MINURCAT Mine Action Unit: An Overview
The Mine Action Unit is located in Abéché, and based at MINURCAT headquarters. The Unit was established as a response capacity unit within MINURCAT Area of Operations, and according to the recommendations contained in the UN Security Council Report of the Secretary-General on Chad and the Central African Republic (S/2007/488), and in the more recent UN Security Council Resolution (S/RES/1861/2009), which approved the establishment of MINURCAT mission.
Currently, the Mine Action Unit is led by a Chief of Mine Action. The rest of the staff comprises of an Operations/Quality Assurance Officer, an Information Management Systems Officer, and a Programme Officer.
The Unit is seconded in the field by Mine-Tech International, a demining company legally registered in the United Kingdom. Mine-Tech headquarters are in Abeché with four operational teams deployed as follows: one Emergency Response Team based in Abeché, and three road verification and clearance teams in Iriba, Farchana and Goz Beida. Mine-Tech staffing comprises of six international staff members and 76 national staff members.
The Mine Action Unit has four objectives, including: (1) reducing the impact of the landmines/Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) threat through proactive and comprehensive mine action operations; (2) establishing a functional and sustainable Information Management System for Mine Action; (3) enhancing Mine/ERW awareness, Mine Action standards and processes to enable operations to be implemented in a safe and cost-effective manner; and (4) strengthening coordination of Mine Action activities in MINURCAT Area of Operations.
As of 31 October 2009, the Mine Action Unit and Mine-Tech International have achieved the following within MINURCAT's:
- 1,673 km of main supply roads verified and confirmed free from the presence of mines/ERW;
- 2,647,000 sq m of Battle Area Clearance (BAC) completed;
- 361 villages/communities visited;
- 2,515 ERW found and destroyed;
- 11,956 Small Arms Ammunitions (SAA) found and destroyed;
- 155 Dangerous Areas identified ;
- 142 Dangerous Areas cleared;
- Implementation of a mine action data base, in close collaboration with the Chadian National Demining Center (CND) and the Geneva International Center for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD).
