Landmines in Mozambique

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Landmines in Mozambique

• The economical effects

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• Landmines are the primary obstacle to the
  reconstruction and development of Mozambique
  contributing to its sluggish economy. In the
  struggle to develop the economy, the presence of
  mines has affected major components of recovery.

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3 major components

• 3 major components that have been affected the
  most
• Agriculture
• transportation corridors
• international investment
• These three components are vital to the recovery
  of a war-ravaged country.

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Origins of Mozambique

• Located on the East coast of Africa.
• Boarders Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South
  Africa, Swaziland, Malawi and the Indian Ocean.

It is slightly less than twice the size of
California.
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• Portuguese colony, which gained its independence
  in 1975.
• Arab trading settlements had already existed
  along the coast for several centuries by the time
  the Portuguese explorers had reached Mozambique
  in 1498.

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• After World War II most European countries began
  granting their colonies independence because of
  nationalist pressures. But Portugal would not
  follow this route.
• Portuguese emigration to these colonies increased
• But Mozambiques independence would soon become
  a priority

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From a Nationalist Movement to a 16 year civil
war

• Mozambique civil war displaced an estimated 6
  million people from land resources.
• Many of these displaced refugees have now
  returned and are still returning to reclaim their
  lands and in many cases to claim unclaimed lands
• This event is the largest return and
  re-integration of refugees and displaced people
  in the history of Africa.

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• The damage done by this civil war is estimated at
  about 16 to 18 billion dollars, while the GNP was
  less than 2 billion.

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• Civil war began with departure of Portuguese
  colonial rule due to the rebel group Frente de
  Libertaco de Mozambique (FRELIMO) successful
  insurgency through guerilla warfare
• As this group fought the Portuguese it fractured
  into a second component, which became Resistencia
  Nacional Mocambicana (RENAMO) in the late 1970s.

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• RENAMO was aided by Rhodesia and later South
  Africa
• Rhodesia was increasingly being isolated by its
  neighboring countries that were being controlled
  by black nationalists, while its government was
  still led by a small white minority.
• Rhodesia at this time was embroiled in its own
  civil war.

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Agriculture
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• Before the Mozambique civil war the province of
  Zambezia and Nampula, which are the countrys
  most fertile and agricultural areas and were
  regarded as the breadbasket for much of the
  nation.

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• More than half of the national agricultural
  exports originated from Zambezia
• But now a study that has been done on the area
  estimates that about 500,000 landmines exist in
  this fertile area
• Now because of scarcity in arable land rural
  peoples have started to farm in landmine areas
  causing higher death and injury tolls in human
  landmine accidents.

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• The scarcity of safe agricultural land has
  caused
• massive land degradation by overpopulation and
  over cultivation.
• Land disputes have gone up primarily between
  certain communities and non- local small holders,
  which include migrants, dislocatees, and
  demobilized combatants

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Transportation Corridors
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• Infrastructure corridors play an important role
  in economic recovery from periods of armed
  conflict
• Without the operation of transportation corridors
  a country does not have the means to effectively
  import and export commodities, agricultural
  produce and equipment

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• Home to 2 corridors
• 1st running from along the Zambezi River through
  Tete province from Cahora Bassa dam to the coast
• 2nd corridor comprises of road, rail and oil
  lines from the town Beira (Sofala Province) to
  land locked Zimbabwe at Manica Province

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• During civil war RENAMO saw the Beira corridor as
  principle target and FRELIMO tried many times to
  protect these corridors

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International Investment
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• The third major component that has been affected
  is international investment. With this major
  component not functioning, it stunts a developing
  countries growth and makes it a non-competitor on
  the world market.

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• Largest investor in Mozambique
• LAMOCO which is a subsidiary of LonRHo has
  extensive agricultural, mining, and
  infrastructure interests in Mozambique
• This British based cooperation struck a deal with
  FRELIMO and RENAMO during and after the civil
  war, in order to secure the necessary lands
  needed for cotton production
• LOMACO required fields and roads for growing and
  exporting cotton. But the conflict between
  RENAMO and FRELIMO had a negative impact on
  LOMACOs ability to produce the cotton needed.
  LOMACO then took it upon themselves to hire
  defense forces from nearby residence and laid
  their own mines around their areas of operation
  to protect it from destruction.

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Mozambique in current yearsMaputo
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• Even thought still littered with landmines
  Mozambique is widely regarded as a success story
  politically. The parliamentary and presidential
  elections in 1994 marked the peak of the peace
  process in Mozambique.
• Despite minor irregularities, the elections were
  declared free and fair by international
  observers. Mozambique has succeeded where other
  countries such as Angola has failed a stable
  peace process, multiparty elections and the
  transformation of the armed opposition into a
  civil political party.

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Conclusion

• But we can now see that these three components
• agriculture
• transportation corridors
• international investment
• are vital to the development of a postwar
  economy.

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• . In Mozambiques case, since the civil war
  ended, there are still thousands of mines (Ryan,
  p.1) that have been left uncovered. People are
  stilled being maimed and killed to this day. As
  the population has increased the demand for land
  space has also increased leaving the people of
  Mozambique with not much of a choice but to
  reclaim land that has been previously poisoned by
  warfare.

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Suspected Mined Areas And Affected Population, by
Province11
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In its initial Article 7 report, Mozambique
revealed that it has a stockpile of 37, 818
antipersonnel mines. Sockpiled antipersonnel
mines5
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