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DR CONGO: Building on peace

Story and photograph by Stephanie Gallagher:

Thanks to MAG teams funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the village of Mukato has been cleared of a stockpile of anti-tank shells, several hundred rounds of machine gun ammunition and a .50 calibre machine gun.

MAG staff Mukato, DRC
A member of MAG staff with some of the UXO (unexploded ordnance) found in Mukato, eastern DR Congo
MAG’s mine risk education (MRE) provides returning and resident communities with information about the threats posed by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), and how to live safely in a contaminated environment.

It was thanks to MRE that the Chief of Mukato, a village located in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was able to keep his community safe until MAG could provide mine and UXO clearance earlier this year.

During his journey back from Zambia in 2005, he passed a MAG sign that was part of a UNICEF-funded MRE project, identifying dangerous items and warning returnees not to touch them. When he learned of the UXO buried in his village, just 25 metres from where people were living and farming, he warned all local residents not to touch the dangerous items or to build further housing.

For two years the Chief kept the residents of his village and those passing through safe. MAG came to learn of the items in the village through its initial community liaison activities. Eventually, a stockpile consisting of anti-tank shells and several hundred rounds of machine gun ammunition along with a .50 calibre machine gun was found.

Due to their unstable nature, eight items had to be destroyed in situ. The remaining items were transported to a safe location and destroyed in a bulk demolition by teams funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID) and the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Now that the village has been cleared, the land has been declared safe and will be used for additional housing and agriculture. The Chief expressed his gratitude: "Thanks to MAG’s work there’ll be no more accidents or death due to leftover munitions in the village."

Mukato is continuing on the road to recovery, with more returnees still expected to resettle in the coming months.

By preventing further accidents, injury and even death as a result of the remnants of conflict, MAG is contributing to the initial steps of stabilising the fragile peace in this part of the country – action that not only saves lives, but also contributes to the future safety and economic security of villages like Mukato.