Clearing roads of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) is crucial to helping improve the standard of living in Moxico, the province in Angola most heavily contaminated by remnants of conflict.
Cangamba |
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View Cangamba in a larger map |
MAG Angola’s Road Operations Unit is currently working on a 98-kilometre stretch in the isolated municipality of Luchazes, from the communa1 of Cassamba to Cangamba [see map].
During the country’s civil war, Luchazes was a former stronghold of UNITA (the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola), and as such saw heavy fighting against the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola). In order to protect their base in Cangamba, the municipality’s capital, UNITA troops laid mines along the main access route to the town.
MAG's initial work in the immediate area saw it remove and destroy four anti-personnel mines, two anti-tank mines and two items of UXO, following the discovery of mines by construction workers building a new bridge over the river Luio.
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The Road Operations Unit clearing the road from Cangamba to Cassamba. In high-risk sections, such as at bridges, the team carries out 100 per cent manual clearance with hand-held detectors. Top: The newly erected bridge over River Luio, near Cassamba. The remains of the wooden bridge destroyed by conflict in the early 1980s can be seen below. The Road Operations Unit continues to clear the road on the other side. [Photos: MAG Angola] |
“They were lucky not to hit a mine [which a truck stopped just short of],” says David Tito, the Provincial Director Of Roads and Bridges of INEA, the state agency responsible for roads and bridges.
“We are waiting for MAG to clear the road and then we will start developing (it)," he adds. "Access is difficult to Cangamba. There is no alternative route to the municipality.”
Only military trucks can currently pass along this road, meaning that basic goods such as fuel are expensive, and that the supply is sometimes irregular. Goods are generally sent to the municipal capital, Cangamba, first and are then later distributed to the other communas.
The roads to the other communas are also mined, which means that people are not able to directly access Cangamba, where the local administration and basic services such as education and a health clinic are located, and are forced to take long diversions.
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”This was the most affected municipality... through MAG’s work we can rehabilitate the area.” Jose Mutuaheno, |
Jose Mutuaheno (right), the Deputy Administrator in Cangamba, emphasises the need not only for road clearance, but for land clearance too. Jose arrived in the area in the area five years ago, when there were no bridges on the roads.
“The first office was in a military base in a tent. Later on, we constructed some houses with poles and mud. We didn’t even have any iron sheets in Luchazes. Now you can see there is a school and some houses and an office where we can work. We can get channel one and two2 and we can even talk by telephone.”
Despite the visible signs of improvement, many challenges to recovery remain. The relative isolation and presence of mines means the administration is finding it difficult to keep qualified staff.
“We are fighting to construct a hospital here in the municipality,” said Jose Mutuaheno. “[But] teachers and the health staff are refusing to come, they are running away. This is difficult for development.”
Landmines make it hard to convince people to return to the bairros1: the current population of the municipality is only 27,900, compared to the pre-civil war 59,000.
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Fernanda Jamba, wife of the chief of Luangingo. The couple have returned to their original bairro and are now cultivating land there. |
Though some people have been returning from Zambia and from other areas of the country, many are waiting for the development of the roads and for the land clearance to take place. Several areas in and around the town, including near the airstrip and the administration offices, have been identified as suspected hazardous areas, and mines are being discovered on a regular basis.
MAG’s Community Liaison team have been working on the area delivering Mine Risk Education messages, while the Rapid Response Team has been called to Explosive Ordnance Disposal spot tasks several times in the municipality in recent months.
Mines are also discouraging returnees from using land for agriculture, preventing the recovery of a previously self-sufficient sector.
Nevertheless, the opening of the road and the clearance that is taking place is encouraging some people to return, and communities are reviving. Fernanda Jamba is the wife of the Soba (chief) of Luangingo, one of the communities along the road MAG is clearing. She and her husband have been able to return to their original bairro and cultivate crops.
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The road from Cassamba to Cangamba. This is the main route to the municipal capital and will be rehabilitated when clearance has been completed. At present only military trucks supply goods to this municipality. |
“We are very happy with MAG’s work," she says. "We will have good access to the bairro and to the community in Cangamba." There they they will find a market for their produce.
After the current road task in completed, the Road Operations Unit will return to the municipality to improve access to the road from Muay to Cangamba. Because the road is mined, farmers are at present unable to access the market in Cangamba, and in some cases are walking 300 kilometres to buy what they need and sell their produce.
“If MAG can clear [the road and land] then all the people will be happy and the standard of living will improve,” says Jose Mutuaheno.
Notes:
1 Administratively Angola is divided into provinces, which are subdivided into municipalities which are further subdivided into communas. Communas are made up of a number of bairros or communities.
2 Angolan television stations.
19 March 2010
MAG thanks the following donors to its Angolan Road Operations Unit: Chevron Oil - Angola; Department for International Development (UK); Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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