ANGOLA

Angola report 2001 [4]

OPERATIONS

Private funding and donations help

Funding shortages prevented MgM from becoming fully operational until February 2001. Some EOD activities were carried out in January and February, from the Ondjiva Operations Base in Cunene Province in support of returning IDPs to make their home areas safe. This was achieved with a limited but very helpful amount of private funding and donations of diesel from the Provincial Government, those these were in extremely short supply due to lack of deliveries from the main fuel depots in Namibe.

Retraining of all demining team members commenced on the 4th of February in the Ambriz Demining Base, in Bengo Province. The mechanics prepared all the demining support vehicles, while the MgM Paramedics carried out training for the local nurses to improve their abilities to serve the local population

Back to normal work

Full scale demining re-commenced on the 11th of February, on a minefield complex outside Ambriz, around the lake Yanga dia Vata. This is one of two minefield complexes that need to be cleared to make the area around Ambriz safe for all inhabitants, and for its future expansion. The second complex is a barrier minefield that was constructed to directly protect the town. Most of the minefield complex at Yanga dia Vata was cleared during year 2000, and the rest of the minefields in this complex, plus the protective barrier minefield were expected to be cleared during 2001.

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