within DRC in order to 

help reduce violence by non-state actors and strengthen the 

rule of law. 

With $1,375,000 more from PM/WRA in FY 2007, MAG 

continued the removal and destruction of unsecured and 

abandoned SA/LW, further reducing the proliferation threat 

posed by unsecured SA/LW caches in the region.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy War 

Victims Fund (USAID/LWVF) rendered a total of $350,000 in 

assistance to survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in 

the DRC in 2006 and 2007. To learn more about the Leahy War 

Victims Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_

assistance/the_funds/lwvf. 

MAG employees map problem areas with locals in the Democratic Republic of the 

Congo during a mine risk education program.

UNMEE armored demining flail detonating a landmine in the Temporary 

Security Zone in the disputed border area between Eritrea and Ethiopia.

16 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea

© Sean Sutton / MAG

A frica

A deminer in Eritrea, part of a contingent from Slovakia that is seconded 

to UNMEE, carefully excavates the dirt around a mine to remove the 

mine without detonating it.

United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
18 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 19

Mozambique

The nearly 30 years of conflict that ended 

in the early 1990s led to Mozambique being 

littered with landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). 

Landmines and ERW are found throughout the entire country; 

Inhambane province, however, has the largest percentage of 

impacted population. Nampula and Cabo Delgado provinces 

have the largest number of square meters of land covered by 

suspected landmines. 

The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) 

in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs allocated $2,343,620 in FY 2006 for humanitarian 

mine action in Mozambique. Of these funds, The HALO Trust 

(HALO) was granted $1,343,052 to support their operational 

plan to make the four northern provinces of Cabo Delgado, 

Zambezia, Niassa, and Nampula mine/ERW “impact-free,” 

which was successfully accomplished in 2007. In addition, 

PM/WRA contributed $1,000,568 through one of its 

contractors, ArmourGroup, to continue national capacity 

building of the Mozambique Armed Defense Force’s 

Humanitarian Demining Unit. 

A significant milestone in saving the lives and limbs of 

Mozambicans and in restoring their economy was reached 

in October 2006 when, thanks to some $13 million in U.S. 

aid between 2002 and 2006 for this project alone, landmine 

clearance was completed on the vital Sena Railway that connects 

Mozambique’s chief seaport, Beira, to its resource-rich interior. 

To learn more about this successful project, see the U.S. 

Department of State press release “Landmines Cleared from 

Mozambique’s Sena Railway,” with related photos at www.state.

gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/74663.htm. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA spent $438,967 to help Mozambique 

complete the development of its national demining capacity, 

and assess the remaining landmine/ERW threat in Mozambique. 

Since the mid-1990s, the United States has invested over $16 

million to develop a sustainable national demining capability 

within the Mozambican Army Humanitarian Demining Unit 

(HDU). The final phase of this effort was funded by PM/WRA 

with $259,849 through its ArmorGroup contractor to complete 

the training and skills transfer necessary for the HDU staff to 

continue managing and executing mine action activities in a safe 

and effective manner without further foreign technical oversight. 

With half of the country now mine impact free, PM/WRA 

contributed $179,118 as part of a multi-donor funded project 

for HALO to conduct a technical review in the central and 

southern regions of the country to provide a more accurate 

picture of the remaining mine/ERW threat in Mozambique. 

The final assessment report was released to the Mozambican 

National Demining Institute and donors in late 2007.

A Mozambican Army humanitarian deminer and his supervisor pause from their 

work for safety purposes as visitors approach. In this setting, the dense shrubbery 

that surrounds this site not only slows the work of the deminers who must laboriously 

clear it in order to get at the landmines, it also blocks refreshing breezes and makes 

the work even hotter and more physically demanding.

A hand-grenade booby trap at the Chockwe demining site in Mozambique. 

This is an example of the wide variety of threats, besides landmines, for 

which deminers around the world must be on the lookout as they search 

for “hidden killers.”

Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

A frica

Kenya

The widespread availability of military small 

arms and light weapons (SA/LW) in the 

Great Lakes and Horn of Africa regions has had serious negative 

consequences for development in those areas. Armed violence 

carried out primarily with SA/LW is a major contributing factor 

to increasing poverty and insecurity in the region. In FY 2006 

and FY 2007, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs contributed $180,000 in each of those years to the 

Regional Center on Small Arms and Light Weapons in Kenya 

to support their efforts to combat the illicit proliferation and 

trafficking of SA/LW in the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa 

regions. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy 

War Victims Fund rendered a total of $1,200,000 in assistance 

to survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in Kenya 

in 2006 and 2007. To learn more about the Leahy War Victims 

Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/

the_funds/lwvf.

Mauritania

In FY 2007, the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Training Center provided $229,000 in “Train-the-Trainer” 

assistance to Mauritanian deminers. To learn more about 

the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

18 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

A U.S. soldier, trained to International Mine Action Standards by the U.S. Department 

of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Training Center, teaches Mauritanian Army 

humanitarian deminers how to prepare detonators, which they will use when 

destroying landmines.

A sign in Mauritania, placed by the national demining 

office and bearing the flags of Mauritania and the U.S., 

provides a telephone number that people may call if they 

encounter landmines.

Humanitarian Demining Training Center, U.S. Department of Defense

Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

A frica

Since its program began in January 2007, Schonstedt Instrument 

Company, a PM/WRA Public-Private Partner based in Kearneysville, 

West Virginia, has donated 74 magnetic detectors worth over $76,000 

to help humanitarian deminers locate and clear persistent landmines 

and explosive remnants of war. Twenty were sent to the International 

Mine Action Training Center in Kenya in 2007, some of which were 

allocated for use in Somalia.

Schonstedt Instrument Company, Inc.
20 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 21

Senegal 

Landmine and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW) contamination in Senegal stems 

primarily from fighting in the Casamance region between the 

Senegalese Army and the Movement of Democratic Forces in 

the Casamance. This conflict began in 1982 and intensified in 

1997. The extent of the mine and ERW impact is believed to 

be limited to the Casamance, concentrated in the area south of 

Ziguinchor between the Casamance River and the border with 

Guinea-Bissau, and in northern parts of Bignona along the 

border with The Gambia. 

In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs granted $95,880 to Handicap 

International–France (HI–France) to conduct mine risk 

education campaigns in areas in the Casamance that were highly 

impacted by mines and ERW. In FY 2007, PM/WRA granted 

$420,949 to HI–France to demine high-impact communities 

in the Casamance.

In FY 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Training Center provided 

$126,000 in “Train-the-Trainer” assistance to Senegalese 

deminers. To learn more about the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit www.

humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 21

U.S. Department of Defense

Humanitarian Demining

Research & Development

Program

Located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research and Development 

Program (HD R&D), hosted by the U.S. Army’s Night Vision 

and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD), develops, tests, 

demonstrates, and approves technologies to improve 

the effectiveness and safety of humanitarian demining 

operations worldwide.

The HD R&D Program holds an annual requirements 

workshop for representatives from international mine-action 

centers and nongovernmental demining organizations. At this 

workshop, technology needs are identified and decisions 

concerning the following year’s development efforts are made 

based on subsequent in-country site assessments. Many of the 

NVESD technologies are also demonstrated at the workshop. 

All promising technologies undergo an operational field 

evaluation in a real minefield within a host nation. This allows the 

equipment to be evaluated based on how practical, appropriate, 

cost-effective, and efficient it is for eventual use by public and 

private demining entities. 

The Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System (HSTAMIDS) 

is among the many technologies developed by the HD R&D 

program. HSTAMIDS combines a mine detector and groundpenetrating radar and, when used by properly trained operators, 

is able to detect all metallic and nonmetallic anti-vehicle and antipersonnel mines, distinguishing them from harmless metal clutter, 

which conventional metal detectors cannot achieve. HSTAMIDS, 

therefore, significantly decreases the time and cost for most 

clearance operations. Proven in action in Afghanistan, Cambodia, 

Iraq, and Thailand, HSTAMIDS is one of the most important 

technical developments in mine clearance since World War II. 

Point of Contact:

Sean Burke, Program Manager

Department of the Army

RDECOM NVESD

ATTN: AMSRD-CER-NV-CM-HD

10221 Burbeck Road

Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060 

USA

Telephone: +1 703 704 1047

Facsimile: +1 703 704 3001

E-mail: sean.burke@nvl.army.mil

Web site: www.humanitarian-demining.org

A frica

20 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Namibia

In FY 2006 the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research 

and Development Program (HD R&D) conducted a technical 

test of the NIITEK Mine Stalker in Namibia. In native laterite 

soils the Mine Stalker detected 251 of 252 metal and lowmetal anti-vehicle mines. HD R&D plans further development 

and field testing of the Mine Stalker. To learn more about the 

U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

Col. J.T. Theyse, Chief Inspector of Explosives, Namibia, Report on Landmines in Kavango 

This mine was detected about six meters off the main gravel road while driving toward 

the nearby Shinyungwe cuca shop. It was removed for investigation purposes.

Republic of Congo 

Between 1993 and 1999, the Republic 

of the Congo (RoC) experienced three 

primary episodes of conflict, which displaced approximately 

810,000 people and involved widespread killing and looting. 

The main militia groups reportedly obtained arms by 

looting police and military depots. Although strenuous 

efforts were made to recover these weapons through ad hoc

disarmament and reintegration programs, it is estimated 

that 34,000 weapons still remain in circulation in the RoC. 

Weapons and munitions that were successfully recovered are 

now stored haphazardly in unsecured government depots 

in populated areas. This poses a significant security threat 

as well as a public safety hazard if the stores were to catch 

fire or spontaneously detonate due to other causes. In FY 

2007, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in 

the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs granted $445,000 to MAG (Mines Advisory Group) 

to destroy man-portable air-defense systems and unstable 

munitions stocks in storage facilities located in Brazzaville 

and Point Noire.

Rwanda

In FY 2006, the Office of 

Weapons Removal and 

Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau 

of Political-Military Affairs provided a grant of 

$412,370 to the nongovernmental organization Mines 

Awareness Trust for technical support to strengthen 

the Rwandan National Demining Office’s capacity in 

planning, coordinating, implementing, and managing 

all humanitarian mine action activities in the country.

20 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

A frica

Tests on the first version of the NIITEK Mine Stalker, manufactured by NIITEK 

based in Charlottesville, Virginia, were conducted in Namibia in 2006, with the 

assistance of MgM (Menschen gegen Minen).

U.S. HD R&D

A Rwandan deminer takes a well-deserved rest break.

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement
22 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 23

Togo 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

allocated $32,000 to the government of Togo to construct 

a proper armory to secure small arms and light weapons 

that are collected by the government via voluntary 

disarmament campaigns.

Some of the SA/LW that were piled in a Togolese government 

warehouse. A single padlock on a wooden door was all that 

kept these arms, many of which were serviceable despite their 

appearance, from being pilfered. The warehouse also contained 

significant amounts of detonating cord and blasting caps. 

Uganda 

Large parts of Uganda are contaminated with 

landmines and explosive remnants of war 

due to various wars, rebellions, and insurgencies such as those 

by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Military type small arms and 

light weapons (SA/LW) and man-portable air-defense systems 

are also readily accessible to armed groups. The country’s most 

affected areas include border regions with the Democratic 

Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and the region referred to as the 

Luwero Triangle. Landmines and ERW also exist in the Western 

Rwenzori Mountains due to insurgencies in the late eighties by 

the National Army of the Liberation of Uganda, and the late 

nineties until 2001 by the Allied Democratic Forces. Units of 

the Uganda People’s Defence Forces reportedly used mines and 

submunitions during cross-border fights with insurgents from 

Congo and Sudan. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs granted $40,000 to SaferAfrica to 

provide the necessary explosive material for the ongoing 

destruction of SA/LW as part of Uganda’s National Action Plan 

on SA/LW under the UN Program of Action.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy 

War Victims Fund rendered a total of $1,000,000 in assistance 

to survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in Uganda 

in 2006 and 2007. To learn more about the Leahy War Victims 

Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/

the_funds/lwvf.

Ugandan police officers undergoing demining training at the 

International Mine Action Training Center in Kenya.

Nigel Howard

Col. Stu Harris, USMC (Retired)/Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

A frica

Sudan 

Sudan suffers from the continuing 

effects of landmines and explosive 

remnants of war (ERW) due to 20 years of internal conflict. 

The extent of the impacted area is unknown because no 

in-depth survey has been conducted. The vast majority of 

contamination, however, is believed to be in southern and 

central Sudan where the majority of the fighting between 

the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) 

and Sudanese government occurred. Landmines and ERW 

are estimated to affect 21 of the country’s 26 states. The 

country’s borders with Chad, the Democratic Republic of the 

Congo, Libya, and Uganda are believed to be mine-affected. 

In January 2005, the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government 

signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which prohibits 

the use of landmines. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s 

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs contributed $2,400,000 

to mine action in Sudan and an additional $600,000 to small 

arms/light weapons (SA/LW) destruction there. PM/WRA 

granted Cranfield University $420,000 for management 

and technical training for Sudan’s Mine Action Program; 

$600,000 to MAG (Mines Advisory Group) for ERW and 

SA/LW destruction in Eastern Equatoria and South Sudan, 

and an additional $520,000 to MAG to conduct mine 

risk education (MRE) in the most at-risk communities in 

South Sudan. PM/WRA also provided Norwegian People’s 

Aid (NPA) $700,000 to fund survey and mine and ERW 

clearance efforts along primary roads in South Sudan in 

order to facilitate the safe return and settlement of refugees 

and internally displaced persons. Finally, PM/WRA awarded 

a grant of $424,000 to the United Nations Development 

Program (UNDP) to purchase supplies, equipment, and 

vehicles for the establishment of six national mine action 

field offices throughout Sudan.

