Northern Uganda mine-free - UN
Apr 06, 2008
LANDMINE experts from the United Nations Development Programme have declared the war-ravaged northern Uganda free of landmines.
By Chris Ocowun
LANDMINE experts from the United Nations Development Programme have declared the war-ravaged northern Uganda free of landmines.
“Our surveys in Gulu, Amuru, Pader, Kitgum and Kasese districts, Lango and Teso regions, show no mine fields exist,†said Jose Neil Manzano, the programme specialist for the crisis prevention and recovery unit. This was during the commemoration of the international landmine risk awareness day in Pader town on Friday.
Manzano encouraged the estimated 288,000 internally displaced people in transit from the camps to their villages not to panic because a team was collecting the unexploded landmines.
“Our partners such are Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief, World Vision, AVSI and the Danish Refugee Council are carrying out mine risk education among the people,†he stated.
The landmine experts last year began the demining exercise in the northern region from Gulu district. They removed and destroyed 140 unexploded mines.
However, the state minister for the elderly and disability affairs, Sulaiman Madada, who presided over the function, cautioned the returnees against complacency. He asked them to look out for hidden mines.
The displaced people had expressed fear about returning home, saying landmines and other explosives may have been planted in their abandoned compounds, gardens and water points during the war.
The Pader internal security officer, Isaac Ssawe, said residents were stuck in the 455 transit camps for fear of landmines.
LANDMINE experts from the United Nations Development Programme have declared the war-ravaged northern Uganda free of landmines.
“Our surveys in Gulu, Amuru, Pader, Kitgum and Kasese districts, Lango and Teso regions, show no mine fields exist,†said Jose Neil Manzano, the programme specialist for the crisis prevention and recovery unit. This was during the commemoration of the international landmine risk awareness day in Pader town on Friday.
Manzano encouraged the estimated 288,000 internally displaced people in transit from the camps to their villages not to panic because a team was collecting the unexploded landmines.
“Our partners such are Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief, World Vision, AVSI and the Danish Refugee Council are carrying out mine risk education among the people,†he stated.
The landmine experts last year began the demining exercise in the northern region from Gulu district. They removed and destroyed 140 unexploded mines.
However, the state minister for the elderly and disability affairs, Sulaiman Madada, who presided over the function, cautioned the returnees against complacency. He asked them to look out for hidden mines.
The displaced people had expressed fear about returning home, saying landmines and other explosives may have been planted in their abandoned compounds, gardens and water points during the war.
The Pader internal security officer, Isaac Ssawe, said residents were stuck in the 455 transit camps for fear of landmines.