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| An Endless African Tsunami | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Man-Made Landmine Disaster
Must Not Be Forgotten The wave of emergency aid and charitable assistance to the victims of the Asian tsunami disaster has again proved how powerful international solidarity can be in rendering assistance to people who find themselves in a catastrophic situation. The focus of all international media on the event showed an enormously positive effect: Humanitarian aid and assistance for reconstruction, amounting to billions of dollars, have been pouring into the affected countries over the past few weeks. This cannot be faulted in any way, but it has had an unfortunate and unintended, negative side effect: All other humanitarian disasters elsewhere in the world have simply been pushed into the background, beyond the limits of our collective conscience. If one is to measure the true extent of any given humanitarian disaster by means of the number of people affected by it, then Africa, in effect, is experiencing a tsunami event every three to four months. Lack of nourishment, disease, civil wars and the deadly legacies of armed conflicts raging through the continent continues to take a deadly toll of hundreds of thousands of African lives every year. MgM, a humanitarian demining organisation, have been clearing minefields, unexploded ordinance and other deadly but abandoned detritus of war in various former war zones in Africa since 1996. In rendering this humanitarian aid, this German NGO not only saves several thousands of peoples lives, but also enables the socio-economic rehabilitation of those millions of Africans living in countries formerly ravaged by war, such as Angola and Mozambique. Above all, the clearing of landmines from the road networks and routes of transit has initiated and stimulated the amazing self-healing powers of these countries: Health services, free movement of people and goods, individual initiative and last but not least, the restoration of educational systems have been proven to be a direct consequence of this humanitarian assistance. But in order to do so, MGM needs the unflagging support of the general public, the media and the political will of all concerned. The man-made disaster that are the thousands of minefields littering formerly war-affected countries in Africa can only be undone by the involvement of every man and woman of good conscience. Restoring the human dignity by addressing this, one of the worst humanitarian disasters ever, deserves as much attention as any other humanitarian disaster elsewhere. In the past year, MGM has cleared 3.5 million square meters of mine-affected land (most of it agricultural), removing and destroying more than 7,000 landmines and other explosive devices in the process. Some 350 kilometres of economically critical roads were re-opened in 2004, the first time these could be used in decades, allowing hundreds of thousands of formerly displaced people to return to their lands. However, countless other internally displaced people still languish in refugee camps, waiting for assistance to cope with the landmine fields that still hold them hostage, long after armed conflict has ended. They should not be forgotten, and equally deserve to be helped as a matter of urgency. You can donate on-line donation now. Donations can also be made by international bank transfer to: International Volksbank Krefeld e.G. Konto 1000200030 BLZ 320 603 62 VIA SWIFT GENODE DD back |
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