Setting the Stage
Life in Luena Today

Welcome to Demining in Angola -- A live - real time documentary produced about the work of a British humanitarian mine clearance organisation. This is an innovative multi-media project to show how people get on with their lives in an Angolan town surrounded by landmines, a legacy of the country's decades-old civil war.

War -- past and present -- has forced people in the African country to flee their homes and walk on land contaminated with landmines and unexploded ordnance.

The work of Mines Advisory Group (MAG) featured in this documentary is centred in Luena, provincial capital of Moxico province in the east of the country. The group also works in Ondjiva, Cunene.

"The situation in Luena is not good," said Sean Sutton, the main videojournalist on the MAG project.

Starting on December 3, the two-man MAG communications team -- Sutton and Jeffrey Russell -- will send photographs and stories by satellite phone each day for a week, to the organisation’s website.

Portuguese rule over Angola effectively ended in 1974 with the overthrow of Portugal's right-wing dictatorship, but civil war broke out almost immediately between the rival movements that had fought for independence.

South African forces assisted the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), and Cuba sent troops to help the Soviet-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The MPLA was victorious, and formed a government that continued to rebuff rebels backed by the South Africa and the West.

The Luena area suffered greatly in the early 1990s. For months at a time the town was besieged by UNITA, and mines were widely used. "The surrounding countryside is littered with them," said Sutton.

In the early 1990s, UNITA took control of about two-thirds of the country, and mediation by South African President Nelson Mandela led to peace accords in 1994. A joint government, including significant UNITA participation, was installed the following year.

Sutton said: "I visited Luena in 1994, 1996 and 1997. I witness the situation improve with each visit. In 1994 the situation was unbelievably bad."

In 1998, after a four-year, $1.5-billion peace process, UNITA failed to keep its commitments to demobilise its soldiers and relinquish territory captured from the government, and the war resumed.

MAG worked in different parts of Moxico province from 1993 until 1998, when deteriorating security made demining impossible and MAG had to cease operations.

Large numbers of people were displaced by renewed hostilities in 1998 and 1999. At the end of 2000, an estimated 400,000 Angolans were refugees in neighbouring countries, and 5,000 sought asylum in Europe.

The Luanda government regained control over much of the country during 2000, and humanitarian agencies were able to work in every province by the end of the year.

MAG returned to Luena in 2000, although it was no longer able to work in areas controlled by both the government and UNITA -- as it had before -- and limited its operations to within 30 km of Luena.

Security is still volatile, and Sutton said that, although there were rumours of peace, 3,000 people were still arriving in Luena each month after fleeing their villages.

There are between one million and 3.5 million internally displaced people in Angola, according to various estimates.

MAG's 18 community liaison staff help new arrivals in Luena to find land safe from landmines. They point out the dangerous areas and provide information on how to minimise the risks posed by landmines in their day-to-day lives.

Two MAG emergency response teams have been clearing high-priority areas. They destroy landmines and unexploded ordnance found by the community, and assist mine victims.

"Not a day goes by without someone reporting a mine or a bomb to MAG staff," Sutton said.

MAG works in many parts of the world affected by conflict, including Lebanon, Cambodia, northern Iraq, Kosovo, Laos and Vietnam. Wherever it works, MAG trains and develops local capacities to deal with problems themselves, boosting employment in regions
where economic survival is difficult.

The MAG communications team plans to make a documentary film, focusing on the Angolan staff at the heart of its work.

The organisation's work goes beyond clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance, and also includes marking dangerous areas and increasing community awareness.

MAG has pioneered humanitarian mine action, using small and flexible multi-disciplined teams drawing on local knowledge.

MAG said in a statement: "MAG organises smaller group discussions so that all members of the community feel able to contribute their concerns and ideas."

In each place where the organisation works, it aims to make the land safe for communities that need it to flourish.

As MAG states in its slogan "MAG clears mines, saves lives and builds futures."