‘US demines 6 000 explosives in Zim’
contaminated.
US-based Zimbabwean analyst Pearl Chiweshe said it was unfortunate that some villagers who reside in contaminated areas were not free, as the country geared to celebrate its 41st Independence anniversary.
“As Zimbabwe approaches its 41st Independence day anniversary, it remains contaminated with landmines . . . Technical experts agree that Zimbabwe has more landmines than Afghanistan,” Chiweshe said.
Villagers cannot fetch firewood, venture into livestock and agricultural farming, while their children have to learn to navigate the landmine infested forests at a tender age, as they make their way to and from school.
Over the years, a total of 1 500 people and 100 000 livestock have been lost in the country.
Landmines were planted by the Rhodesian Forces in the 1970s during the liberation war, mostly along border areas.
At Independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was left with seven major mined areas along its borders with Mozambique and Zambia, and one inland minefield laid by the Rhodesian Army.
Initially, anti-personnel mines were laid in very dense belts (on average 2 500 mines per km of frontage) to form a so-called “cordon sanitaire,” with up to 5 500 mines per km in some places.
Overtime, this cordon sanitaire was breached or subject to erosion. In response, in many sections, a second belt of “ploughshare” directional fragmentation mines protected by anti-personnel mines was laid behind the cordon sanitaire.
Anti-vehicle mines were used extensively by armed groups, but most were detonated by vehicles or have since been cleared.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa claimed he tiptoed dangerous landmines along the Mozambique-Zimbabwe border when he fled from his predecessor, Robert Mugabe, following a nasty fallout in 2017, before the military coup.
According to Zimac’s revised mine action work plan for 2020–2025, a total of US$65,6 million is required by the mine action programme to meet its extended Article 5 deadline by 2025.
Zimac indicated that the government has been committing US$500 000, annually to the project. is could take over a century to complete decommission contaminated areas if the country is to depend on the current government funding.