In 2007, PM/WRA provided $2,725,000 for mine 

action and $600,000 for SA/LW destruction. The UNDP 

received a grant of $1,000,000 to establish and maintain 

two national mine clearance and two national explosive 

ordnance disposal (EOD) teams. MAG received a grant 

of $1,539,000: $580,000 of that grant was to sustain a 

mobile EOD capability in Central and Western Equatoria; 

$359,000 to support MRE in way stations and high-risk 

villages; and $600,000 for a SA/LW destruction team in 

South Sudan. DanChurchAid received a PM/WRA grant of 

$286,000 to fund an EOD team and an MRE team in the 

Nuba Mountains. Cranfield University received $400,000 

to provide managerial training to Sudanese mine action 

supervisors. Finally, PM/WRA granted $100,000 to NPA 

to help support the operations of two EOD teams and one 

battle area clearance team.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy 

War Victims Fund rendered a total of $1,000,000 in assistance 

to survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in Sudan 

in 2006 and 2007. To learn more about the Leahy War Victims 

Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/

the_funds/lwvf. 

22 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Villagers in Yei, South Sudan, examine leaflets during a mine risk education 

class conducted by MAG with a grant from PM/WRA.

Jennifer Lachman, MAG

A frica
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 25

An Afghan technician employed by HALO cuts up the barrel of an abandoned 

artillery piece, one of many conventional weapons and munitions that the 

government of Afghanistan inherited and does not need for its security. 

Conventional weapons destruction projects like this one, which is funded by a 

grant from PM/WRA, prevent criminals, terrorists, and illicit-arms traffickers from 

fueling fresh conflict.

Col. Stu Harris, USMC (Retired), Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

Afghanistan

Having endured nearly three decades 

of constant war, Afghanistan remains 

affected by landmines, explosive remnants of war, abandoned 

ordnance, and small arms and light weapons (SA/LW). The 

majority of the explosive hazards are located in agricultural 

fields, irrigation canals, and grazing areas critical to civilian use. 

Major cities, airports, and power stations are also impacted, 

as are the borders with Iran and Pakistan. The United States’ 

conventional weapons destruction activities in Afghanistan, 

which encompass the full range of humanitarian mine action, 

are designed to deal with these issues and mitigate hazards 

posed to the civilian population.

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s 

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs contributed $13,512,000 

to humanitarian mine action and conventional weapons 

destruction activities in Afghanistan. PM/WRA funding 

supported humanitarian demining training for the Afghan 

National Army, National Police, National Border Police, and 

the Ministries of Defense and the Interior. PM/WRA also 

funded a National Ammunition Survey to locate, assist, and 

secure at-risk ammunition stockpiles throughout Afghanistan. 

These funds contributed to the completion of a Landmine 

Impact Survey that improved the setting of priorities for 

road and land clearance. PM/WRA, through a contract with 

DynCorp International, recruited, trained, and equipped 

three Afghan explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams, and 

granted more than $5,080,000 to Afghan humanitarian mine 

action nongovernmental organizations (NGO) who made 

advances in manual and mechanical clearance operations, 

survivors’ assistance, and mine risk education. These Afghan 

NGO partners included Afghan Technical Consultants, 

Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA), Mine Clearance 

Planning Organization (MCPO), Mine Detection Dog Center 

(MDDC), and the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan 

Rehabilitation (OMAR). Also in FY 2006, PM/WRA continued 

SA/LW and man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) 

destruction activities in close coordination with the government 

of Afghanistan. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA contributed $15,000,000 to 

conventional-weapons destruction activities in Afghanistan. 

Strategic goals included the protection of victims of conflict, 

restoring access to land and infrastructure, and the development 

of Afghan national capacity. To that end, PM/WRA awarded 

a $5,535,963 contract to DynCorp International for the 

development of Afghan EOD teams, continued support of the 

National Ammunition Survey Process, physical security and 

stockpile management of SA/LW and MANPADS, and various 

conventional weapons destruction activities. Under this contract, 

DynCorp International also provided technical advice to five 

Afghan humanitarian mine action NGOs, who received a total 

of $6,864,037 in grants for manual and mechanical clearance 

operations, survivors’ assistance, and mine risk education. These 

Afghan NGO partners included Afghan Technical Consultants, 

DAFA, MCPO, MDDC, and OMAR. PM/WRA granted 

$2,600,000 to The HALO Trust (HALO) for continued support 

to manual and mechanical mine clearance teams, and three 

HALO Mobile Weapons and Ammunition Destruction Teams. 

Also in FY 2007, PM/WRA continued SA/LW and MANPADS 

mitigation and destruction activities in close coordination with 

the government of Afghanistan.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy 

War Victims Fund rendered a total of $341,000 in assistance to 

survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in Afghanistan 

in 2006 and 2007. To learn more about the Leahy War Victims 

Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/

the_funds/lwvf. 

In April 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program 

began an evaluation of soil sifting technologies in partnership 

with The HALO Trust. The excavator sifting attachments and 

stationary sifter, valued at $100,000, have significantly aided 

HALO’s anti-personnel mine and battlefield clutter clearance 

in northern Afghanistan. The Orbit Screen stationary sifter, in 

particular, has provided impressive results in processing up to 

45.3 cubic meters of contaminated soil per hour.

A sia

As ia

Af g han ista n • Cam bodia• Laos•Phili p pin es• S ri Lan ka• Taj ikista n •Th ailand• Vie t nam
26 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 27

monitor U.S. financial support for the operation of existing 

CMAC DU #3 teams, and providing classroom EOD training 

as needed.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Research and Development Program (HD R&D) has worked for 

many years in Cambodia, providing technologies valued at more 

than $2,000,000 for operational field evaluations with CMAC, 

HALO, MAG, and the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation. 

Beginning in June 2006, HALO integrated the multi-sensor 

Handheld Standoff Mine Detection System 

(HSTAMIDS) in its manual anti-personnel 

mine clearance operations of densely cluttered 

minefields. The results have been impressive, 

with 250,000 square meters cleared and 1,829 

mines found through the end of FY 2007. The 

HSTAMIDS evaluation will be expanded in 

FY 2008 to include operations with MAG. 

During FY 2006 and FY 2007, HD 

R&D continued evaluations of the Tempest 

vegetation cutting flail and the innovative 

Explosive Harvesting System, which recasts 

stockpiled explosives into demolition 

charges for mines and unexploded ordnance. 

In 2006, HD R&D initiated two additional 

vegetation and mine clearance technology 

evaluations with excavator soil sifting 

attachments and the MAXX+ remotecontrolled mini-excavator. In addition, 

HD R&D provided $120,000 to develop 

a regional test and training site for mine 

detection technologies at the CMAC training 

center in Kampong Chnang.

In the photo at left, a Cambodian 

deminer employed by MAG shows 

the first-generation control apparatus 

for remote operation of Tempest 

demining machines. In the photo 

at right, another MAG Cambodia 

deminer at a different minefield 

displays a newer, lighter remote 

control mechanism that is even 

more responsive to the operator’s 

commands. This is but one example 

of the many improvements to 

demining technologies, along with 

original first-generation inventions 

and off-the-shelf adaptations, which 

the U.S. Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Research 

& Development Program generously 

supports and shares freely with the 

international mine action community.

demining, mechanical, community liaison and mobile EOD 

teams in Battambang and Preah Vihear provinces. The Golden 

West Humanitarian Foundation received $250,000 to help 

continue operating its Explosive Harvesting Program. Spirit 

of Soccer received $83,000 from PM/WRA to continue its 

MRE program through soccer-related activities, and Clear 

Path International was granted $55,000 to continue its Rice 

Mill Project, in support of landmine survivors in Battambang 

province. Finally, PM/WRA continued its contract with 

DynCorp International, providing $1.7 million to advise and 

Two Cambodian deminers employed by MAG, protected from possible explosion by a metal blast 

shield and from the sun by an umbrella, remotely operate a Tempest machine with a flail that is 

clearing brush. Afterwards, MAG deminers using metal detectors such as HSTAMIDS can more 

easily sweep the field. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research & 

Development Program, which has also been responsible for the successful testing and operational 

deployment of HSTAMIDS in Cambodia and several other mine affected countries, is funding 

iterative testing of this Tempest.

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

A sia A sia

A batch of chocolate brownies? No. This is a fresh tray of 24 carefully measured charges that Roger 

Hess, Director of Field Operations for the Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, produced from 

anti-vehicle mines at the Explosive Harvesting Program facility in Cambodia, which is funded by 

PM/WRA and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research & Development 

Program. The idea is simple: rather than shipping explosives to mine-affected countries, it is faster, 

cheaper, and more logical to “harvest” landmines in those countries that are still potent and 

abandoned or surplus munitions for their explosives which can be cut into small detonators that 

can be used to blow other mines in place (in situ) or to destroy larger quantities of munitions in 

disposal collection pits.

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

Cambodia

Cambodia remains one of the most severely 

landmine and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW) affected countries in the world due to nearly three 

decades of conflict. Heavy mine contamination began in the 

1960s and continued in 1978 after Vietnam invaded Cambodia, 

driving Khmer Rouge forces to the Thai-Cambodian border. To 

prevent the Khmer Rouge’s return, the Cambodian government 

created the K-5 Belt—a densely mined barrier along the Thai 

border. In 1988, Khmer guerrilla groups still infiltrated deep 

into Cambodia, laying unmapped minefields for short-term 

defensive purposes. Today, despite major assistance from the 

United States and other donors, the annual casualty rate, though 

significantly reduced, still remains high: there were 450 casualties 

reported in 2006, albeit a noticeable reduction from the known 

875 casualties that were reported in 2005. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs allotted $4,900,000 for humanitarian 

mine action in Cambodia. The HALO Trust (HALO) received 

two PM/WRA grants of $900,000 and $65,000. The first grant 

was used to deploy manual deminers, mechanical vegetation 

cutters, a Tempest flail, mine risk education (MRE) teams, and 

mobile explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) teams, focusing in 

the K-5 Belt. The second grant assisted HALO in fundraising 

to support two demining teams in Banteay Meanchey and 

Battambang provinces, and to purchase eight metal detectors. 

PM/WRA granted Freedom Fields USA $50,000 to partner 

with HALO to remove landmines in Banteay Meanchey and 

Battambang provinces, and to raise U.S. public awareness of the 

landmine problem. 

PM/WRA granted the Golden West Humanitarian 

Foundation $316,120 to help support its Explosive Harvesting 

Program, which separates explosives from locally-obtained 

landmines and munitions and packages it into explosive 

charges for use by mine action operators in the field, thereby 

recycling the explosives for safe, humanitarian use, and 

reducing local demining and ERW remediation costs. Spirit 

of Soccer received $93,000 from PM/WRA to create and 

manage an MRE program for children and youths based on 

soccer and other athletic activities. PM/WRA granted $38,404 

to Norwegian People’s Aid to conduct a trial for an explosive 

detection dog team in cooperation with the Cambodian Mine 

Action Center (CMAC). 

PM/WRA granted MAG (Mines Advisory Group) $895,636 

to deploy manual deminers, mechanical vegetation cutters, 

Bozena and Tempest flails, community liaison teams, and 

mobile EOD teams to benefit economic development projects in 

Battambang and Preah Vihear provinces. PM/WRA also granted 

$75,000 to Clear Path International to assist landmine survivors 

in Battambang, and $20,000 to Landmines Blow! for its Project 

Safe Water to assist landmine-affected populations by building 

wells to provide clean water in the Sray Snom district. PM/WRA 

contracted DynCorp International to manage, disburse, and 

monitor U.S. financial support for the operation of existing 

CMAC Demining Unit (DU) #3 teams, assign a technical 

advisor to work full time with DU #3, and provide classroom 

EOD training to CMAC DU #3 and the Royal Cambodian 

Armed Forces.

Also in FY 2006, the U.S. Agency for International 

Development’s Leahy War Victim’s Fund supported the Disability 

Action Council and the Prosthetics and Rehabilitation Program 

with $950,000 to enhance the capacity to ensure the rights of 

people with disabilities and strengthen the range of services 

provided through national rehabilitation centers in Cambodia.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA allotted a total of $3,937,000 for 

mine action in Cambodia. HALO was granted $974,500 to 

continue its work in the K-5 Belt, deploying manual demining, 

mechanical, MRE and mobile EOD teams. MAG was granted 

$874,500 by PM/WRA to continue deployment of its manual 

26 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY
28 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 29

Sri Lanka

Two decades of armed conflict between 

the government of Sri Lanka and 

the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have resulted in 

landmine and explosive remnants of war contamination in parts 

of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government estimates that 98 to 

150 square kilometers of Sri Lanka are impacted, in addition to 

those mined areas in the high-security zones that are maintained 

by the Sri Lankan Army. The northern Jaffna Peninsula is the 

most severely affected, with roughly half of the landmines 

emplaced in Sri Lanka scattered in this area. A cease-fire in 2002 

between the government and the LTTE provided an opportunity 

for humanitarian mine action to begin. Significant progress 

in clearing land was made, thanks to support from the United 

States, other donor nations and organizations, and the United 

Nations, so that displaced persons could return to their land 

and safely farm. Unfortunately, fresh fighting threatens to undo 

much of this work. 

In FY 2006, the United States provided $1,508,129 in 

humanitarian mine action assistance to Sri Lanka. The Office 

of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

awarded $1,108,129 to RONCO Consulting Corporation 

to complete capacity building of the Sri Lankan Army 

Humanitarian Demining Unit through the placement of 

full-time technical advisors until December 2006. PM/WRA 

granted $50,000 to the One Sri Lanka Foundation to partner 

with The HALO Trust (HALO) to clear minefields located in 

the government-controlled areas on the Jaffna Peninsula, and to 

improve community access to farmland and infrastructure.

In FY 2006, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s 

Leahy War Victims Fund contributed $350,000 to the Disability 

Support Program to enhance opportunities for people, mine 

survivors and others with mobility disabilities. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA granted $400,000 to HALO to continue 

supporting humanitarian mine action on the Jaffna Peninsula.

