Funding from the Government of Japan

The Government of Japan has previously supported The HALO Trust in Angola between 2003 and 2008 with funding for demining totalling US$1,860,000. Previous demining projects were conducted in the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Kuando Kubango and resulted in the clearance of over 56 hectares of land and the removal of 1,700 landmines. Demined land is now back in productive use for housing, schools and agriculture, and provides safe access along roads and to vital sources of water and firewood. Normal life has resumed in cleared areas, but there are still many hundreds of known minefields remaining which present a danger to people; particularly in rural areas where there is ever less development funding available.

This 2015 minefield survey project is targeted in Huila province and aims to ensure that all remaining minefields in that province are mapped in detail and correctly recorded on the national database which is run by the national demining authority CNIDAH. It is vitally important that the boundaries of known mined land are accurately measured so that follow up demining is targeted directly at the hazard to avoid wasting time and valuable assets demining peripheral areas without mines. This project will allow Angola to articulate the scale of the remaining minefield problem in Huila province with greater accuracy. The HALO Trust is extremely grateful for this financial support of US$79,430 generously provided by the people of Japan for this project.