Jean-François Lepetit, head of mission in Casamance, Senegal, recently visited Handicap International's Lyon, France offices, and provided this update on demining our successful work in Senegal.
Creating a virtuous circle
In 2004, a peace agreement between the Casamance rebel forces and the Senegalese government gave Handicap International the opportunity to perform a Landmine Impact Survey in the region. The organization then launched its demining operations to help the local population access thousands of square miles of land occupied by these weapons during the conflict. These operations, which are currently being performed by Handicap International's teams in southern Casamance, are helping build the momentum for peace, security and development. According to Lepetit, “It's impossible to do the job well unless all the parties involved really want to get rid of the mines... and work together to improve the safety of civilians. We need to convince everyone why it's so important to continue along this path and to develop the region.”
Raising the awareness of all the different stakeholders is a vital means of alerting them of the need to secure the mined areas. “It's a virtuous circle,” Lepetit explains. “When we kick off the debate on demining, we begin by looking at things from a technical point of view then widen the discussion to include how to improve security in the region and foster development. This might enable both parties to find some common ground and make it easier to search for other points of agreement to use as building blocks for a peace deal.”
The importance of training
Training and the handover of responsibilities are key components of all of Handicap International's actions, and the demining program in Senegal sets the standard. Since the start of the mission in 2008, the organization has trained teams to detect mines and unexploded devices, to neutralize them, and to coordinate other teams of deminers.
“We're proud that we've made training the centerpiece of the mission and to see just how motivated and skilled the national teams are," Lepetit says. "To begin with, we used expatriate staff to supply the skills that didn't already exist in the field. But now our teams are fully independent. We perform four times the amount of work we did in 2008, and have reduced the number of expatriate staff on the mission threefold, without compromising on quality.”
A specific feature of the work performed by the demining teams in Senegal is the innovative techniques they use such as the Digger machine, which clears mines but withstands explosions.
Trained in the field, these deminers are now able to share their know-how with other organizations in Senegal, or to work abroad. “When it signed the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, Senegal committed to demining the whole of its territory before 2016," Lepetit adds. "We hope that after helping to fulfil this pledge, the national teams working in Casamance might be allowed to work in other countries. We don't want Casamance to be seen as a dangerous, unstable area any longer, but just the opposite — as a source of expertise for peace and security.”