Clearance of Mozambique’s Sena Railway

Aerial view of a section of the Sena Railway, showing several pieces of ruined rolling stock, dispersed railroad ties, and the track bed. At the time this photo was taken, the rail bed, rolling stock, and surrounding terrain were all infested with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). Under their contract with the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs to clear landmines and UXO from the Railway in order that it could be repaired by Mozambique's Port and Railways authority (Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique), RONCO Consulting Corporation had to clear an access road to get its deminers close to the rail line. Then it had to clear and demine safe lanes between the road and the rail line in order to search for and clear the landmines and UXO adjacent to and on the rail bed. The thick vegetation and trees that grew around and on the abandoned railway also had to be laboriously removed before the mines and UXO could be dealt with. [Photo courtesy of Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

View of a section of the Sena Railway rail bed during mine and UXO clearance operations. The safety tape marks the area that has already been cleared. All of the overgrown area immediately outside the tape was still infested with landmines and UXO when this photo was taken. As part of their effort to shut down the railway in the mid 1980s, RENAMO fighters gathered 3000 Mozambicans and had them simultaneously lift up and overturn the rail line and ties in the section pictured here. Those ties and rails remained in that position until recently. [Photo courtesy of Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement/U.S. Dept. of State.]

A very small portion of the massive amount of metal that littered the Sena Railway and environs, and typical of the metal debris found in minefields and former battle areas worldwide. Under current International Mine Action Standards, all metal, which registers as a potential landmine or UXO to a deminer's metal detector, must be dug up and removed. Such was the case during the clearance of the Sena Railway. Now, a new era is dawning for deminers. The new HSTAMIDS mine detector developed by the U.S. Department of Defense, and successfully used in Afghanistan, Cambodia, and Thailand, to date, will enable properly trained deminers to pinpoint the real landmines, ignore the false positives, and avoid the waste of precious time that debris such as that pictured here caused during the Sena Railway clearance project. Learn more about the HSTAMIDS detectors at http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/71621.htm. [Photo courtesy of RONCO Consulting Corporation/U.S. Dept. of State]

This picture depicts the typical terrain, much of it marshy, and dense vegetation with which RONCO Consulting Corporation deminers, who conducted most of the mine and UXO clearance work, and the U.S. Department of State's Quick Reaction Demining Force (QRDF), which also conducted some railway clearance in the course of their other work in Mozambique, faced. All such vegetation had to removed before the Sena Railway line could be demined. Malarial conditions abounded due to the wet soil and seasonal rains. As a result, many of the deminers suffered from this disease despite the use of bug lotion and the provision of mosquito netting for their tents. The railway line is 3 meters to the rear running left to right in this picture. [Photo courtesy of RONCO Consulting Corporation/U.S. Dept. of State]

A deminer, under contract to the U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, clearing the Sena Railway line. The approach lanes, such as the one in this picture, had to be laboriously and carefully cleared of vegetation – and of landmines and UXO too – before the deminers could even get access to the rail bed. RONCO Consulting Corporation deminers and the U.S. Department of State's Quick Reaction Demining Force (QRDF) deminers were both funded and tasked by the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, RONCO Consulting Corporation, and the QRDF, closely coordinated their activities with Mozambique's National Demining Institute (Instituto Nacional de Deminagem), which has oversight over all humanitarian mine action in Mozambique. [Photo courtesy of RONCO Consulting Corporation/U.S. Dept. of State]

A mine detecting dog and his handler, who is wearing personal protective equipment, clearing the Sena Railway line itself. Mine detecting dogs are trained to sniff for the explosive in mines and UXO. When they pick up the scent of explosive, they immediately stop and signal their handler. The handler then marks the area in question so that it may be further investigated and cleared later by a human deminer. Note the vegetation that has been removed and the meticulous mine clearance work, demarcated by engineers' tape, which has already taken place on both sides of this stretch of the Sena Railway. In the background, one can glimpse some of the immense work that still lay ahead at the time, starting with the safe removal of more brush, other growth, and trees that grew after the railway was abandoned. Regardless of the challenges posed by terrain, vegetation, or climate in Mozambique or any other country, all demining carried out under U.S. Department of State Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement contracts and grants must meet International Mine Action Standards (http://www.mineactionstandards.org/ ). [Photo courtesy of RONCO Consulting Corporation/U.S. Dept. of State]