HALO Zimbabwe deployed its first three demining teams on Monday 11 November 2013 to clear mines laid in the 1970s along Zimbabwe’s border with Mozambique.
Clearance has started at Foya village (population 1,500) in Mashonaland Central where there is an urgent humanitarian need for clearance. The community live on one side of a main road that runs through this border village, whilst on the other side is a dense barrier minefield. The community have been forced to cross through this minefield to reach the main source of water, to graze livestock and cultivate. Numerous human and livestock accidents have occurred since the mines were laid, and the mines have hampered wider development.
Locally-recruited deminer Trymore Butau from Foya village found the first mine on Tuesday, and after just three days of clearance, over ten mines have been located and destroyed so far. The villagers have said that after the mines are cleared, they plan to use the ground to rebuild family homes that were bulldozed when the minefield was laid.
HALO would like to thank those that have allowed HALO Zimbabwe to start operations including: the Government of Japan (ODA), the Government of the United States (PM/WRA), the Government of Ireland (Irish Aid), the Julia Burke Foundation, Actiefonds Mijnen Ruimen, the Dulverton Trust, and the Jack Deloss Charitable Trust.
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