LUANDA, Angola, December 3, 2015/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
The UK Government will commemorate twenty years of MAG’s work in Angola to reduce the daily threat of fatality and injury with new funding for the purchase of demining equipment, the UK Ambassador John Dennis announced at a reception in Luanda.
Angola has long been recognised as one of the most landmine contaminated countries in the world. Hundreds of thousands of Angolans still live in daily fear of mines and other explosive remnants of war, in the very soil on which they build their houses, walk to market and grow the family’s food.
MAG continues to work in Moxico – the poorest and worst affected province, and one which accounts for one sixth of the national territory – and is determined to stay in Angola until the job is done Ambassador Dennis confirmed the allocation of new funding from the British Embassy Bilateral programme funds will be awarded to UK clearance operators MAG to remove and destroy unexploded ordnance (UXO), as well as run vital Mine Risk Education programmes to teach rural communities to identify and report mines to local authorities.
This funding will clear and release more than 91,500m² of land over a six-month period, indirectly benefitting in excess of 7,500 men, women and children.
As well as saving lives and reducing casualties, the funding will clear land to enable the construction of a school for 409 pupils, provide housing, and free up land for grazing and agriculture. Since 1994, MAG has removed and destroyed close to 40,000 landmines and UXO items in Angola. For further information on their work please visit their website