In FY 2006 and FY 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense 

Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program, 

provided the MAXX+ to the Sri Lankan Army for an operational 

field evaluation. The $300,000 MAXX+ is a remote-controlled 

commercial mini-excavator with multiple tools for vegetation 

removal and area reduction. MAXX+ cleared mine-laden soil 

berms in an area that was subsequently returned to agricultural 

use and resettlement.

Tajikistan

Tajikistan is affected by landmines that 

were emplaced during the 1992–1997 

civil war, and by Russian and Uzbek forces along the country’s 

borders. The population is most affected by landmines that were 

laid by Uzbekistan’s security services in 1999–2001 to prevent 

infiltration of the militant Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. 

Besides being a threat to people, Tajikistan’s landmine 

contamination causes losses to livestock and prohibits access to 

the already scarce pastures and agricultural land.

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s 

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs granted $145,600 to 

UNICEF to provide mine risk education to children in the 

affected communities.

A Sri Lankan deminer employed by HALO carefully excavates for 

landmines that were emplaced along a bund line on the Jaffna 

peninsula. Note the proximity of homes and cattle, which indicates 

that people have moved back and are already farming in this former 

battle zone where fresh fighting has since taken place.

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

RONCO Consulting Corporation

This fertile field 

on Sri Lanka’s 

Jaffna Peninsula 

was once infested 

by landmines. 

Now, it is safely 

and productively 

farmed thanks 

to clearance that 

was supported by 

PM/WRA.

A sia

Laos

The majority of Laos’ explosive remnants 

of war (ERW) and smaller landmine 

contamination occurred between 1964 and 1973 as a result 

of the country’s own civil war along with neighboring wars in 

Southeast Asia. During an extensive air campaign against the 

North Vietnamese forces in Laos, U.S. aircraft dropped over 

two million tons of bombs; some estimates say that up to 30 

percent of these bombs failed to detonate on impact. Since then, 

clearance teams have discovered at least 186 types of munitions 

from all former combatants. Besides posing a threat to the 

Laotian people in impacted areas, ERW also impedes their access 

to agricultural land and disturbs traditional land-use patterns. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs provided $3,510,000 for ERW 

clearance in Laos. PM/WRA granted $1,672,000 to Norwegian 

People’s Aid (NPA) to help support capacity development 

at UXO Lao, the primary government ERW clearance 

organization in Laos. PM/WRA spent $547,865 on a contract 

with ArmorGroup for continued ERW clearance, and to train 

and develop the newly formed National Regulatory Authority 

(NRA). This contract includes the provision of up to two 

technical advisors and equipment upgrades. PM/WRA granted 

MAG (Mines Advisory Group) $557,643 for integrated manual, 

explosive detection dogs, and mechanically assisted clearance 

in Xieng Khouang province, along with a $60,000 grant to 

support an all-female Lao demining team. The Swiss Demining 

Federation received $422,492 from PM/WRA to integrate ERW 

clearance capacities within an active rural development program. 

PM/WRA also contributed $150,000 to World Education/

Consortium for survivors’ assistance and a development project, 

and $100,000 through the United Nations Development 

Program for administrative support to the NRA.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA provided $2,550,000 for ERW 

clearance and related development work in Laos. PM/WRA let a 

$1,815,104 contract with ArmorGroup North America (AGNA) 

to advise and manage U.S. support for ERW clearance, and 

awarded $932,847 to UXO Lao for its operations and $50,000 

in administrative support to the NRA. PM/WRA granted 

$165,000 to NPA in order to extend the work of two NPA 

advisors, who were included in the AGNA project. PM/WRA 

granted $248,520 to MAG to continue its clearance work in 

Xieng Khouang province. Finally, PM/WRA granted $321,376 

to World Education/Consortium for its ERW education projects 

in school districts in the heavily-impacted eastern areas of Laos.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy War 

Victims Fund rendered a total of $842,000 in assistance to 

survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in 2006 and 2007. 

To learn more about the Leahy War Victims Fund, visit 

www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/the_funds/lwvf.

In 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian 

Demining Research and Development Program provided 

the Uni-Disk large-class excavator, valued at $350,000, to 

MAG for a six-month vegetation-clearance evaluation in 

Langkhang, Laos. To learn more about the U.S. Department 

of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit www.

humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc. 

Philippines

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs spent 

$150,000 with Alloy Engineering, a Filipino company, to 

destroy 33,000 tons of excess and captured small arms and light 

weapons in the Philippines that were no longer needed by the 

military, or that had been seized by authorities from criminals 

and terrorists. 

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy 

War Victims Fund rendered a total of $500,000 in assistance 

to survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in the 

Philippines during 2006 and 2007. To learn more about the 

Leahy War Victims Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/

humanitarian_assistance/the_funds/lwvf.

A sia

A screenshot of the UXO Lao Web site.
30 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 31

approximately $500,000 worth of demining equipment 

to BOMICEN. PM/WRA granted $1 million to VVAF to 

complete Phase II of the LIS in Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, and 

Quang Tri provinces, and to expand the LIS and parallel EOD 

rapid response in Nghe An, Thua Tien Hue, and Quang Ngai 

provinces. PM/WRA granted $700,000 to MAG to support 

their mobile ERW clearance team in Quang Binh province, 

and $98,500 to PeaceTrees Vietnam in further support of their 

mobile EOD team in Quang Tri province. PM/WRA granted 

$108,000 to Catholic Relief Services to expand their MRE to 

primary school children in Quang Tri province, and $100,000 

to Viet-Nam Assistance for Handicapped to initiate ERW/

MRE in two districts in Nghe An province. VVMF received a 

$70,000 grant to establish mobile outreach for the prosthetics 

and orthotics workshop at Quang Tri hospital to benefit 

injured ERW and mine survivors. PM/WRA granted $98,500 

to Clear Path International to provide emergency and ongoing 

medical assistance to injured ERW/mine survivors and their 

families in Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Quang Namh, and Thua 

Thien Hue provinces, which was matched by the Slovenian 

International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims 

Assistance. Finally, Counterpart International received $30,000 

to build safe playgrounds, establish first-aid stations, and 

promulgate informal MRE in four ERW-affected communities 

in Quang Binh province as part of their “Safe Farms, Safe 

Schools” program.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy 

War Victims Fund rendered a total of $2,121,237 in assistance 

to survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in 2006 

and 2007. To learn more about the Leahy War Victims Fund, 

visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/

the_funds/lwvf.

In FY 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Program spent $2,000 to assess 

ERW/mine action in Vietnam. To learn more about the 

U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

Presented by 

the United States of America

www.state.gov/t/pm/wra

The U.S. Department of State has donated millions of dollars of 

demining equipment to BOMICEN over the years. Decals like this 

one were affixed to the most recent batch of equipment that was 

donated by PM/WRA.

Two amateur deminers at a former U.S. Marine Corps firebase in Quang Tri province that had 

been cleared of ERW by MAG, funded in part by PM/WRA. These impoverished men were 

searching for ERW whose metal could be sold to recyclers, having calculated that it really 

was worth risking life and limb to earn money this way. Thanks to MAG’s thoroughness, they 

did not find any hazardous items. Highly dangerous recycling of ERW and landmines by 

amateurs such as these, who are driven by economic need, is not unique to Vietnam and 

has prevented the worldwide casualty rate from mines and ERW from dropping even faster 

than it has. Mine risk education is unlikely to alter such behavior.

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

Two PeaceTrees Vietnam Mobile Demining Team Leaders, at one of their 

ERW disposal pits on the former USMC firebase at Khe Sank, brief Tinh 

Ngyuen, with the HD R&D; John Stevens, Program Manager for Vietnam 

with PM/WRA; Zeke Topolosky, HD R&D Project Engineer; and Charlie 

Chichester, Deputy Program Manager for the HD R&D program. PM/WRA 

helps fund PeaceTrees Vietnam’s ERW and landmine clearance work. Coffee 

is now grown on much of the old firebase and local inhabitants also use the 

area for family burial plots.

Quang Le, PeaceTrees Vietnam

A sia

Thailand

In FY 2006 and FY 2007, the U.S. 

Department of Defense Humanitarian 

Demining Research and Development Program (HD R&D) 

provided several mechanical technologies valued at $1.4 million 

for vegetation clearance and area preparation operational 

field evaluations, including the remote-controlled Beaver and 

Tempest, and the large-class SDTT (Severe Duty Tractor and 

Tools) and Uni-Disk excavators. HD R&D also provided the 

Thailand Mine Action Center with the Handheld Standoff Mine 

Detection System. To learn more about the U.S. Department 

of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit www.

humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

A deminer 

with the 

Thailand Mine 

Action Center 

makes friends 

with a child.

Vietnam

Vietnam is heavily contaminated by 

explosive remnants of war (ERW) due to 

a series of conflicts involving Japan, France, and the United 

States from World War II through the early 1970s. It is also 

affected by some landmines, most emplaced during conflicts 

with neighboring Cambodia and China during the 1970s. The 

most ERW-affected provinces are Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, and 

Quang Tri. ERW also affect Vietnam’s border region with Laos, 

an area that was intensively bombed by the United States in an 

effort to interdict North Vietnamese troops and supplies. To 

encourage mine action organizations to use the findings of the 

Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) in Vietnam which was funded 

by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) 

in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs, PM/WRA began mandating that its grantees in 

Vietnam seek the interim survey results. It also began funding 

projects only in provinces where the LIS had been completed. 

PM/WRA continued this approach in 2007 and intends to 

maintain it in Vietnam henceforth. The U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research & Development 

Program (HD R&D) is also exclusively supporting projects in 

provinces where the LIS has been completed.

In FY 2006, PM/WRA contributed over $3.6 million 

for humanitarian mine action in Vietnam. The Vietnamese 

Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal (BOMICEN) 

received nearly $1 million in demining equipment from 

PM/WRA to continue helping it develop national capacity 

to clear ERW and persistent landmines. PM/WRA granted 

$1,280,573 to the Veterans for America (still identified in 

Vietnam as the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation or 

VVAF) to continue managing the LIS in the central provinces. 

The LIS features a concurrent rapid explosive ordnance 

disposal (EOD) response to address particularly dangerous 

ERW and landmines that are brought to the attention of the 

surveyors during site visits. The surveys, monitored by VVAF, 

are conducted by BOMICEN personnel who also conduct any 

necessary clearance. MAG (Mines Advisory Group) received a 

PM/WRA grant of $954,908 to conduct EOD rapid response 

and some static site clearance in Quang Binh province. 

UNICEF received $129,100 from PM/WRA to conduct 

and facilitate mine risk education (MRE) in Thua Thien Hue, 

Quang Binh, Ha Tinh, Nghe An, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, Dak 

Lak, Dak Nong, and Lam Dong provinces. MRE in Quang Tri 

province was also furthered by a PM/WRA $74,677 grant to 

Catholic Relief Services. PeaceTrees Vietnam received a grant 

of $64,519 from PM/WRA to continue operating an EOD 

Rapid Response Team in Quang Tri province, which has been 

supported in part by PM/WRA since 2005. The Humpty 

Dumpty Institute received a $63,200 grant to help Vietnamese 

landmine and ERW survivors in Quang Tri province increase 

the output of their mushroom farming in order to better 

support themselves and their families. This particular effort 

is reinforcing a program that was initiated by the Vietnam 

Veterans Memorial Foundation (VVMF) and Project RENEW. 

Clear Path International received a $60,000 grant from PM/WRA 

to render assistance to landmine and ERW survivors in Quang 

Tri and Quang Binh provinces. Finally, PM/WRA granted 

VVMF $32,919 to further MRE and render trauma care for 

unexploded ordnance/mine survivors in Quang Binh province.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA provided $2,705,000 in 

humanitarian mine action assistance to Vietnam. This included 

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

A sia
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 33

Albania

Landmine and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW) contamination in Albania is primarily 

due to two events. In the northeast, landmines and unexploded 

ordnance (UXO) were emplaced during a conflict in neighboring 

Kosovo between 1998 and 1999. The former Federal Republic 

of Yugoslavia forces laid these minefields during the Kosovo 

conflict. The central regions of Albania are littered with mines, 

ERW, and abandoned ordnance from the looting of military 

depots during civil disorder in 1997. 

In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s 

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs contributed $1 million for 

humanitarian mine action in Albania through the International 

Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF). 

Of these funds, $371,741 went to DanChurchAid for demining 

and battle area clearance activities. The Albanian Mine Action 

Executive Quality Management Team received $22,707 for 

equipment. Of the ITF funds from PM/WRA, VMA–Kukes 

received $115,464 for two UXO/mine risk education projects 

in northeast Albania. PM/WRA funded demining along the 

Albanian-Serbian border in the districts of Tropoje, Has, and 

Kukes, resulting in the destruction of 887 mines and 1,196 

pieces of ERW.

In FY 2007 PM/WRA contributed $244,516 for demining 

activities in Albania through the ITF. All of these funds went to 

DanChurchAid for demining and battle area clearance activities.

The United States also supports ongoing destruction of 

surplus and at-risk small arms and light weapons and munitions 

in Albania. In FY 2006 and FY 2007, PM/WRA provided 

$1.1 million to fund this life-saving work, which is destroying 

25,000 surplus and obsolete weapons, and 15,000 tons of 

excess and aging ammunition.

Deminer training 

during 2001 by 

HELP in Tropoja, 

Northeast Albania.

U.S. Department of Defense

Humanitarian Demining

Training Center

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Training Center (HDTC) has operated since 1996 as a training 

and information center and as a fundamental element in the 

U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) Program. Situated in Fort 

Leonard Wood, Missouri, the HDTC trains U.S. military personnel 

in demining techniques consistent with International Mine Action 

Standards. The goal of the training is to help mine-affected 

countries develop an effective, national HMA capacity. 

