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Sixteen members of the Democratic Republic of Congo's Armed Forces will carry out important clearance work to make the DRC a safer country after being trained by MAG.
The FARDC (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo) personnel make up two Manual Clearance Teams, formed with the support of the UK Department for International Development under MAG’s new “Linking Mine Action and Development” project in DRC.
Having completed the basic deminers course in accordance with International Mine Action Standards, the teams will now apply their theoretical and practical knowledge to contribute to the national humanitarian demining clearance operations. This will be done under supervision from the MAG Technical Field Managers who conducted their month-long training.
One team will deploy to Dimbelenge territory in Kasai Occidental province, to conduct technical survey and clearance work of high-priority Suspected Hazardous Areas, while the other will deploy to Bas Congo province, carrying out the equally high-priority clearance of the Lindu minefield.
MAG maximises the long-term impact of our work by improving the skills and broadening the experience of DRC's workforce.
Training such as this reinforces the country's mine action capacity – vital for ensuring the lasting impact of Humanitarian Mine Action work and achieving the large-scale clearance requirements of the DRC.
Amongst the distinguished guests at the graduation ceremony in Kananga, Kasai Occidental Province were the Provincial Minister of Interior and Public Order from the Governor’s Office, and the commandant representative of the 4th Military Region (Kasai Occidental) and second commander in charge of operations.
They witnessed a demonstration of standard operating and safety procedures, storage and use of explosives, neutralisation of munitions, testing and use of Minelab detectors, and prodding and excavation techniques.
MAG DRC’s Technical Operations Manager Neil Arnold said: "With the support of the Department for International Development, this project allows us to establish two joint MAG/FARDC demining teams, which is a great success in the progress towards building strong national mine action capacity with the skills to undertake the important clearance work to make the DRC a safer country.
"This provision of clearance work will allow development actors to transform newly released land into a productive asset, thus greatly increasing the value and impact of clearance work."
This project has also greatly strengthened the relationship between MAG, the FARDC and the National Focal Point, paving the way for further collaboration to develop projects that will concretely contribute to the realisation of the country's Humanitarian Mine Action strategy.
MAG in DRC
MAG has worked continuously in DRC since 2004. We currently operate out of five bases located in three provinces, with seven Multi-Task Teams and six Community Liaison Teams, supported by the Governments of the Netherlands, Sweden, Belgium and the European Commission (ECHO). The graduating teams add two additional Manual Clearance Teams, supported by the Department for International Development.
The operational areas for these teams have been defined in coordination with, and frequently on the request of, the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC); deployment of the two graduating teams is in line with prioritised areas for both UNMACC and the FARDC.
From 2006 to April 2011, MAG has successfully cleared 1,701,939m2 of land, destroyed 370,492 items and reached over 908,439 direct beneficiaries through Mine Risk Education.
During the last year, due to the geographical coverage and rapid response capacity of MAG teams within DRC, MAG has promptly and successfully responded to several Risk Education and clearance requests for intervention by UN agencies, MONUSCO and NGOs.
For more on MAG's programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo please go to www.maginternational.org/drc.
