Margaret Cleeve lecture: Land mine clearance in Angola

Dr Renata Dwan

Good evening, everyone, and a very warm welcome to you on a wet and dark March night. Welcome to Chatham House and to the inaugural Margaret Cleeve Lecture, which this year will be on Landmine Clearance in Angola. My name is Renata Dwan. I’m Deputy Director here at Chatham House, and it’s my very great pleasure to welcome you here tonight.

Now, this inaugural lecture, which I will explain in a little bit where it comes from, was intended to be an in-person event, and I know that many of us have been very much looking forward to getting back in-person and to meeting old and new friends in Chatham House. Unfortunately, what COVID has taken away the Tube strike has replaced, which has meant that we’ve had to move online today, so, thank you for joining us. This event is being recorded, it’s on the record, and it will also be livestreamed, so, welcome to all our audiences, however you’re joining us, or from wherever you’re joining us tonight.

Now, the Margaret Cleeve Lecture is in honour of one of the many illustrious people that has passed through Chatham House over the years and that we’ve been have – fortunate enough to have work with us in the institute. Margaret Cleeve was almost 30 years in Chatham House as an Editor of our award-winning International Affairs Journal, which is currently very happy to report and proud, the number one international affairs journal in the world today. And, more importantly, Acting Director during the Second World War, so, you can imagine the life that Margaret Cleeve lived and the experiences that she saw in this momentous time, a momentous time that we are currently experiencing in our world today, and especially in Europe at this time.

Margaret left a lasting legacy to Chatham House in both her generosity, but also her career and her life, and we have established a new Margaret Cleeve Circle to welcome supporters who wish to pledge to Chatham House a gift in their will and to leave a lasting legacy for the continuation of dialogue, of engagement, of research on critical issues of international affairs today. So, it’s a great personal joy for me and, I know, for Alex, my colleague at Chatham House, to have the first inaugural lecture of the Margaret Cleeve Lecture on Africa and on Angola, and specifically to celebrate, still a work in progress but a great success story in Africa, and the role that people working together, research institutes, people on the ground, governments, local communities and Researchers can play when they work together in effecting social and political change.

To help us talk through this great discussion today, we’re joined by a super panel. First, I’m going to start on my top corner: Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves, who is the Defence Attaché at the Embassy of Angola here in the United Kingdom, and no stranger to Chatham House, and has worked on many of these issues over many years. So, welcome, Colonel Gonçalves.

It’s also a great pleasure to join, from a little bit further North in the United Kingdom, Dr Sarah Njeri, a native of Kenya, but a long-term resident of the United Kingdom, who is Research Fellow in Overseas Development Institute, and who has worked for many years on humanitarian demining, including in Angola.

And last, but by no means least, for many of the audience, we’re joined by Alex Vines, my colleague and also Head of our Africa Programme, which is also celebrating 20 years this year, and currently our Managing Director for Ethics, Risk and Resilience.

So, I have to also give a personal note that in addition to working at Chatham House, I also have the great pleasure of serving on the board of the mine – Mines Advisory Group, MAG International, which is one of the many humanitarian demining organisations, which – that works in Angola, and I know that many of those who’ve been involved in the story of Angola are joining us today, so, it’s a great pleasure to have you here with us.

Now, before we begin the discussion, let me just flag a few housekeeping notes. As I said, you are more than welcome to join us in as – whatever interactive way you can, through questions, through comments, through engagement, and can I ask you to raise your hand in the Q&A function, and I’ll call on you, you can unmute and speak, or if you’d rather just put your question in the chat functions, in the Q&A, you can put it in there – in the Q&A function, not the chat function – and I’ll read it out, and if you’d rather me read out, please tell me and I will be happy to do that.

So, as we think about this work, the purpose of the lecture is really to look at how Chatham House work affects real change on the ground, and the story of humanitarian demining on the ground is a story of real change. Angola is a country that has been one of the most mined in the world, and as I’m sure we’ll hear from our panellists today, over 100 million square miles are still mined, and so this is still a work in progress, even two decades after the end of a long Civil War.

I know that as far back as 2014, 88,000 people in Angola were registered with disabilities from mines and from accidents from mines. So, that gives you a sense of the scale of the challenge that Angola has faced, not just in bringing peace, but in developing its economy and recreating its opportunities for people to live and work in peace, and for also conserving its wonderful, diverse land and flora and fauna. So, that’s what we’re going to be exploring today: the challenges of that scale of operation, what remains to be done, what are the successes, but also, what’s the role of institutes like Chatham House, in supporting this collective endeavour? And so, I’m going to turn now to Alex to kick us off, and Alex will introduce the topic, but also, share some thoughts on video from us of the work. Alex, over to you.

