Over 190,000 square meters of land across Angola’s western province of Cuanza Sul have been cleared of mines, Jorge Pombo, provincial mine action coordinator, said here Tuesday during a detonation ceremony of lethal materials.
Pombo said the materials destroyed included three antipersonnel mines, 1,358 different explosive devices, and 2,589 munitions of different calibers removed since last year from Cuanza Sul’s municipalities of Cela, Quibala, and Ebo.
The main areas cleared of mines were medium-voltage electrical power transmission lines and agricultural farms, Pombo said.
Cuanza Sul is the third most-mined province in the country, with 126 suspected mined areas, following Angola’s eastern provinces of Cuando-Cubango with 256 and Moxico with 244, the officer added.
The Angolan government aims to eliminate by 2025 landmines planted nationwide during the civil war that broke out in 1975. The war lasted for nearly 30 years, and turned Angola into one of the most-mined countries in the world, with around 1,465 mined areas
