Handicap International has sent an explosive weapons expert to Mali to identify areas contaminated with explosive weapons and prepare for clearance operations to protect the local population. The initial findings are alarming and we are mobilising an emergency weapons clearance team to begin operations within days.
Civilians in Mali are gradually returning to their homes in areas that saw heavy fighting. These areas are littered with explosive remnants of war, as well as small arms and light weapons abandoned by fleeing combatants. Action needs to be taken as quickly as possible in order to avoid serious accidents.
Grenades, shells and munitions strewn along the roads
Philippe Houliat is a weapons clearance expert for Handicap International. Philippe explains: “I am currently in Diabali, one of the towns which has recently seen fighting. The extent of the contamination is a grave concern. Grenades and munitions are strewn along the roads which were targeted by bombing. Shells and other small arms have been abandoned in houses in the centre of the town... These weapons represent a lethal threat to the local population who are now starting to return to their homes. There is an imminent threat to local populations. We therefore need to urgently reinforce our risk education teams to warn local people about the dangers of these devices, and to simultaneously start working to destroy these weapons.”
The need to raise awareness is urgent
Handicap International teams have been carrying out awareness-raising activities with communities and displaced people in the north of Mali since last summer. We are now also deploying teams to identify and assess areas that have been contaminated with explosive weapons so that we can start clearance operations in the immediate future. The team, which was recently dispatched to Konna to assess levels of contamination have decided to carry out emergency awareness-raising with the local community immediately.
Alhous Maïga, Handicap International’s Arms Risk Education project manager in Mopti explains: “We identified so many unexploded remnants of war that it was imperative that we warn the local population before continuing with our evaluation mission.”
Some schools will contain abandoned weapons
Alhous Maïga believes that Handicap International's awareness-raising activities are indispensable and these activities must be urgently carried out in order to avoid accidents over the coming weeks: "Schools are due to open again this Monday and some of them have been used as bases by fighters who used them to store munitions and probably weapons and explosive devices. We are very afraid there will be accidents. In-depth evaluations need to be carried out, trained teams capable of neutralising these weapons dispatched where required, and teachers and children need to be made aware of the dangers so they can recognise and stay away from any dangerous devices."
Clearance operations to start with days
In the next few days the first Handicap International weapons clearance team made up of international experts from Mauritania, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, will begin working together with Malian staff to start safely destroying explosive weapons identified during the on-going assessments. These activities will soon be expanded and we will have four clearance teams operating in Mali by the end of February.