This tracing and lifting of mines, as I saw in Angola, is a desperately slow business. So in my mind a central question remains. The country is enriched by the work done by its overseas agencies and non-governmental organisations who work to help people in Africa and Asia to improve the quality of their lives. Yet mines cast a constant shadow over so much of this work. Resettlement of refugees is made more hazardous.
Good land is put out of bounds.
Recovery from war is delayed. Aid workers themselves are put at risk. I think we owe it. I also think it would be of benefit to us, as well as to them. The more expeditiously we can end this plague on earth caused by the landmine, the more readily can we set about the constructive tasks to which so many give their hand in the cause of humanity.