§ John BarrettTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what progress has been made with the clearance of landmines in Angola.[76743]
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§ Mr. MacshaneA total of eight demining NGOs, including two British (HALO Trust and Mines Advisory Group (MAG)) are active in Angola. The cessation of military hostilities earlier this year has allowed them access to areas previously inaccessible because of insecurity.
According to data available from the Angolan Government, NGOs, and UNICEF/UNDP sources, humanitarian demining agencies in Angola have in 2002 collectively worked on a total of 35 minefields, of which 29 have been completely cleared. This work has involved clearing a total of 1.5 million square metres of mined/ suspect land and more than 500 km of road. A further 3.5 million square metres have been surveyed during the same period in the provinces of Cunene, Benguela, Bie, Huambo, Kuanza Norte, Luanda, Malanje and Moxico. Throughout the course of the year demining NGOs have uncovered and destroyed over 2,000 anti-personnel landmines, 176 anti-tank mines and 28,000 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO).