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Humanitarian Mine Action

EU and UNMACC visit HMA team in Kalemie

05/10/2006: In September, DanChurchAid DR Congo programme based in Kalemie, Katanga Province, received an important visit by Miss Monika Tortschanoff, Human Rights and Civil Society representative of the European Commission Delegation in DR Congo and Mr Harouna Ouedraogo, Programme Manager for United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center (UNMACC) in DR Congo.

EU and UNMACC visiting DanChurchAid's HMA team in Kalemie

In the training minefield

Monika Tortschanoff, the first EU representative to visit the HMA programme in DR Congo, met DanChurchAid apprentice deminers in their training mine field a few kilometres from Kalemie.

For Masudi Kalosaleh, National Team Leader in training, September 24 will remain an important day: He had to brief the visitors on the set up of the minefield, including security rules, manual demining techniques, description of equipment and introduction to medical evacuation procedures.

HMA in DR Congo
The European Commission in DR Congo is funding DanChurchAid with 940000 € for a Humanitarian Mine Action Programme running from April 1, 2006, until March 31, 2008. As part of the programme, 27 new deminers have been trained between 2 August and 24 September, 2006. Ten of them will be chosen to form two new teams (each composed of five deminers and two medics) that will be deployed in the field around October 10, 2006.

HMA in DR Congo

The European Commission in DR Congo is funding DanChurchAid with 940000 € for a Humanitarian Mine Action Programme running from April 1, 2006, until March 31, 2008.

As part of the programme, 27 new deminers have been trained between 2 August and 24 September, 2006. Ten of them will be chosen to form two new teams (each composed of five deminers and two medics) that will be deployed in the field around October 10, 2006.

An International Technical Adviser is supervising the training and the Team Leader’s briefing for visitors is a good way for him to evaluate the progress of his staff. Briefing visitors is one of the duties of the Team Leader who should be able to answer any question about the work in the minefield.

After a theoretical briefing it was time for practise. Just as in a real demining site, the visitors put on the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and went to observe the deminers at work.

Watching deminers in action

For Monika Tortschanoff it was the first time to actual see deminers in action, which indeed is the best way to understand that it requires strong motivation, concentration, discipline and a very good physical condition.

A deminer spends 8 hours per day in the minefield 6 days a week, often working in harsh conditions such as strong heat and wearing heavy equipment.

As Monika Tortschanoff was executing demining tasks as a real trainee, one of the female deminers started screaming and crying for help on the other side of the minefield. Immediately, all the deminers stopped their work, the medical team arrived and, after having cleared the dangerous area around the wounded deminer, they transported her on a stretcher to provide first aid in the medical area. Luckily this time it was an exercise but it showed the visitors the dangerous realities of mine clearance.

After the eventful morning, it was time to share a meal of goat meat and rice in the straw hut next to the training field, giving the visitors a chance to compare impressions and to talk to the deminers.

Diploma ceremony

After lunch, the team went back to Kalemie for the long-awaited moment of diploma distribution.

All of the 27 trainees passed and are now qualified to be deminers.

Mads Lindegaard ( msl@dca.dk ), Programme Manager for DanChurchAid in DR Congo, stated that it was one of the best trainee teams of his entire career, while Harouna Ouedraogo, UNMACC programme manager, congratulated this promising “first generation” of Congolese deminers.