This weeks article discusses the clearing of landmines from South Sudan. Since this area used to be a full on war zone, there are many landmines left over and still active. Reportingly, there have been, “a total of 1,243 injuries and 3,158 deaths from landmines”. These numbers show that when people experience these landmines, over 50 percent of them die and are lucky if they survive. This makes sense because landmines are designed to do just that, kill the enemies. However, now they are killing the innocent civilians that were left behind. This is why a private contractor, Mechem, was called to take action. They came in with vehicles that were mine resistant, sniffer dogs, and metal detectors and located all the landmines that they could. “According to the government’s South Sudan Demining Commission (SSDC), 1,653 dangerous areas have been identified. Of those, 559 were cleared of mines by the end of 2010”. There have been many other demining teams that have come in as well.
The main problem of the landmines was obviously the deaths that came from it, but another reason is because people would not use it. Refugees would not come back, and therefore the place where they left now has less workers, and that leads to less money to spend in the markets, and that whole cycle. Another important aspect is trade. No one is going to travel to these areas because they are in fear of being killed by the mines. This just means that they are not getting any goods that they cannot grow themselves, and it is known that Sudan is not able to support themselves without aid. However, if they continue to de-mine the land, Southern Sudan could have a better future.
http://www.newsfromafrica.org/newsfromafrica/articles/art_13066.html
