Approximately 250,000 mines were laid in Mozambique during Mozambique’s struggle for independence (1964-75) and during the civil war that followed (1975-92)

Halo Trust, one of the most prominent international de-mining organisations, is about to end its operations in the Niassa Province in northern Mozambique, having helped locate all of the mines capable of being found. This development is of great significance in signalling that what was one of the most land-mined countries in the world in the early 1990s is showing solid progress in returning all mined land to previous use.
 
Halo, began operations in Niassa Province in 1995.  In the first year of full-scale mine-clearance activities, they worked with the Irish NGO Concern, as an access facilitator, clearing mines from roads, access routes and other suspect hazardous areas.  Over the ten year period, since then, the Irish Aid has financed de-mining operations in the province to the tune of almost €3 million.

The National De-mining Institute, the Government agency tasked with leading the country’s de-mining efforts, is in the process of developing its 3 strategic plan for 2007-2009.  Building on the work and progress of Halo in the Northern provinces, and in partnership with other de-mining agencies they are planning to rid the remaining provinces of all known minefields by the end of 2009. 

De-mining in the Niassa province
From October 1995 to April 2006, over 75 minefields have been cleared, with1,968 landmines being destroyed in the process.  This has freed up huge areas of land for agricultural and other use.  All formally mined areas have been handed back to the district authorities so that the land and buildings can once again be put into productive use (e.g. schools, health posts, water sources, agriculture land and resettlement).  In addition to the day to day work of de-mining Halo has also responded to requests from the local authorities, the police and the local population to deal with any dangerous explosive items found in the province.  302 call outs were responded to and 12,016 items of UXO and 66,465 rounds of small arms ammunition destroyed.
 
All 841 registered villages and a further 133 unregistered communities in Niassa have been visited and inspected to confirm that all known threats have been dealt with and that there is no further requirement for Halo’s presence in the province.
Niassa is the first province in Mozambique where a de-mining organisation has deemed itself out of business.

Irish Aid support to the Halo Trust 
Irish Aid currently contributes to the work of Halo in Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Somaliland. Ireland has previously supported their operations in Chechnya, Kosovo and Eritrea and has in sum donated approximately $15 million to Halo humanitarian operations, across all programmes, over the past fifteen years.

Halo Trust is a non-religious, non-political NGO, registered in Britain as a charity and in the United States as a Not-for-Profit organisation.  It specialises in the removal of the debris of war, particularly landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and Small Arms / Light Weapons (SALW) in post-conflict zones.
 
It employs over 6,800 national staff and 35 expatriate specialists.  It is engaged in operations in ten programmes around the world: Abkhazia (Georgia), Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Kosovo, Mozambique, Nagorno Karabakh, Somaliland, Sri Lanka and Sudan. Halo is the largest independent humanitarian de-mining operator in the world and since being established in 1988 has destroyed over 5.5 million dangerous explosive items and returned just over a 100 million square metres of land-mined ground back to productive use.      

Link to the Halo Trust website