Training conducted at the Center is groundbreaking and 

practical, and encompasses mine clearance, mine risk education, 

mine-action management, and the Information Management 

System for Mine Action. The HDTC is equipped with extensive, 

realistic training areas, a comprehensive assortment of inert 

landmines and explosive remnants of war, mine detectors, 

personal protective equipment, educational tools, as well as an 

up-to-date computer classroom for software instruction. The 

HDTC keeps up with current developments in landmine use and 

demining techniques by researching global tactics. 

A typical training session includes simulated hazard areas, 

real-time application, and surveying. The Center teaches practical 

demining skills, as participants are put into situational exercises. 

In addition to having trained more than 1,500 U.S. Special 

Operations Forces, who in turn provide comprehensive 

humanitarian mine action training to foreign military deminers via 

a “Train-the-Trainer” approach, the HDTC also trains other U.S. 

military, civilian and nongovernmental organizations in mine risk 

education and mine awareness. 

The HDTC operates around four key priorities: relieve the 

plight of civilian populations, enhance regional stability, promote 

U.S. foreign policy interests, and improve economic development. 

These priorities are all tied to upholding the organization’s motto, 

“So That Others May Walk the Earth in Safety.” 

Point of Contact:

Rodney Robideau, Director

Humanitarian Demining Training Center

ATTN: ATSE-DOT-CM

Building 5415, FLW Hwy 38

Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri 65473-8926

USA

Telephone: +1 573 563 6199

Facsimile: +1 573 563 5051

E-mail: rodney.a.robideau@usarmy.mil

Web site: www.wood.army.mil/hdtc/

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 33

Arben Braha, Albania Mine Action Executive

E urope

Europe

Albania • Azerbaijan (shown on page 44) • Bosnia and Herzegovina • Bulgaria • Croatia • Estonia • Georgia (shown on page 44) • Hungary • Kosovo • Macedonia • Montenegro • Serbia • Ukraine
34 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 35

Bosnia and 

Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is 

contaminated with landmines and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW), primarily stemming from the 1992–1995 conflict 

related to the break-up of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. A 

2002–2003 Landmine Impact Survey recorded that minefields 

and ERW affected 1,366 of 2,935 municipalities to some degree. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs contributed $3,300,000 through the 

International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victim’s 

Assistance (ITF) to support mine action in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina. As a result of demining operations performed by 

commercial companies and nongovernmental organizations, 

1,498,455 square meters of land were cleared and an additional 

4,259,757 square meters of land returned to safe use through 

technical survey operations. Four Community Integrated Mine 

Action Plans (CIMAP) were implemented which released 

1,115,403 square meters, and four CIMAP mine risk education 

projects concluded in 2006. PM/WRA support continued 

through the ITF for the program “Landmine Survivors Network 

in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” which provided economic 

assistance to 97 landmine survivors to facilitate the start-up 

of their businesses, and to assist in their education. PM/WRA 

assistance via the ITF also continued to support the Regional 

Mine Detection Dog Center in Konjic, which trained 22 minedetecting dogs in FY 2006. 

Also in FY 2006, PM/WRA contributed $69,214 to the 

Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) for its CHAMPS Outreach 

in Bosnia program. MLI’s CHAMPS initiative raises awareness 

among U.S. schoolchildren about the global landmine problem 

and inspires them to raise funds to provide mine-detecting 

dogs (MDDs) to safely sniff out landmines and ERW around 

the world. This particular PM/WRA–MLI Public-Private 

Partnership resulted in the provision of three MDDs to work in 

Bosnia, and the promise of ongoing PM/WRA funding to help 

feed and care for them.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA contributed $3,000,000 through the 

ITF for further demining in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bulgaria

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal 

and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

granted $400,000 to a Bulgarian contractor, TEREM EAD, for 

the destruction of 76,000 tons of military small arms and light 

weapons that were excess to Bulgaria’s national security needs.

A screenshot of 

the Bosnia and 

Herzegovina Mine 

Action Center’s 

Web site.

Croatia

The landmines and explosive remnants 

of war that remain in Croatia are a 

byproduct of the armed conflict that accompanied the break up 

of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the early 1990s. 

The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) 

in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs granted a total of $2,300,000 for mine action activities 

in Croatia during FY 2006 through the International Trust 

Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance (ITF). 

This enabled 11 demining operations and six technical 

surveys to be completed by various commercial companies and 

nongovernmental organizations. The program “Town of Karlovac 

Without Mines” was successfully implemented with donations 

from the Rotary Club Vienna Nord-Ost and PM/WRA 

matching funds. The technical survey project “Cherry 

Plantations Maraska” was completed with matching fund 

contributions from PM/WRA. The U.S. Embassy in Zagreb, 

the ITF, the Croatian Mine Victims Association, and Norwegian 

People’s Aid combined efforts and funds to assist the mine 

survivors project “The Winter Workshops for Psycho-Social 

Rehabilitation of Young Landmine and UXO Survivors.” This 

project, WATCH OUT—MINE, used both PM/WRA and 

ITF funds to produce a mine risk education (MRE) storybook, 

which was submitted by the Center for Neo-humanistic Studies 

from Karlovac, Croatia. The project created and distributed 

10,000 of the MRE storybooks to disseminate MRE messages in 

elementary schools in different parts of Croatia.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA contributed $2,000,000 through the 

ITF for additional demining in Croatia.

A screenshot of 

the Croatian Mine 

Action Centre’s 

Web site.

E urope

Azerbaijan

Conflict with Armenia from 

1988–1994, plus the presence of 

dilapidated former Soviet bases on its territory, left Azerbaijan 

with a landmine, explosive remnants of war, and abandoned 

ordnance problem. A Landmine Impact Survey completed in 

2003 indicated that 643 communities were contaminated by 

landmines and/or unexploded ordnance (UXO), located in 18 of 

65 districts in the country. Between 1991 and July 2006, there 

were 2,297 landmine or UXO casualties registered. According to 

the Azerbaijan Agency for National Mine Action (ANAMA), in 

2006 there were 17 reported incidents in which two people were 

killed and 15 injured, including some deminers. The exact extent 

of the problem in areas occupied by Armenian forces remains 

unknown but is believed to be significant. As of July 2006, 

ANAMA had identified approximately 164 square kilometers 

of land contaminated with mines and UXO. ANAMA reports 

that it has successfully developed a Mine Action Strategic Plan to 

eliminate the humanitarian impact of landmines and UXO from 

accessible regions of the country by 2008. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs provided $3,106,246 for mine action 

support to Azerbaijan, consisting of $2,326,840 for program 

operating costs and $709,866 for technical support to ANAMA 

through the PM/WRA contractor ArmorGroup. Additionally, 

PM/WRA granted the International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF) 

$69,540 to establish a sustainable Mine Victims Association in 

the Tartar district that will provide support and assistance in the 

social and vocational reintegration of landmine survivors. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA provided $2,487,000 to support 

Azerbaijan mine action; $2.3 million of that support went 

to ANAMA for ongoing clearance operations, and $187,000 

was provided to the IEPF to establish regional branches of 

the Azerbaijan Mine Victims Association in the Fizuli and 

Aghstafa districts.

In FY 2006 and FY 2007, the Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program 

continued an operational field evaluation of the Rhino Earth 

Tiller in partnership with ANAMA. This $1,750,000 remotecontrolled mechanical system, used for large area anti-personnel 

mine clearance and area reduction, has two horizontally 

mounted, counter-rotating drums fitted with tungsten carbide 

chisels to excavate and grind soil and contaminants, including 

mines, to a depth of 30 centimeters. In FY 2007, the U.S. 

Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Training 

Center also provided $322,000 in “Train-the-Trainer” 

assistance to ANAMA.

34 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

ArmorGroup

Deborah Netland, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

Perry Baltimore, President and Executive Director of the Marshall Legacy 

Institute (MLI), center, poses with deminers from ANAMA, with ANAMA minedetecting dog handlers and mine-detecting dogs (MDDs). The MDDs were 

donated to ANAMA through an MLI initiative in a Public-Private Partnership with 

PM/WRA. Through its CHAMPS program and other fund-raising efforts, MLI 

has had remarkable success in raising awareness among the American public, 

schoolchildren, and corporations about the global landmine problem, and in 

raising funds to donate MDDs to several mine-affected countries.

Azerbaijan’s wide plains lend themselves to mechanical demining with heavy 

machinery as seen here.

E urope
36 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 37

Hungary

In a one-time assistance project, the United 

States worked with Hungary to destroy 1,540 

of Hungary’s man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), 

which were no longer needed for Hungary’s defense. 

Hungary’s Minister of Defense, Ferenc Juhász, and U.S. 

Ambassador George H. Walker formally signed the cooperation 

agreement on September 27, 2005, at a ceremony in Budapest, 

to destroy 1,540 of the Strela 2 (SA-7) variety of the MANPADS 

and related equipment in Hungary’s stockpile. Destruction, 

which was coordinated and funded by the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department 

of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, was completed in 

February 2006.

Kosovo

Kosovo, a province of Serbia until February 

17, 2008, when it declared independence, 

was affected significantly by explosive remnants of war (ERW), 

including unexploded cluster bomblets from NATO air strikes 

in 1999, and by landmines, booby traps, and ERW from 

conflict between former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and 

Kosovo Liberation Army forces. Due to a humanitarian mine 

action assistance surge from the United States, the United 

Nations, and many other generous donor nations and groups 

immediately after Federal forces withdrew from Kosovo, it 

was effectively rendered free from the humanitarian impact of 

mines and ERW (“impact free”) in 2001. Thanks in part to the 

United States, Kosovo also was able to develop its own capacity 

through the Kosovo Protection Corps to deal with the few 

mines and ERW that remain mostly in remote locations. 

Working through the International Trust Fund for Demining 

and Mine Victims Assistance, the Office of Weapons Removal 

and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs contributed approximately $110,000 in 

FY 2006 towards humanitarian mine action efforts in Kosovo. 

These funds helped to purchase critical demining gear, such as 

mine detectors and personal protective equipment, for Kosovo 

Protection Corps’ demining teams. 

Mine risk education pamphlet that was distributed in Kosovo. 

Translation: (top) Don’t ever touch mines or unknown objects! 

(bottom) Children, mines can kill you!

U.S. Embassy–Budapest

U.S. Ambassador George H. Walker III (left) and Minister of Defense Ferenc Juhász 

take questions from the media during the ceremony to mark the agreement 

between Hungary and the U.S. to destroy MANPADS.

International Committee of the Red Cross

E urope

Georgia

Georgia’s Abkhazia region is affected by 

landmines and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW), the majority of which are located near the Inguri River, 

thereby isolating this region from the rest of the country. This 

contamination occurred during the 1992–1993 civil conflict. 

Civilians are also affected by landmines that were laid or 

abandoned around former Soviet and existing Russian military 

bases. Abkhazia is currently forecast to become free from the 

humanitarian impact of mines and ERW (“impact free”) by 2009. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs, granted $3,000,000 to The HALO 

Trust (HALO) for demining activities in an effort to maintain 

increased operational capacity for accelerated clearance in 

Abkhazia. These funds covered approximately 78 percent of 

HALO’s operating costs, supporting 30 manual demining teams 

and nine mechanical clearance units operating armored mediumwheel front-end loaders, vegetation cutters, and anti-personnel 

mine rollers. The funds also provided for one survey/marking 

team, as well as some management and administrative costs. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA provided $1,750,000 to HALO for 

further clearance in Abkhazia, finding their work progressing 

well. All HALO designated sites have been cleared and the 

program is focusing on more remote minefields, which are 

increasing in priority since with greater stability and security, 

tourists are now visiting the interior of Abkhazia where the 

remaining minefields are located. Agricultural activities are 

also expanding in Abkhazia and clearance in areas currently 

considered remote is essential prior to Abkhazia being 

declared impact free in 2009. There are only 17 more village 

administrations to be cleared; 101 of 118 (86 percent) of them 

have already been declared impact free.

Katherine Baker, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

Katherine Baker, a policy officer with PM/WRA, is briefed during a visit to a minefield 

around a holy spring in Georgia’s Abkhaz region. This minefield was being cleared by 

HALO through a grant from PM/WRA.

Estonia

As part of a long-standing effort to help 

Estonia deal with explosive remnants of war 

(ERW), primarily from World War II (for example, a 100-

kilogram aviation bomb was unearthed in the capital, Tallinn, 

in October 2007) the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. 

Department of Defense have provided various forms of ERW 

and landmine clearance assistance.

In FY 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Program contributed $55,000 to 

support humanitarian mine action in Estonia. To learn more 

about the program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc. 

In FY 2007, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of PoliticalMilitary Affairs provided the Estonian Rescue Board with new 

explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) equipment worth $157,000 

to assist in clearing underwater ERW. The Estonian EOD/

demining specialists received three heavy bomb disposal suits, 

diving equipment, a motor boat, and remote-detonation devices.

Supporting law enforcement, deminers discovered 19 mortars, 32 hand grenades and 

various empty projectiles.

Estonian EOD Center

Katherine Baker, PM/WRA

Georgian deminers employed by HALO under a grant from the Office 

of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) take a break from 

their demanding work during a rain storm.

E urope
38 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 39

Serbia

The presence of persistent landmines 

and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in 

Serbia stem primarily from events during the 1990s. Some 

contamination is a result of conflict during the break up of 

the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and from air 

strikes by United States and other NATO air forces during the 

campaign to halt ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. Additionally, 

some mines and ERW that remained from previous wars 

affected parts of Serbia.

In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs contributed approximately $815,000 

to the International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine 

Victims Assistance (ITF) towards ERW clearance in Serbia. 

Additionally, $205,830 was awarded to the Serbia Mine Action 

Center (Serbia MAC) for three battle area clearance (BAC) 

projects on the mountain of Kopaonik. The Serbia MAC 

was also awarded one grant for $40,000 for the BAC project 

“Dusko Radovic” schoolyard, and a second grant for $350,000 

for the “Samalia 1” BAC project. Norwegian People’s Aid 

received $219,102 for mine clearance activities on the Serbian 

side of the Croatian-Serbian border. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA contributed $700,000 through the 

ITF for additional demining in Serbia.