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Thank you very much, Renata, for that excellent introduction, highlighting the importance of the work that Chatham House has done around the issue of mine action and humanitarian clearance of landmines. Look, this is a really important year, it’s not – it’s a number of anniversaries for Angola and for the action against landmines. So, for example, this year is the 20th anniversary of the Memorandum of Understanding of Luena, which was the end of the Angolan Civil War. That anniversary is next month.

Some of the members of the Margaret Cleeve Circle will remember that 25 years ago in January this year, Diana, Princess of Wales visited Angola, walked through a minefield in Angola, those iconic photographs, including of her looking – visiting landmine survivors at the Bombo Alto prosthetic centre run by the International Committee of Red Cross.

It’s also the 25th anniversary of the Ottawa Landmine Ban Treaty, ending the scourge of landmines around the world in many places, banning them, and that’s a treaty that, although they’re – landmines are still used, alarmingly at the moment in Ukraine, for example, many countries have banned landmines and a whole number of countries have become landmine-free. The most recent country that we worked on at Chatham House is Mozambique, that became landmine-free in the last decade, only in 2015. So, this is an important moment to reflect on the importance of mine action and indeed, as Renata had said, what needs still to be done. So, Chatham House, over the last couple of decades, has worked forensically on Angola and on Angola’s reconstruction post-conflict, after having had 40 years of war in Angola, ending, as I say, just 20 years ago. And within that, a number of things have occurred through the corridors of this institute.

One of them was that the Duke of Sussex visited us at Chatham House twice, first of all, to open our Stavros Niarchos Center, and he conducted a simulation of a fictional African country that was impacted by Ebola and a landmine contamination. Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves was there as part of that simulation. We were really thinking a little bit about Angola’s history when we played out that simulation.

Little, at that time, did we expect that the Duke would come back to Chatham House, a couple of years later, in June 2019, and give a keynote address on the importance of eradicating landmines completely in Angola and its importance for conservation, which I’ll talk about a little bit later. It was also a steppingstone of the Duke for his trip to Angola, where he revisited exactly the passage through the minefield that he – that his mother had done 25 years ago this January. So, we’re going to now show a clip, highlighting some of the thoughts that came out in the June 2019 meeting on mine action in Angola, which Colonel Rui Gonçalves participated in, and finally, I do just again want to thank the members of the Margaret Cleeve Circle for allowing the first inaugural lecture to be focused on such an important topic, but one that we’ve shown real progress and journey, as the discussion after the clip will show. So, let’s see the clip [pause].

Video:

Speaker 1

Let me also say that we are very much appreciated and grateful for all the inputs that the Government of – the British Government is doing for Angola, in all the initiatives that we have joined worldwide. We are going still to have some availability to discuss and to continue to talk about, side-by-side, the wishes and desires of Angola. And with that regard, Your Highness, I would like, with the support of you all here, to open the corridors, so that the pressure in the SADC region can be less, elephants can return home. Home we call as Casa. Casa we call is a common position, a common view, and all other conservation areas in Africa, and all other countries of the world.

Speaker 2

Angola’s prosperity bolsters its role as a net security provider in the region, which in turn helps protect its natural treasures, as the Ambassador cited this morning, national treasures such as the riverine region in the Delta, and in bringing that back into commerce. These are areas experiencing the ravages of war, and getting – and turning a corner.

Angola exemplifies how humanitarian mine action is a crucial step in helping countries recover from conflict and lay the groundwork for reconstruction and lay the groundwork for development. Since 1995, the United States has invested over 131 million in conventional weapons destruction efforts in Angola, the vast majority of which has supported demining operations. Over one point mil – 1.4 million Angolans have directly benefited from this US assistance, both in terms of not just increased safety, but also access to that arable land, that land for development.

Speaker 3

It has been a long journey, one full of heartache and frustration, I’m sure, but now with the optimism and encouragement from your government, Minister, I truly believe that Angola will become a shining example to the rest of the continent. The funding announced today will help protect human lives, and is the first step in allowing local communities to protect wildlife, through the kind of conservation-led development that has been so crucial elsewhere on the continent.

Considerable progress has been made, but there is still a huge amount to do, which is why it encourages me to see so many of you here today, as we shine a light on the work that’s been done, but also how we can help moving forward. The fact that demining funding has been reduced by nearly 90% over the last decade is pretty shocking, and we hope that today will encourage those countries not to leave a job left half-done.

As long as landmines are in the ground in Angola, we aren’t really giving them a chance. There is an end in sight, which has already been discussed, and that isn’t always the case, so, let’s make the most of this opportunity. I hope you all join me in thanking the Government of Angola for this significant commitment to supporting its communities, its wildlife and the biodiversity of this planet.

