Landmines Cleared From Mozambique’s Sena Railway

A mine detecting dog and his handler, who is wearing personal protective equipment, clear the Sena Railway line. [RONCO Consulting Corporation/U.S. Dept. of State photo]

The last landmines and unexploded ordnance blocking Mozambique’s vital Sena Railway have been removed, thanks largely to some $13 million in U.S. Department of State humanitarian mine action assistance since the project began in 2002. This initiative has saved lives, created jobs, encouraged more than $104 million in World Bank loans, and boosted Mozambique’s economic recovery along segments of the line that were cleared earlier in the project. This success is but one facet of the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program’s approximately $46 million in aid toMozambique since 1993.

The 670-kilometer long Sena Railway connects Beira, Mozambique’s main seaport, to its resource-rich interior. Before the railway was damaged and mined by RENAMO insurgents in 1984, it carried 2.4 million tons of freight annually and several hundred passengers daily. After it was sabotaged, not one train used it for more than 20 years.

The Government of Mozambique calculates that when fully operational, the railway will enable the country to tap a potential of 10 million tons of high-grade coal annually, and to exploit its other valuable resources such as gold, copper, and diamonds. Mozambique’s agricultural sector, which once employed tens of thousands, should also recover. Clearance of mines and unexploded ordnance on one section of the Sena Railway has already led to the re-building of a concrete plant employing more than 500 workers. Jobs for 2,000 workers are projected on the rail line itself.

Most of the clearance (see photos at www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/pix/b/74070.htm) was conducted by RONCO Consulting Corporation, under contract to the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (www.state.gov/t/pm/wra) in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. The Mozambican-based Quick Reaction Demining Force operated by this Office also demined portions of the railway between emergency deployments to other mine-affected countries. Adherence to International Mine Action Standards resulted in accident-free operations. At one point, this project was the third-largest employer inMozambique’s Sofala province, a measure of the impact of the war on the economy.

Learn more about United States mine action assistance toMozambique in the 6^th Edition of “To Walk the Earth in Safety” at www.state.gov/t/pm/rls/rpt/walkearth/2006/.

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