Ukraine

The United States is the lead nation for Phase 1 

of a NATO Partnership for Peace Trust Fund 

project to help Ukraine destroy its stockpiles of excess munitions, 

small arms and light weapons (SA/LW), and man-portable 

air-defense systems (MANPADS). Other donors to the project 

are Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, 

Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, 

Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. 

This represents the largest Partnership Trust Fund project 

ever undertaken by NATO—and in fact is one of the largest 

weapons destruction projects in history—and responds to Ukraine’s 

request for help in eliminating 133,000 tons of munitions, and 

1.5 million SA/LW. These stockpiles, most of which date from 

the Soviet era, are a threat to public safety and the environment, 

and a potential proliferation risk. The four-phase project will 

span 12 years and cost approximately $27 million in donor 

contributions. Ukraine will provide most of the operational and 

in-kind demilitarization costs. Phase 1 will destroy 15,000 tons 

of munitions, 400,000 SA/LW, and 1,000 MANPADS, and cost 

donors over $8.5 million.

In FY 2006 the United States contributed an additional $1.5 

million to this long-term project, and an additional $1.8 million 

in FY 2007 for a total of $5,442,000 to date. 

In 2006 with the assistance of the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department 

of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, 1,000 MANPADS 

were destroyed. Additional SA/LW destruction began in 2007, 

resulting in the elimination of 108,000 weapons. The United 

States looks forward to continuing this project. 

Ukroboronservice

In addition to working with NATO to destroy its national stockpiles of excess and aging arms and 

munitions, Ukraine is also still clearing explosive remnants of war dating back to World War II left 

from the savage fighting between Soviet and Nazi forces. Here, a Ukrainian deminer 35 meters (over 

114 feet) from the surface, carefully examines a section of underground ammunition storage depot 

complex on the Crimean peninsula. Several such depots, filled with tons of Soviet Army munitions, 

blew up in 1942, leaving behind significant quantities of unexploded ordnance that continue to pose a 

threat to inhabitants and to infrastructure within a three-kilometer (nearly two miles) radius.

E urope

Macedonia

The northwest and southern regions 

of Macedonia are the two main areas 

of the country affected by mines and explosive remnants of 

war (ERW). In 2001, conflict between government forces and 

ethnic-Albanian insurgents led to mine and ERW contamination 

at the northwestern borders with Kosovo and Albania in 

the regions of Tetovo, Kumanovo, and Skopje. In the south, 

the border with Greece spanning from Gevgelija to Ohrid is 

scattered with ERW left from World Wars I and II. 

Through the International Trust Fund for Demining and 

Mine Victims Assistance, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s 

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs contributed $50,000 to 

Macedonian demining projects in FY 2006. These funds 

were used to conduct a training course for 10 deminers and 

clearance operations in the last three mine-suspected areas of 

the country. PM/WRA’s assistance and U.S. Department of 

State mine action aid in previous years had good effect. On 

September 15, 2006, Macedonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs 

announced that all anti-personnel mines had been destroyed 

in areas under its jurisdiction where they were known or 

suspected to be emplaced.

Four large artillery shells that were abandoned but subsequently placed carefully 

in padded boxes in the back of a truck for transportation and safe destruction at 

a disposal site. Abandoned ordnance, not just landmines, also pose a hazard to 

innocent civilians in former conflict zones.

Montenegro

In Montenegro, landmine and explosive 

remnants of war (ERW) contamination 

is primarily a result of events that occurred in the 1990s. 

Some contamination is a result of conflict during the break 

up of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Mines and unexploded 

ordnance (UXO) from previous wars, including unexploded 

cluster bomblets from NATO air strikes in 1999, also affected 

parts of Montenegro. In 1991, the municipality of Plav between 

the Bogic ́evic ́ and Lipovica mountains was mined. Federal 

Republic of Yugoslavia forces also planted mines in Montenegro 

during the conflict in 1999. 

Through the International Trust Fund for Demining and 

Mine Victims Assistance, the Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s 

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs contributed $22,000 

towards demining efforts in Montenegro. These funds were 

awarded in a single grant to the Regional Center for Underwater 

Demining to enable the refitting and equipping of a surplus 

patrol boat, donated by the former State Union of Serbia and 

Montenegro, to support divers conducting underwater clearance 

of unexploded ordnance in littoral waters.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA contributed $50,000 through the 

ITF for demining in Montenegro. PM/WRA also expended 

$2,476,000 to help Montenegro destroy its excess and obsolete 

small arms and light weapons (SA/LW), and munitions; 1,500 

surplus man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS), 2,000 

sea mines, 175 cluster munitions, and 90 torpedoes were 

destroyed during this effort.

International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance

Some of the divers from the Regional Center for Underwater Demining (RCUD) during 

a training dive from a quay at the center. The RCUD in Bijela, Montenegro, a center for 

excellence, is the only such non-military humanitarian underwater node in the world. 

Its divers, and those that it trains, are able to safely recover and arrange for the proper 

destruction of munitions that have been dumped at sea, unexploded ordnance that 

remains hazardous even when underwater, sea mines, and landmines that in some cases 

may have washed up on beaches or been displaced into rivers, streams, and lakes by 

heavy rains. Some of the unexploded ordnance and munitions encountered by RCUD 

divers date back to World War II.

Regional Center for Underwater Demining

E urope
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 41

Argentina

In FY 2006, the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program contributed $38,000 to advance Argentina’s capacity 

to conduct humanitarian mine action in other countries 

during international peace-keeping deployments and to 

train international deminers. To learn more about the U.S. 

Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, 

visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc. 

Many children who are survivors of landmines spend time in Hogar Refugio San 

Bernabé, waiting for medical attention. During Halloween, they can play on the streets 

just like other kids.

Chile

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal 

and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

granted $300,000 to the Organization of American States to 

provide demining equipment for humanitarian purposes to the 

Chilean Army to clear landmines it had emplaced in some of its 

border regions.

In FY 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian 

Demining Program contributed about $280,000 to advance 

humanitarian mine action in Chile. In FY 2007, the 

Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research 

and Development Program provided the Chilean National 

Demining Commission with a Multi-Tooled Excavator and an 

Air-Spade demining digging tool for an area preparation and 

mine clearance operational field evaluation. The technologies 

represent a $250,000 investment to augment Chilean mine 

clearance activities. To learn more about the U.S. Department 

of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit www.

humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc. 

Colombia

In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons Removal 

and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

provided $300,000 to the Organization of American States 

(OAS) for the development of an emergency, rapid-response 

humanitarian demining operational clearance team in 

Colombia, which deals with the landmines and improvised 

explosive devices (IEDs) that are being used by terrorists and 

narcotics traffickers.

In FY 2007 PM/WRA provided $750,000 to the OAS 

for the development of a second emergency rapid response 

humanitarian demining operational clearance team in Colombia. 

Additional support funded local nongovernmental organization 

Centro Integral de Rehabilitación de Colombia’s Mobile Brigades, 

which provide medical assistance to mine survivors and other 

civilians in remote rural sections of Colombia.

The U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy 

War Victims Fund rendered a total of $2 million in assistance 

to survivors of conflict-related injuries and illnesses in 

Colombia during 2007. To learn more about the Leahy War 

Victims Fund, visit www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_

assistance/the_funds/lwvf.

In FY 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Program contributed $640,000 to 

strengthen Colombia’s national humanitarian mine action 

capacity via training, to support its clearance of mines and 

IEDs, and to support mine survivors assistance. To learn 

more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian 

Demining Program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc. 

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 41

MediaQuatro

L atin A merica

Latin 

America

A r g e n t i n a • C h i l e • Co l o m bia • E c u ador • Ho n d u ras • Ni c ara g u a • S u ri n a m e
42 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 43

Nicaragua

Internal conflict from 1979–1990 resulted 

in landmines and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW) affecting Nicaragua. In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State’s 

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs awarded two grants to the 

Organization of American States (OAS). The first grant, totaling 

$1,456,925, went toward humanitarian demining operational 

clearance for the Front Five region in Nicaragua, which was 

a continuation of the effort to support earlier mine removal 

activities there. OAS’ second grant from PM/WRA was for 

$283,075 to support mine survivors assistance and provide new 

opportunities for landmine survivors’ full participation in the 

social and economic life of their communities.

In FY 2007 PM/WRA awarded two grants to the OAS. The 

first grant, totaling $1.2 million, continued the humanitarian 

demining operational clearance for the Front Five region in 

Nicaragua. OAS’ second grant from PM/WRA of $500,000 

supported mine survivors assistance and provided new economic 

opportunities for landmine survivors.

In FY 2006 and FY 2007, the Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program 

in partnership with the Nicaraguan Army continued an 

evaluation of the Mantis mechanical system. The Mantis, a 

modified farm tractor with specialized attachments, represents 

a $367,000 investment in Nicaragua’s vegetation removal, area 

preparation, and mine clearance activities. The Mantis worked 

in tandem with other mechanical assets of the Nicaraguan Army, 

providing a quality assurance process to allow cleared land to 

be returned to communities for agricultural use. The Mantis 

cleared 250,000 square meters of land, removed more than 

5,000 pounds of metallic clutter, and removed or detonated 

nine anti-personnel mines in areas that were believed previously 

cleared of mines. To learn more about the U.S. Department 

of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit www.

humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

Suriname

During FY 2006 and FY 2007, the Office 

of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of PoliticalMilitary Affairs awarded $459,000 to RONCO Consulting 

Corporation to destroy excess ammunition in Suriname that 

its government had deemed to be excess to national security 

needs. This project destroyed 95,346 rounds of anti-aircraft 

ammunition ranging from 37- to 100-millimeter, and 

3,210,175 rounds of 50-caliber ammunition. 

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 43 Ed Trimakas, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

...a rapt audience of schoolchildren during a mine risk education session 

funded in part by PM/WRA.

A Nicaraguan landmine survivor displays his prosthetic limb to...

Ed Trimakas, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

L atin A merica

A Mantis, which is a modified, armored John Deere tractor with special 

attachments used for demining.

U.S. Department of Defense Humanitarian Demining Research & Development Program

Ecuador

In FY 2006, the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program contributed $313,000 to support humanitarian mine 

action in Ecuador. In FY 2007, the U.S. Department of Defense’s 

Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program 

provided the National Demining Center of Ecuador with a 

$250,000 Tempest remote-controlled vegetation clearance 

system. The Tempest is assisting manual deminers by opening 

breach lanes in dense jungle. To learn more about the U.S. 

Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit 

www.humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

Honduras

In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

awarded a $315,682 contract to DynCorp International 

to destroy small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) and 

munitions that the Honduran government had determined 

were excess to its national security needs. DynCorp destroyed 

13,680 SA/LW and ancillary equipment, 2,982 antipersonnel landmines, and 840 110-pound aerial bombs. 

The project was completed in 2007.

Safe lane in Soldato Monge, Ecuador.

42 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Gabriela Parra Martínez

Organization of

American States

The Organization of American States (OAS) strives to unite the 

35 nations of the Western Hemisphere by being a multilateral 

forum focused on democratic values, common interests, and 

major issues facing the region and the rest of the world. In 1991, 

Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua requested the 

assistance of the OAS in ridding their territories of landmines. The 

need to deal with this problem inspired the creation of the OAS 

Mine Action Program. Countries outside of the OAS also donate 

and contribute to the OAS Mine Action Program in an effort to 

alleviate this global threat. The Office of Weapons Removal and 

Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau 

of Political-Military Affairs channels a substantial portion of its 

funding for mine action in the Americas through the OAS.

The overarching objective of the OAS Mine Action Program 

is to liberate the Americas from the danger of landmines as well 

as to deliver mine risk education, survivors’ assistance, socioeconomic reintegration, and capacity development. Additionally, 

the OAS works with the assistance of the Inter-American 

Defense Board to develop management capability to international 

standards for demining programs in Latin America. The OAS

solicits multiple international donors for Latin American humanitarian mine action funding as well as in-kind contributions. 

Thanks to the work of the OAS, Costa Rica, Guatemala, 

Honduras, and Suriname have completed demining and are 

considered free from the humanitarian impact of landmines 

(“impact free”).

Point of Contact: 

Carlos J. Orozco, Acting Director 

Office of Humanitarian Mine Action

OAS

1889 F Street NW

Washington, D.C. 20006 

USA

Telephone: +1 202 458 3524 

E-mail: corozco@oas.org

Web site: www.oas.org

Demining operations in Latin America are supported by the OAS.

L atin A merica

OAS
TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 45

A partially buried V-69 bounding fragmentation mine emplaced by Saddam 

Hussein’s forces displays its prongs in a minefield in southern Iraq.

Col. Stu Harris, USMC (Retired) / PM/WRA

Iraq

Iraq is one of the world’s most severely 

landmine and explosive-remnants-of-war 

(ERW) impacted countries. This is due to three decades of 

conflict, including internal placement of landmines during 

Saddam Hussein’s rule beginning with the 1980–1988 

Iraq-Iran War, followed by the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and 

Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition, hundreds of cached 

and abandoned ordnance (AO) sites are believed to still exist 

throughout the country. 

AO sites pose a hazard to nearby inhabitants in the event of 

tampering or spontaneous detonation. Terrorists and criminals 

often pilfer from abandoned ordnance sites to create improvised 

explosive devices and car bombs.

In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs granted $422,208 to MAG (Mines 

Advisory Group) to support six multi-skilled mine-action teams 

and one mechanical team, and five community liaison and mine 

risk education teams. Additionally, the United States’ Iraq Relief 

and Reconstruction Fund (IRRF) transferred $13,200,000 to 

PM/WRA to be used for humanitarian mine action operations 

in Iraq. Of these funds, MAG received $2,710,236, and the 

Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (now Veterans for 

America) received $775,792 for various mine action projects. 

