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Seeing the bones of countless dead camels is a certain sign that life does not get much harder than here. |
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Kouba Olanga is a vital stopping-off point for camel trains in this part of the Sahara. |
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Demining in the desert. |
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The area MAG cleared of unexploded ordnance took in a key water point outside the town... |
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...and a battlefield site that was constantly being used by nomads. |
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In the foreground, a PG-9 rocket with assorted mortar bombs lined up behind it. |
- By Sean Moorhouse, Technical Field Manager, MAG
Replete with too much sun, lots of sand and countless flies, Kouba Olanga would make a perfect setting for the next film version of Beau Geste.
Situated in the Chadian portion of the Sahara Desert and literally in the middle of nowhere, Kouba Olanga is the last water point for at least 300 kilometres in all directions. This makes it a vital – in the strictest sense of the word – stopping-off point for the countless camel trains that plod their way across this part of the Sahara.
Kouba Olanga has a, mostly nomadic, population of 2,000 to 3,000 people and the sandy vastness that surrounds it is liberally scattered with the bleached bones of those animals unable to reach its precious water points in time.
It’s one thing to find the remains of donkeys and goats, but seeing the bones of countless dead camels is a certain sign that life does not get much harder than here.
It only has six permanent buildings, a smattering of mud-built houses and an untidy collection of straw huts that comes and goes with the population. Prior to MAG’s arrival, it was also contaminated with the explosive residue of war.
Kouba Olanga was the sight of a major battle in 1984, when a largely unnoticed war raged across the emptiness of the Sahara between Libya and Chad.
MAG conducted a survey here in December 2008 and found that the town and its surroundings were littered with explosive ordnance, ranging in size from large artillery rockets to finger-sized fuses, just big enough to blow off a human hand.
Two MAG teams, funded and tasked by UNOPS, arrived and set up camp in Kouba Olanga on 6 May this year. Aided by information collected from the local population, they began clearing ordnance from within the town and gradually worked outwards.
The clearance effort took in a key water point outside the town and a battlefield site that was constantly being used by nomads. The MAG teams removed all of the ordnance they could find and chose one of the countless vast expanses of nothing to destroy it in. This ensured that none of the local population were killed or injured in the process.
Despite the unrelenting and merciless heat and the skin-shredding sand storms, the MAG teams managed to clear and destroy a total of 1,316 items of explosive ordnance, two anti-tank mines and 1,438 potentially fatal heavy machine gun rounds.
As far as the local population is aware, MAG is the only non-governmental organisation to have ever worked in Kouba Olanga. Perhaps as a result of this, MAG Chad expanded its remit to include the repair of two of the town’s three water pumps.
Although plumbing and water pump replacement do not usually fall under the definition of mine action, MAG had to make an exception in this case. After all, the sole reason for Kouba Olanga to exist is its water points…and MAG needs water too.
Should a film director be looking for locations for the next film about the French Foreign Legion, Kouba Olanga might not be the first place to spring to mind but it is now much safer than it was and the film crew should have access to safe drinking water.
22 May 09
Links:
- Why does MAG work in Chad?
- Donate to MAG online - more than 90 per cent of MAG's income is spent directly on clearance programmes
- Other ways to Get Involved - shop, run, walk, skydive, drink wine...
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