ANGOLA
The MgM mine clearance project Bengo (3)
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As long as roads cannot be used, refugee camps remain full, fields remain unplowed and schools remain empty. |
THE BEGINNING OF THE MINE CLEARANCE
At the invitation of the foreign office, Referat 300, the newly founded MgM accepted an apparently impossible contract to prepare the entire region for the safe return of the internally displaced people.What followed was a deluge of work under the hardest of circumstances using mine clearing systems specially developed by MgM. Because of dire financial difficulties our machinery was built from war junk and the so-called "experts" shook their heads with disapprovaL. In order to reach the roads to be cleared, bridges in the area had to be cleared from mines and repaired.
Alongside the expected problems of clearing mines in a mountainous tropical rain forest in a fragile time of peace came a tremendous logistical handicap. Materials promised by the German Armed Forces unexpectedly didn't come through. In a unique statement of solidarity the "competition" supplied MgM with a complete set of camping gear, first-aid equipment and even 4x4 vehicles. With such faith in our capabilities and the hopes of thousands of people on our shoulders, there was only one way for us to go. Against all odds, and against the stated will of the government, we opened the roads back home meter by meter, at times even centimeter by centimeter.
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Form the junk yards of civil war: Custom made and mine safe military vehicles pitch in for the reconstruction of peace. |
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In this chapter you will find additional information on the following topics: | •
Refugees in their own land | •
Angola report 2001 (PDF) |
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