PM/WRA awarded $9,713,972, the remainder of the IRRF 

funds, to RONCO Consulting Corporation for clearance of 

ERW and mines.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA spent $15,149,446 on mine 

action and conventional weapons destruction in Iraq. These 

monies were awarded to the Iraq Mine/Unexploded Ordnance 

Organization and MAG to fund a combination of minefield 

and battle area clearance operations and explosive ordnance 

disposal/small arms and light weapons missions. It also 

supported the Information Management and Mine Action 

Program in ERW/mine survey and data management operations. 

In addition, funds were provided to the Montgomery Village 

Rotary International for the Basra-Iraq Prosthetics Project 

and to the United Nations Development Program–Iraq for its 

institutional development support. This program contributes to 

post-battle operations, improves the humanitarian environment 

for returning populations, especially children, and increases 

prospects for donor and Iraqi budget-funded economic 

development by clearing land for agricultural and other 

economic use.

Col. Stu Harris, USMC (Retired) / PM/WRA

A Croatian-built Bozena mechanized mine-detection system is prepared for 

action in southern Iraq.

T he M iddle E ast

The

Middle East I ra q • Jorda n • Leba

no n •T u n isia (shown on page 12)• Yemen
46 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 47

Lebanon

Landmines and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW) have contaminated much of Lebanon 

from the beginning of a civil war in 1975 through the IsraeliHezbollah conflict during the summer of 2006. As a result of 

the ERW from this most recent conflict, South Lebanon and 

Nabatieh are the most ERW-affected regions in the country. 

A Landmine Impact Survey completed in 2003 estimated that 

22 of 24 districts in Lebanon were impacted by landmines 

and unexploded ordnance, spanning 150 square kilometers. A 

National Level II (Technical) Survey is scheduled to resume in 

2008 to acquire the most up-to-date picture of the landmine and 

ERW threat confronting Lebanon and to provide the essential 

data needed to remove the threat. 

In FY 2006 the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs originally provided $1 million to 

Lebanon in humanitarian mine action (HMA) assistance 

through its contract with RONCO Consulting Corporation. 

After the conflict in the summer of 2006, PM/WRA identified 

$384,000 of that amount for RONCO to recruit, train, equip, 

and deploy two 25-person battle area clearance (BAC) teams 

to sweep for and mark unexploded cluster munitions and other 

ERW in South Lebanon. 

Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Defense transferred 

$5 million to the U.S. Department of State for emergency 

HMA assistance. Of that sum, PM/WRA added $2.2 million to 

RONCO Consulting Corporation’s original contract to support 

the Lebanese Armed Forces, Engineering Regiment (ER) clearance 

of unexploded cluster munitions and other ERW in South 

Lebanon. PM/WRA granted the remaining $2.8 million to MAG 

(Mines Advisory Group) to recruit, train, equip, and deploy a 

15-person BAC team in South Lebanon and to fund additional 

clearance operations by four MAG BAC teams that were already 

there. MAG had previously received an initial emergency grant 

for $420,000 from PM/WRA to establish the management 

infrastructure necessary to conduct rapid-response clearance of 

ERW, including unexploded cluster munitions in South Lebanon. 

PM/WRA also granted $30,000 in support of the U.N. Joint 

Logistics Center for cluster munitions strike data collection and 

mapping capability in Lebanon, through its partnership with the 

Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (now the Veterans for 

America). PM/WRA used the remaining funds of its RONCO 

contract ($616,000) to provide technical assistance to the 

Lebanese Armed Forces, Engineering Regiment. The funds were 

used for fuel and maintenance for ER vehicles, support for the ER 

mine-detecting dogs, additional personal protective equipment, 

and other items to equip and support 50 new Lebanese deminers.

In FY 2006, the Department of State’s Bureau of 

International Organization Affairs provided $2 million to the 

United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to sustain 

the operations of UNDP-controlled explosive-clearance teams 

provided by MAG and by BACTEC International Limited in 

South Lebanon. 

In FY 2007, PM/WRA awarded $1 million to DynCorp 

International to continue to develop the Lebanese Mine Action 

Center (LMAC) to integrate all aspects of HMA effectively, 

continue to assist the LMAC with the management of a quality 

program, continue to provide equipment, as well as fuel and 

maintenance for its mine action vehicles, continue to introduce 

new HMA technologies, complete a Level II (Technical) Survey of 

all suspected minefields, and to mark all minefields found by the 

Level II Survey. In addition, PM/WRA granted $56,417 to the 

Marshall Legacy Institute to provide six trained mine detecting 

dogs to the Lebanese mine action authorities by spring 2008.

In FY 2006, the U.S. Agency for International Development 

awarded a grant of $1.2 million to MAG for emergency 

unexploded ordnance and battle area clearance in South 

Lebanon. Through its Leahy War Victims Fund, the U.S. 

Agency for International Development contributed $35,000 

in FY 2006 to promote the development and implementation 

of programs to decrease landmine injuries, assist survivors of 

landmines and war, alleviate social burden, and foster economic 

opportunities within and around impacted communities. 

In FY 2006, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian 

Demining Program contributed $7,000 to advance ERW/HMA 

in Lebanon. To learn more about the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program, visit 

www.humanitariandemining.org and www.wood.army.mil/hdtc.

T he M iddle E ast

An ARMTRAC 100 armored tractor with a flail, which was supplied to the Lebanese Armed 

Forces by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, clears a mined 

area near the “Blue Line” on Lebanon’s border with Israel. A strong wind is blowing the 

dust from the flailed earth ahead of the tractor. The road and the land to its right are in 

Israel. In the background, the Golan Heights dominated by Mount Hermon, are visible.

Dennis Hadrick, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

Two Bedouins on camels travel through a wadi, alongside the tracks of modern conveyances. 

Jordan remains affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war to some degree in the 

Wadi Araba region, where this photo was taken, extending to Aqaba, as well as along its 

border with Syria, and in the Jordan Valley.

©iStockPhoto.com/Arne Thaysen

T he M iddle E ast

Jordan

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons 

Removal and Abatement in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

granted $236,300 to the National Committee for Demining and 

Rehabilitation to provide mine risk education (MRE) in Jordan. 

The primary objective of this grant is to support the technical 

and operational capacity of the MRE sector in Jordan through 

activities designed to help ensure that the individual skill sets, 

institutional capacity, and organizational network function 

properly to deliver quality MRE. 

Jordanian Army humanitarian deminers practice rendering first-responder trauma care and 

preparing to move a wounded deminer.

Located on the campus of James 

Madison University in Harrisonburg, 

Virginia, the Mine Action Information 

Center (MAIC) is a public-policy center that 

collects, maintains, and distributes information 

pertinent to humanitarian mine action. In 2006, the MAIC celebrated 

10 years of playing a fundamental role in international efforts to 

combat the effects of landmines and explosive remnants of war. 

The MAIC has worked with many clients to develop and 

execute projects concerning mine action efforts around the 

world. It produces the Journal of Mine Action, a semi-annual 

magazine that serves as an information resource for the mine 

action community. The MAIC also maintains a Web site, hosts 

workshops and conferences, conducts training courses, and 

engages in research on specific mine action topics. 

In its decade-plus of operation, the MAIC has worked with 

many partner organizations, including the U.S. Department of 

Defense, U.S. Department of State, United Nations, International 

Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance, Canadian 

Centre for Mine Action Technologies, and Geneva International 

Centre for Humanitarian Demining. 

Among the MAIC’s most recent projects are the Adaptive 

Technology Catalog (an electronic catalog of tools to help mine 

survivors return to a productive work life), a casualty data bestpractices guidebook, and the development of survivor assistance 

training materials. The latter was produced in collaboration with the 

Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, facilitated by 

a grant from the State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal 

and Abatement.

From 2004 to 2007, the MAIC conducted five sessions of 

the United Nations Development Program Senior Manager’s 

Course for mine-action professionals. Thus far, each session 

of the course has brought 19–26 senior-level, mine action 

managers to Harrisonburg for a five-week, cross-cultural and 

skills-based management training course. As of the end of 

2007, the MAIC had trained 106 senior managers who work in 

33 mine-affected countries around the world.

Point of Contact: 

Dennis Barlow, Director 

Mine Action Information Center 

James Madison University 

MSC 4902

1401 Technology Drive, Suite 120

Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807 

USA

Telephone: +1 540 568 2756 

Facsimile: +1 540 568 8176 

E-mail: barlowdc@jmu.edu

Web site: http://maic.jmu.edu

The Adaptive Technology Catalog

was designed to help agencies and 

organizations find products to serve 

the needs of landmine survivors with 

the help of donors.

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

46 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Mine Action

Information Center
48 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 49

Yemen

Landmines and explosive remnants of war 

(ERW) in Yemen continue to pose some 

degree of danger to farmers in the former border areas between 

North and South Yemen and in the southern governorates, 

hindering access to land for agriculture, which is the primary 

source of income for over 50 percent of the population. Yemen’s 

mine and ERW contamination is a result of several conflicts 

from 1962 to 1994. The former border areas between North and 

South Yemen in the southern governorates have been affected 

the most. A Landmine Impact Survey, funded in part by the 

United States and completed in 2000, reported 592 villages in 

19 of the 20 governorates in Yemen to be impacted by mines 

and unexploded ordnance at the time. Subsequent humanitarian 

mine action assistance by the United States has provided the 

Yemen Executive Mine Action Centre (YEMAC) with vehicles 

and equipment to achieve its vision to become self-sufficient and 

make Yemen free from the humanitarian impact of mines and 

UXO (“impact free”) by 2009. 

In FY 2006, the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement 

(PM/WRA) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of 

Political-Military Affairs contributed $700,000 towards mine 

action in Yemen. These funds were used to purchase numerous 

pieces of equipment to help reorganize two demining companies 

of the Yemeni Armed Forces. Some of the equipment included 

mine detectors, personal protective equipment, such as face 

shields and armor aprons, and a four-wheel drive ambulance.

In FY 2007, PM/WRA provided $375,000 in demining 

equipment and vehicles to replace old or worn-out equipment 

for the Yemen Mine Action Program.

In FY 2007, the Department of Defense’s Humanitarian 

Demining Research and Development Program provided the 

Improved Backhoe, a value of $157,000, to the YEMAC for an 

operational field evaluation of its sifting capabilities. To learn 

more about the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian 

Demining Program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc. 

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 49

Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

A formation of Yemeni humanitarian deminers. 

International Trust Fund

for Demining and Mine

Victims Assistance

The International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims 

Assistance (ITF) was established by the Slovenian government 

in 1998 to help Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) with its landmine 

problem, and to aid in the physical and socioeconomic 

rehabilitation of landmine survivors. The ITF’s activities 

expanded throughout the South-Eastern Europe (SEE) region 

and then to other mine-affected regions and countries, such 

as Cyprus, the South Caucasus, and Central Asia. In 2007, the 

ITF was also asked by mine-affected countries and donors to 

expand operations to collaborate on a mine survivors-assistance 

project in Vietnam in cooperation with Clear Path International 

and the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) 

in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military 

Affairs. The ITF envisions freeing SEE from the landmine and 

unexploded ordnance (UXO) threat by 2010, and it is dedicated 

to the worldwide eradication of landmines and UXO. In 2006, 

thanks in part to funding from the United States and other 

donors to the ITF, Macedonia was freed from the humanitarian 

impact of landmines.

The ITF is a humanitarian, nonprofit organization that 

seeks donors from both the public and private sectors for 

mine action activities. These activities include mine clearance, 

survivor assistance, mine risk education, and training and 

capacity building. The ITF works with national governments 

and mine action centers to ensure the successful application 

and implementation of activities in local communities. 

The organization has cleared over 78 million square meters of 

land, made the rehabilitation of over 930 individuals possible, and 

raised more than US$215 million, with a $92 million United States’ 

contribution. The ITF is unique in that it doubles donors’ grants 

through a roughly $10 million annual matching fund mechanism 

supported by PM/WRA.

Point of Contact: 

Goran Gacnik, Director

Zabrv 12 / 1292

Slovenia 

Telephone: +386 1 479 6585

Facsimile: + 386 1 479 6590 

E-mail: ljubljana@itf-fund.si

Web site: www.itf-fund.si 

T he M iddle E ast

Tunisia

In FY 2006, the U.S. Department of 

Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Program 

(DoD HDP) contributed $3,000 to advance humanitarian 

mine action in Tunisia. In FY 2007, DoD HDP contributed 

$117,000 more to strengthen Tunisia’s national capacity to deal 

with landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), most of 

which remain from World War II, and to support ERW/mine 

clearance. DoD’s Humanitarian Demining Training Center 

provided $97,000 of that FY 2007 assistance in “Train-theTrainer” support to Tunisian deminers. To learn more about 

the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining 

Program, visit www.humanitariandemining.org and 

www.wood.army.mil/hdtc. 

Mine Detection Dog Center

for Southeast Europe

The Mine Detection Dog Center for Southeast Europe is 

developing local capacity to train mine-detection dogs 

(MDD) for use throughout that region. Located in Bosnia and 

Herzegovina (BiH), the MDDC also provides mine risk education 

for children, and supports regional demining operations.

Since the MDDC opened in October 2003 with the support 

of the U.S. Department of State, around 50 MDDs and their 

handlers have been trained for a variety of organizations, which 

received MDDs from the Marshall Legacy Institute, including 

the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action, and BiH 

nongovernmental organizations Stop Mines, Pro Vita, Eko Dem 

and BH Demining. 

In addition to mine and explosive-detection training, dogs and 

handlers have also been trained for narcotic searches, bomb/

explosives detection, security, and search-and-rescue operations 

for local BiH police forces and the Bosnian Border Service. In 

2006, MDDC was actively involved in supporting demining 

operations with their six MDD teams in Albania, Bosnia and 

Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, and Croatia.

For the MDDC’s first three years of operation, the Office 

of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) in the U.S. 

Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs 

provided funding for the Center though the International Trust 

Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance. At the end of 

2006, the MDDC became financially self-sustaining thanks to its 

professional leadership. 

