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Weapons Removal and Safety Education Aided by U.S. Grants

By Jacquelyn S. Porth  

The dangers from explosive conventional weapons linger long after conflicts end.

In Sudan, for example, people and animals are dying from unexploded munitions and abandoned land mines. In 2007, a Sudanese couple died after the wife brought home an unidentified object to use as a cooking stone. It was ordnance and exploded from the heat.

The roads in Sudan's Nuba Mountains harbor a different threat: anti-vehicle mines. Sudan has experienced civil war during four of the five decades since its independence in 1958.

The Danish nongovernmental organization (NGO) DanChurchAid has been working in Sudan to get the word out about the risk from mines and unexploded munitions and to get dangerous weapons out of the ground. The U.S. State Department has approved a $345,000 grant to the organization to clear mines on mountain roads.

The Albanians do not need a reminder that safety and munition disposal go hand in hand. In March, inexperienced workers dismantled artillery shells without protection or tools, setting off an explosion in Gerdec that killed two dozen people.

PREVENTING CASUALTIES IN A RACE AGAINST TIME

The British nongovernmental organization, Cleared Ground Demining, is working against the clock: it says someone is killed or injured by an exploding mine every 30 minutes. It has been awarded a $244,000 State Department grant to help Guinea-Bissau destroy stockpiled munitions that no longer are needed. Another NGO based in the United Kingdom, the Mines Advisory Group, will receive $271,800 in State Department aid for technical support to destroy small arms and light weapons in the Horn of Africa and Africa's Great Lakes region.

The department's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement is distributing $4.4 million in fiscal year 2008 grants to 32 organizations around the world to destroy conventional weapons, mines and a variety of munitions and to help permanently injured victims. The grants also will pay for two film documentaries to highlight the problem of indiscriminate and illicit use of conventional weapons.

The grant level reflects the determination of the United States to cut the annual casualty rate from mines and explosive materials left behind. The United States estimates that there were 5,751 reported casualties in 2006.

Dennis Barlow, director of Virginia's James Madison University's Mine Action Information Center, said the State Department is using its funds in "creative and imaginative ways." He told America.gov that the center will use its $265,000 grant to pay for nearly a dozen theatrical productions in Arabic.

The producers will hire cast members in Jordan who have lost limbs from conventional-weapons explosions. Barlow said exposing school-age children to actors who have been injured will educate the students about the dangers from unexploded weapons. It also will help erase the stigma in the society at large that is often associated with disabilities. Audiences will see that victims can "still be engaged in society," he said.

COMMUNITY-BASED PARTNERING TO SAVE LIVES

The plays will be presented at middle and secondary schools in 12 Jordanian provinces that still face problems from unexploded munitions. The hourlong productions will educate students about what to do if they find a land mine and how to report its existence to save lives.

Barlow said these socio-dramas, which will have input from clinical psychologists, will be scripted carefully and carry a message about "keeping people alive" that will "resonate with Jordanians." The grant will pay for mine-risk education experts to make more than a half dozen trips to Jordan where they will coordinate with the National Demining Center in Amman and work with local partner LLCR. The money also will be used for costumes, transportation, measuring effectiveness of the community-based outreach and to film each play for later viewing.

Collecting accurate data is another important aspect of many of these grants. Barlow said his center will use another $155,000 grant to collect information about the volatility of weapons as they age. Old munitions will be tested under laboratory conditions, and the lessons learned will help countries set priorities for areas that need to be cleared of land mines.

Barlow said the State Department has been awarding grants at a steady rate, although funding may decrease as the problem of unexploded munitions is tackled successfully.

At the same time, the number of ammunition caches is on the rise in places of conflict like Iraq. Iraq will use $117,800 in State Department funding to destroy stockpiles of small arms and light weapons that are at risk of exploding, especially in cramped Baghdad neighborhoods. The Iraq Mine/UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) Clearance Organization will oversee the work.

In Asia, the U.S.-British nonprofit group Spirit of Soccer is educating young people about land mine dangers. Its motto is: "Don't play with landmines - play football." Prominent international football players appear on the organization's Web site under the headline: "What do you need to be a professional soccer player? Your legs, your lives." It will use a $75,000 grant in Cambodia for mine education.

For more information about U.S. policy, see the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement ( http://www.state.gov/t/pm/wra/ ) Web page.

Source: U.S. Department of State