The South East Europe Mine Action Coordination Council 

recognizes the MDDC as a Regional Center of Excellence.

Point of Contact: 

Marija Alilovic, Public and Donor Relations Officer

Mine Detection Dog Center for South East Europe

Borci b.b., 88400 Konjic

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Telephone: +387 36 739 860 

E-mail: marija.mddc@cob.net.ba

Web site: www.mddc.ba

48 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

T he M iddle E ast

© RKO Photos/Owens Archive

1st Infantry Division dig foxholes and slit trenches south of El Guettar, Tunisia 

during World War II.

Axis and Allied forces both used landmines to defend against attacks during the 

World War II campaigns in Egypt’s Western Desert, Libya, and Tunisia. Many of those 

persistent mines as well as explosive remnants of war continue to pose a threat to this 

day. Here, a U.S. soldier sits in the turret of a captured Tiger I tank, somewhere on the 

Tunisian battlefront during World War II.

United States Army/Public Domain Photo
50 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 51

U . S . H umanitarian M ine A ction P rogram F unding H istory

Afghanistan DOS NADR 1,000 2,200 2,615 3,000 2,800 4,000 5,300 12,519 13,700 14,317 13,500 15,000 89,951

 DoD OHDACA 1,800 1,800

USAID Leahy 1,000 1,000 700 397 350 3,447

 DOS ERF 3,000 3,000 6,000

 DOS FMF 2,000 1,000 500 3,500

 DOS IO 1,000 1,000 2,000

 DOS PRM 4,000 1,000 2,000 1,500 8,500

 DoD ARCENT 2,464 2,464

USAID 5,200 13,925 28,875 48,000

CDC 600 700 400 50 50 1,800

 Country Total 12,200 2,000 3,000 2,200 2,615 3,000 2,800 12,864 25,925 42,794 14,400 14,714 13,900 15,050 167,462

Albania DOS NADR-ITF 684 326 1,417 1,750 1,000 1,000 480 6,657

USAID Leahy 340 340

USAID SEED 1,049 1,049

 Country Total 1,049 684 326 1,417 2,090 1,000 1,000 480 8,046

Angola DOS NADR 1,000 2,400 3,096 2,844 2,800 3,500 5,300 6,172 5,673 4,500 5,800 43,085

 DoD OHDACA 3,900 100 14 4,014

USAID Leahy 2,500 768 732 1,000 900 800 651 1,000 8,351

 DOS FMF 1,170 2,000 3,170

CDC 75 75 150

 Country Total 5,070 4,500 1,868 3,132 3,096 3,844 3,700 3,500 6,100 6,823 6,673 4,589 5,875 58,770

Argentina DoD OHDACA 550 29 579

 Country Total 550 29 579

Armenia DOS NADR 300 850 1,200 250 2,600

 DoD OHDACA 1,110 1,441 67 2,618

USAID Leahy 1,148 1,148

 DOS FSA 1,800 1,200 3,000

 Country Total 1,148 1,410 850 4,441 250 1,267 9,366

Azerbaijan DOS NADR 500 1,100 1,380 1,600 2,468 3,500 3,064 2,300 480 16,392

 DoD OHDACA 140 1,110 1,690 1,600 304 483 425 723 6,475

 DOS FSA 1,100 1,100

 Country Total 140 1,610 1,100 4,170 3,200 2,772 3,983 3,489 3,023 480 23,967

Benin DoD OHDACA 14 14

 Country Total 14 14

Bosnia DOS NADR 300 2,305 2,605

 DOS NADR-ITF 6,175 5,500 5,161 5,150 2,960 3,000 3,373 3,300 3,000 37,619

 DoD OHDACA 1,238 375 2,100 3,713

 DOS PKO 1,000 1,000

 DoD HAP/EP 550 550

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

CDC 300 500 500 500 500 500 205 205 3,210

 Country Total 11,288 5,375 9,400 8,480 5,500 5,461 5,650 3,460 3,500 3,873 3,800 3,205 205 69,197

Burundi DOS NADR 100 100

 Country Total 100 100

Cambodia DOS NADR 1,000 2,000 1,500 2,580 2,468 2,290 2,765 3,466 3,920 4,900 3,937 3,890 34,716

 DoD OHDACA 1,985 420 1,584 90 207 319 158 86 180 94 7 5,130

USAID Leahy 777 750 1,300 390 1,904 1,600 1,187 865 2,825 950 12,548

 DOS FMF 2,050 1,000 3,050

 DOS PKO 250 250

 DOS PRM 1,643 1,643

CDC 50 50 100

 Country Total 6,455 1,670 2,584 2,750 2,800 3,060 4,579 4,209 4,110 4,417 6,925 5,944 3,994 3,940 57,437

Chad DOS NADR 400 732 622 300 350 500 950 1,000 1,780 200 6,834

 DoD OHDACA 1,500 1,000 17 161 244 169 596 3,687

 Country Total 1,900 1,732 639 300 350 661 1,194 1,169 2,376 200 10,521

 COUNTRY SOURCES 1993-95 1996 1997 1998 1999 1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 est. Total

Fiscal Years 1993–2008

(Dollars in Thousands)

P ast recipients of U . S . H umanitarian M ine A ction A ssistance

Past Recipients of U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Assistance

The U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program has provided a wide array of 

mine action assistance—mine clearance; mine risk education; mine survivors 

assistance; training of national program managers and deminers; training 

of medical personnel to render aid to injured deminers; personal protective 

equipment; robust 4x4 vehicles, specialized tractors and mine-resistant demining 

machines; mine-detecting dogs; metal detectors; ambulances for injured 

deminers and others harmed in a mine incident; aerial medevac capability; and 

much more—to a greater number of mine-affected countries around the world 

than those profiled in this edition of To Walk The Earth In Safety.

The United States has provided humanitarian mine action assistance to nearly 

50 countries since the inter-agency program’s formal inception in 1993. The 

following 25 countries have received U.S. mine action assistance in the recent 

past. U.S. mine action assistance normally ceases when the country is able to 

achieve an adequate indigenous mine action capacity at the conclusion of a 

specific program, or when the country is rendered free from the humanitarian 

impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance (“mine impact-free”). Countries 

and regions in green denote that they are now “mine impact-free.”

Argentina

Armenia

Costa Rica

Djibouti

Egypt

El Salvador

Estonia

Ethiopia

Guatemala

Guinea-Bissau

Honduras*

Kosovo*

Macedonia*

Mauritania

Moldova

Namibia

Nigeria**

Oman

Peru

Rwanda

Somalia

Swaziland

Thailand

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Previous Recipients of U.S. Mine Action Assistance

* Although rendered free from the humanitarian impact of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) 

(“mine impact-free”), episodic U.S. mine action assistance has continued or may continue in order to help 

sustain indigenous capacity to deal with those remaining landmines or UXO that are discovered from time 

to time. This recognizes the fact that no country that has been affected by persistent landmines and other 

explosive remnants of war during a conflict can ever be guaranteed to be 100 percent “mine free.”

** Nigeria is not mine affected. However, in 2002 the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Humanitarian 

Demining Programs (now the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement) provided expert emergency 

assistance via a contract with RONCO Consulting Corporation to clean up the dangerous unexploded 

ordnance that littered a large area surrounding the Ikeja munitions depot in Lagos, following a catastrophic 

explosion that killed over 1,100 people, and injured about 5,000.
52 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 53

Kenya USAID Leahy 400 400

 Country Total 400 400

Kosovo DOS NADR 500 500

 DOS NADR-ITF 899 1,945 1,681 110 205 4,840

 DoD OHDACA 500 3,800 4,300

USAID 2,307 1,816 2,378 2,537 1,062 1,108 11,207

USAID SEED 1,636 4,628 6,264

 Country Total 2,307 1,816 2,378 5,173 10,388 3,053 1,681 110 205 27,111

Laos DOS NADR 1,000 1,700 1,800 1,486 993 1,328 1,200 1,412 2,500 3,300 2,550 2,953 22,222

 DoD OHDACA 59 1,800 3,737 864 396 5 6,861

USAID Leahy 750 800 1,000 1,800 500 500 500 1,500 350 7,700

 DOS FMF 500 500

 DOS PKO 250 250

 Country Total 809 2,550 5,537 3,564 3,996 1,486 993 1,828 1,700 1,912 2,500 4,800 2,905 2,953 37,533

Lebanon D0S NADR 291 530 1,282 1,000 1,200 1,475 900 2,300 1,420 1,500 1,000 12,898

 DoD OHDACA 15 489 1,155 1,470 5,007 8,136

USAID Leahy 300 500 600 600 700 700 1,400 1,500 6,300

 DOS IO 2,000 2,000

USAID 1,200 1,200

 Country Total 591 1,030 1,297 1,600 1,200 2,564 2,755 4,470 9,627 2,900 2,500 30,534

Liberia USAID Leahy 1,115 225 500 1,000 416 173 500 500 4,429

CDC 75 75 150

 Country Total 1,115 225 500 1,000 416 173 500 75 575 4,579

Macedonia DOS NADR-ITF 1,000 505 97 50 50 1,702

 Country Total 1,000 505 97 50 50 1,702

Mauritania DOS NADR 534 461 400 1,395

 DoD OHDACA 450 1,123 1,123 661 595 458 4,410

 Country Total 984 1,584 1,523 661 595 458 5,805

Moldova DoD OHDACA 71 71

 Country Total 71 71

Mozambique DOS NADR 200 1,000 1,900 3,840 2,180 2,110 2,632 1,492 2,336 2,344 440 20,474

 DoD OHDACA 6,165 100 2,484 1,600 1,100 11,449

USAID Leahy 2,900 633 1,000 4,533

 DOS FMF 400 200 600

 DOS PRM 1,000 1,000

CDC 200 300 300 400 50 400 400 25 25 2,100

 Country Total 10,465 300 3,317 3,600 3,000 4,040 2,480 2,410 3,032 1,542 2,736 2,744 465 25 40,156

Namibia DOS NADR 400 708 1,053 485 40 65 600 3,351

 DoD OHDACA 1,165 100 1,485 1,650 4,400

 DOS FMF 270 400 670

 Country Total 1,435 500 1,885 2,358 1,053 485 40 65 600 8,421

Nigeria DOS NADR 1,449 1,449

 Country Total 1,449 1,449

OAS DOS NADR 500 1,400 2,242 1,903 1,350 1,695 1,511 2,611 1,776 1,740 1,700 1,300 19,728

 DoD OHDACA 310 200 1,480 1,720 600 460 1,170 550 200 6,690

 USAID Leahy 500 100 478 1,000 2,078

 DOS FMF 1,050 400 1,450

USAID “MITCH” 2,000 2,000

 Country Total 1,360 600 1,980 3,120 3,342 4,363 2,520 2,345 2,189 3,611 1,776 1,740 1,700 1,300 31,946

Oman DOS NADR 1,017 273 495 1,785

 DoD OHDACA 4 179 870 1,500 2,553

 Country Total 4 1,196 1,143 495 1,500 4,338

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

 DoD OHDACA 411 750 650 422 9,669 11,902

 Country Total 1,000 1,411 1,611 875 422 9,669 14,988

(Honduras,

Costa Rica,

Guatemala &

Nicaragua)*

Fiscal Years 1993–2008

(Dollars in Thousands)

 COUNTRY SOURCES 1993-95 1996 1997 1998 1999 1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 est. Total

U . S . H umanitarian M ine A ction P rogram F unding H istory U . S . H umanitarian M ine A ction P rogram F unding H istory

(Dollars in Thousands)

Fiscal Years 1993–2008

Chile DoD OHDACA 735 973 1,708

 Country Total 735 973 1,708

Croatia DOS NADR 600 600

 DOS NADR-ITF 2,975 2,658 4,570 1,779 1,500 2,300 2,300 2,009 20,091

 Country Total 600 2,975 2,658 4,570 1,779 1,500 2,300 2,300 2,009 20,691

Colombia DOS NADR 300 691 991

 DoD OHDACA 940 940

USAID Leahy 500 2,000 2,500

CDC 50 50 50 200 50 50 450

 Country Total 50 50 50 500 500 3,681 50 4,881

Djibouti DOS NADR 746 400 404 350 1,900

 DoD OHDACA 227 723 150 67 1,167

 Country Total 973 1,123 404 500 67 3,067

DRC USAID Leahy 800 500 1,300

 Country Total 800 500 1,300

Ecuador DOS NADR 1,000 1,000 963 360 3,323

 DoD OHDACA 412 700 650 507 313 2,582

 Country Total 1,000 1,412 1,663 1,010 507 313 5,905

Egypt DoD OHDACA 10 708 718

 Country Total 10 708 718

El Salvador USAID Leahy 1,000 500 1,500

CDC 150 300 300 450 450 400 400 195 195 2,840

 Country Total 1,000 500 150 300 300 450 450 400 400 195 195 4,340

Eritrea DOS NADR 500 919 500 1,050 1,602 2,400 1,452 2,800 400 11,623

 DoD OHDACA 3,190 537 218 525 10 5 4,485

 DOS FMF 660 613 1,273

 DOS PKO 287 287

CDC 150 150 150 450

 Country Total 3,850 1,437 718 1,444 10 650 1,205 1,752 2,400 1,452 2,800 400 18,118

Estonia DOS NADR 335 300 200 235 157 1,227

 DoD OHDACA 698 853 55 1,606

 Country Total 335 998 853 200 235 55 157 2,833

Ethiopia DOS NADR 500 1,220 250 1,275 300 3,545

 DoD OHDACA 2,532 537 290 610 10 5 3,984

USAID Leahy 730 500 25 1,255

 DOS FMF 600 400 1,000

 DOS PKO 500 500

CDC 200 350 350 400 400 400 400 173 173 2,846

 Country Total 3,862 1,437 790 1,830 10 450 355 2,125 700 400 400 425 173 173 13,130

Georgia DOS NADR 39 27 1,000 1,100 1,050 1,500 3,000 2,123 1,750 700 12,289

 DoD OHDACA 1,110 4 1,114

 Country Total 39 1,137 1,000 1,100 1,050 1,504 3,000 2,123 1,750 700 13,403

Guinea Bissau DOS NADR 99 489 225 400 577 1,790

 DoD OHDACA 162 1,212 1,374

 Country Total 99 489 225 562 1,789 3,164

Iraq DOS NADR 2,950 2,840 12,000 12,900 30,690

 DOS IRRF 12,268 61,000 9,000 13,200 95,468

CDC 350 50 50 450

 Country Total 15,568 61,000 11,840 13,200 12,050 12,950 126,608

Jordan DOS NADR 400 500 1,900 1,511 947 850 893 950 7,951

 DoD OHDACA 859 1,555 4 2,418

 DOS FMF 300 300

CDC 200 300 300 400 400 400 400 284 284 2,968

 Country Total 300 400 500 2,759 3,266 1,251 1,150 1,293 1,350 400 400 284 284 13,637

 COUNTRY SOURCES 1993-95 1996 1997 1998 1999 1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 est. Total
54 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 55

Global DOS NADR* 865 7,524 7,202 10,061 7,678 7,841 4,735 3,690 5,446 3,156 15,248 73,446

 DOS NADR-ITF* 768 1,236 1,768 2,914 2,670 2,247 2,140 2,153 12,771 28,667

 DoD OHDACA 1,200 1,200 6,172 6,108 1,377 7,424 3,441 7,839 2 841 1,720 197 1,441 38,962

USAID Leahy 985 115 925 1,200 3,100 7,649 4,264 700 6,519 3,902 7,524 3,614 5,900 9,050 55,447

CDC 2,500 2,400 1,250 1,500 1,625 1,200 2,569 2,569 15,613

 Total 2,185 1,315 7,097 8,173 12,001 23,043 21,502 20,385 18,526 13,648 16,806 12,597 15,219 39,638 212,135

Subtotal (Bilateral and Global) 61,664 33,129 40,555 58,328 65,002 91,899 78,387 93,709 108,212 179,064 101,555 104,873 83,398 95,767 1,195,542 

By Account 

DOS NADR** 0 0 7,000 18,210 34,320 39,499 39,407 39,322 45,325 47,987 58,334 55,211 55,483 65,246 505,344

DOS NADR-ITF 0 0 0 0 6,175 10,141 12,684 14,000 10,000 9,941 9,920 9,900 8,647 12,771 104,179

DOD OHDACA 25,086 6,232 19,613 23,559 10,334 22,620 10,889 16,800 3,894 14,006 5,276 7,862 5,368 0 171,539

 USAID Leahy 15,235 5,040 5,126 7,182 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 11,900 11,930 14,900 11,600 10,000 13,850 146,763

All Other DOS 16,143 10,500 2,000 0 0 0 0 6,022 18,268 62,200 9,000 15,200 0 0 139,333

All Other DoD 0 550 0 0 0 0 0 2,464 0 0 0 0 0 0 3,014

DoD RDT & E*** 10,000 3,000 14,746 16,663 17,234 18,847 12,728 13,220 12,893 12,812 13,154 1,379 1,379 1,379 149,434

All Other USAID 5,200 10,807 6,816 9,378 4,173 8,739 1,108 0 13,925 28,875 0 1,200 0 0 90,220

 CDC 0 0 0 0 0 900 4,300 5,100 4,900 4,125 4,125 3,900 3,900 3,900 35,150

Subtotal (No RDT & E) 61,664 33,129 40,555 58,328 65,002 91,899 78,387 93,709 108,212 179,064 101,555 104,873 83,398 95,767 1,195,542

Grand Total (all accounts) 71,664 36,129 55,301 74,991 82,236 110,746 91,115 106,929 121,105 191,876 114,709 106,252 84,777 1,247,830

 

Grand Total (all accounts) 71,664 36,129 55,301 74,991 82,236 110,746 91,115 106,929 121,105 191,876 114,709 106,252 84,777 97,146 1,344,976

Fiscal Years 1993–2008

(Dollars in Thousands)

 COUNTRY SOURCES 1993-95 1996 1997 1998 1999 1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 est. Total

* FY 08 NADR distribution by country TBD.

** Does not include NADR Admin Funds.

*** DoD RDT & E is not reflected in specific Bilateral or Global numbers above. 

or Multilateral

U . S . H umanitarian M ine A ction P rogram F unding H istory

TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 55

A group of houses in close 

proximity to a mine danger zone.

Clear Path International

Legend of Acronyms

DOS NADR: Nonproliferation, Anti-terrorism, Demining, and Related Funds

DoD OHDACA: Overseas Humanitarian Disaster and Civic Aid

USAID/LWVF: USAID Leahy War Victims Fund

DoD ARCENT: U.S. Army Central Forces Central Command

DOSFMF: Foreign Military Financing

DOSFSA: FREEDOM Support Act

DOS PRM: Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration

CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

DOS IO: Bureau of International Organization Affairs

DOS PKO: Peacekeeping Operations

DoD IRRF: Iraq Relief and Reconstruction Fund

SEED: Assistance for Eastern Europe and the Baltic States 

ITF: International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims Assistance

FY 93 - FY 07

FY 93 - FY 08

Philippines USAID Leahy 750 800 1,550

 Country Total 750 800 1,550

Rwanda DOS NADR 500 625 750 285 400 350 375 476 3,761

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

 DOS FMF 300 400 700

 Country Total 4,880 500 2,110 2,125 750 285 400 350 375 476 12,251

Senegal DOS NADR 112 450 562

 DoD OHDACA 252 252

USAID Leahy 500 500

 Country Total 500 112 702 1,314

Serbia & DOS NADR-ITF 833 1,021 1,000 1,000 3,854

 Country Total 833 1,021 1,000 1,000 3,854

Serbia DOS NADR-ITF 750 750

 Country Total 750 750

Sierra Leone USAID Leahy 61 32 1,000 500 1,593

 Country Total 61 32 1,000 500 1,593

Somalia DOS NADR 343 1,150 1,400 1,400 1,200 450 5,943

Country Total 343 1,150 1,400 1,400 1,200 450 5,943

Sri Lanka DOS NADR 2,400 1,775 2,700 1,108 400 8,383

 DoD OHDACA 183 40 24 247

USAID Leahy 100 200 200 200 300 400 400 400 400 900 350 500 4,350

 DOS ESF 122 122

CDC 50 50 25 25 25 175

 Country Total 100 200 200 383 300 400 450 612 2,824 2,700 2,700 1,458 425 525 13,277

Sudan DOS NADR 896 2,858 2,500 2,420 2,625 3,400 14,699

 Country Total 896 2,858 2,500 2,420 2,625 3,400 14,699

Swaziland DOS NADR 210 210

 DoD OHDACA 828 8 836

 Country Total 210 828 8 1,046

Tajikistan DoD OHDACA 7 7

 Country Total 7 7

Tanzania USAID Leahy 300 300 600 500 1,700

 Country Total 300 300 600 500 1,700

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

 DoD OHDACA 77 1,773 932 229 68 8 8 8 86 3,189

 Country Total 77 2,823 2,152 1,499 718 8 8 8 86 7,379

Tunisia DoD OHDACA 3 214 217

 Country Total 3 214 217

Uganda USAID Leahy 1,000 1,000

 Country Total 1,000 1,000

Vietnam DOS NADR 139 1,096 1,000 1,650 1,500 2,427 2,714 2,850 3,300 2,575 2,575 21,826

 DoD OHDACA 454 96 118 93 2 763

USAID Leahy 4,730 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,500 1,300 1,000 500 3,264 1,500 22,794

CDC 100 400 400 400 400 74 74 1,848

 Country Total 4,730 1,500 1,500 1,639 2,596 2,954 3,246 3,218 4,220 4,114 3,750 6,964 2,651 4,149 47,231

Yemen DOS NADR 270 1,462 1,236 1,023 750 750 773 750 700 375 8,089

 DoD OHDACA 78 3,622 216 710 5 54 4 4,689

 Country Total 78 3,892 1,678 1,946 1,028 750 750 827 754 700 375 12,778

Zambia DOS NADR 12 772 816 450 2,050

 DoD OHDACA 424 424

 Country Total 12 772 1,240 450 2,474

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

 DoD OHDACA 1,500 1,000 765 3,265

 Country Total 2,180 1,743 1,905 523 6,351

Montenegro

(FY 93 - 06)

Fiscal Years 1993–2008

(Dollars in Thousands)

 COUNTRY SOURCES 1993-95 1996 1997 1998 1999 1900 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 est. Total

U . S . H umanitarian M ine A ction P rogram F unding H istory
56 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY | 57

Points of Contact

Officeof Weapons

Removal andAbatement

Richard G. Kidd IV

Director

KiddRG@state.gov

James F. Lawrence

Principal Deputy Director

Public Engagement and Resources Management

LawrenceJF@state.gov Colonel Yori R. Escalante, 

USMC

Deputy Director Mine Action Programs

EscalanteYR@state.gov

Steve R. Costner

Deputy Director, Policy

CostnerSR@state.gov Tim R. Groen

Resource Management

GroenTR@state.gov

John E. Stevens III

Public Affairs/Public Diplomacy

SteveJE@state.gov

To Walk the Earth in Safety

Adopt-A-Minefield Association of Volunteers in International Service C. King 

Associates LTD Center for International Rehabilitation Center for Teaching 

International Relations Children of Armenia Fund Children’s Surgical Centre 

(formerly Rose Charities) CIREC Clear Path International Coalition Against 

Landmines Cranfield University DanChurchAid Danish Demining Group 

DC Comics Demining Agency for Afghanistan Freedom Fields USA Global 

Care Unlimited Golden West Humanitarian Foundation Grapes for Humanity 

 The HALO Trust Handicap International–France Health Volunteers Overseas 

 Help Handicapped International The Humpty Dumpty Institute Information 

Management and Mine Action Programs Inc. International Eurasia Press Fund 

Iraqi Mine and UXO Clearance Organization The Julia Burke Foundation Kids 

First Vietnam Landmines Blow! Lipscomb University MAG (Mines Advisory 

Group) Marshall Legacy Institute MCPA–Afghanistan MDC–Afghanistan 

Medical Care Development International Messiah College Landmine Action Project 

 Mine Action Information Center Newsweek Education Program One Sri Lanka 

Foundation Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghanistan Rehabilitation 

PeaceTrees Vietnam People to People International The Polus Center for Social 

& Economic Development Positive Play Prestige Health Care Technologies 

Prosthetics Outreach Foundation Roots of Peace Dr. Ken Rutherford/Missouri 

State University Save the Children Schonstedt Instrument Company South 

Florida Landmine Awareness Group Spirit of Soccer Students Partnership 

Worldwide Survey Action Center Survivor Corps (formerly Landmine Survivors 

Network) Swiss Foundation for Mine Action United for Colombia United 

Nations Foundation Veterans for America Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund 

World Education World Rehabilitation Fund

Produced by JMU’s Mine Action Information Center and The Hatchery Design Company.

The power of civil society! 

This particular clearance site 

was being worked on by The 

HALO Trust thanks to funding 

from the Freedom Fields USA 

nongovernmental organization in 

Carmel, California, and Rotarians 

in Seattle, Washington. 

PM/WRA encourages the 

generous contributions and 

involvement of concerned 

citizens and the private sector in 

mine action and conventional 

weapons destruction around 

the world through its PublicPrivate Partnership program, 

which marked its 10th

Anniversary in 2007.

Richard Kidd, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

A team of MAG deminers show Zeke Topolosky, Project Engineer 

(center), and Charlie Chichester, Deputy Program Manager (right), of 

the U.S. Department of Defense’s Humanitarian Demining Research 

and Development Program (HD R&D), the state of the “hammers” on 

a Tempest flail demining machine. The Tempest is being field tested 

in Cambodia by MAG with HD R&D’s support.

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement

United States Department of StatePublic-Private Partners

in Humanitarian Mine Action

56 | TO WALK THE EARTH IN SAFETY

Thanks to the efforts of the United States and other donor nations, several mine action 

organizations, and Vietnamese authorities, future generations of Vietnamese, such as these 

schoolchildren in Quang Tri province near the border with Laos, will no longer have to be 

concerned about “hidden killers” left from past conflicts. In 2006, there were 96 reported 

casualties from explosive remnants of war and landmines throughout Vietnam, according 

to the Landmine Monitor. With further properly focused work that draws from the regional 

Landmine Impact Survey conducted by Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation and 

the Bomb and Mine Disposal Technology Center, funded by PM/WRA, casualties should 

continue to drop and even more land be made available for safe use. A further reflection 

of Vietnam’s evolution from a conflict-affected country to one with a growing economy is 

that while war-related casualties have plummeted, about 43 Vietnamese are killed in traffic 

accidents every day, according to Vietnam’s National Traffic Safety Committee.

John Stevens, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement
B u r e a u o f P o l i t i c a l - M i l i t a r y A f f a i r s U . s . De p a r t m e n t o f S t a t e

The U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program is an interagency initiative 

operated by the U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, 

U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy War Victims Fund and the 

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its field programs comprise 

mine clearance, mine survivors assistance, mine risk education, and research 

and development. 

Pictured here is the challenge coin of the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action 

Program (formerly the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program); it is given to 

foreign recipients of U.S. mine action aid. It also serves as a logo and appears 

on some of the vehicles and other specialized mine clearance equipment that is 

donated by the United States to these aid recipients. 

Office of Weapons Removal 

& Abatement (PM/WRA)

Bureau of Political-Military Affairs

U.S. Department of State

SA-3, Suite 6100

2121 Virginia Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20522

United States of America

telephone: +1 202 663 0100

facsimile: +1 202 663 0090

www.state.gov/t/pm/wra

“So that others may walk the earth in safety”