Speaker 4

Well, the Angolan War of Independence and then the subsequent Civil War left a devastating legacy of mines in Angola and everyone’s familiar with the iconic image of Princess Diana. That was in 1997. You know, that – the impact of the mines has been particularly felt by rural communities. It’s hampered Angolan economic development, and it’s been a huge impact just on daily life for so many in Angola, so that obviously has to be an area of focus for the APPG for Angola.

So, the APPG for Angola has visited Angola in 2003 and 2006 to raise the profile and increase support for funding and action by the UK Government, and by charities in Angola. Chatham House has been absolutely essential for the work of the APPG on mine clearance, in terms of facilitating it and supporting it, as Chatham House provides a Secretariat, and also – for the APPG – and, I think, particularly importantly, provides the research, which gives us the evidence to be able to make the case for both of the impact of mines in Angola, on Angola, but also the need for and the ability of the UK to support mine clearance.

International collaboration on mine action has been incredibly important. This isn’t – it can’t just be left to one country or one charity or one group, so, by working together we are able to fund a more – a broader range of actors in Angola. We’ve seen the great work by both MAG and HALO, in terms of training local people, particularly local women, to – in mine clearance, and supporting local groups in, you know – who are, in some places, best placed to know what it is they need in order to get – to learn to clear the mines, but in order to support civil society and others to deal with the impact of the mines.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thank you so much for that introductory pitch. That helps explain, Alex, and gives us first-hand views on what has been a long journey. Maybe I’ll just kick off by saying, maybe for our audiences, not all of whom might be familiar with APPG, could you just explain what that was and what Chatham House’s role in that was?

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Yeah. So, the APPG is the All-Party Parliamentary Group, so, it’s a caucus group in Parliament, it’s cross-party. She, who was just speaking there, is the Chair of the group. She’s an MP for Newcastle, and has long credentials of being an anti-apartheid activist, even before she became a Member of Parliament. And so, the APPG played a really important role in – as a vehicle of pushing the government, the Conservative Government that we have at the moment, to change its policy towards Angola, which was that under Priti Patel in fact, when she was Development Secretary, she committed the UK to increasing £100 million for mine action around the world. It was called the Global Mine Action Programme, GMAP.

That was announced in April 2017, but Angola wasn’t on the list, and so what we did was encouraged she to host a meeting of experts. I testified, as a number of other people, and we produced a paper, of which we’ve got – it’s on the internet, but it’s also here, arguing that actually Angola is a good place because you co – there’s no war there. The government has acceded to the Ottawa Landmine Ban Treaty in 20 – 20 years ago, and that you will – can finish the job, there’s no risk. And the good news was that the following September, Angola was added to the list. So, suddenly, millions of pounds were made available again to Angola by the UK taxpayer to, kind of, help finish the job. Unfortunately, Renata, there’s a sad end to this story, which is that last year the UK has committed its humanitarian mine action globally by 75%, and there’s not a penny from the British taxpayer going in to help Angola at the moment, which is distressing for all of us that want to see the job finished.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thanks very much for that, Alex, and we will definitely come to the future of humanitarian demining and, as you’ve said, getting the job done, which is such a critical challenge, and I know that we’ll hear more about that. But maybe just before I move on from you, one of the distinctive things that happened in 2019 was the announcement by the Angolan Government that they would commit $16 million to landmine clearance, and that was hugely significant, both in terms of leadership, in terms of a national pledge, and I think it was the first such African country to make such a commitment. To what extent did that change a little bit the momentum, Alex, what extent of a national-led process, and is that a pathway forward that has facilitated or accelerated progress?

Dr Alex Vines OBE

So, I mean, the Angolan Government has to be absolutely commended for that act, and that was the highlight. It wasn’t the Duke of Sussex at Chatham House, it was actually the Minister announcing that Angola was going to do that, and that there was real ownership of this, of finishing the job by the Angolan Government.

The reality obviously is that the Angolan Government was then – was being impacted by low oil prices. Angola is a major oil producer, but then COVID has been a double whammy on the Angolan Government, and so not all of that money has been forthcoming. So, I think there’s real leadership and vision by the Angolan Government, but it still needs international partners, which I’m sure Colonel Rui will talk about.

Dr Renata Dwan

Great, thanks very much, and that’s a nice segue to you, Colonel Rui. The scale of the challenge now in Angola, can you share a little bit with us about what is the focus, what is the emphasis and what’s the goals for the next steps in demining in Angola?

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

Yes, Renata, thank you very much. Well, as it has been said, when we finished the war in 20 – in 2002, obviously, you know, the country was, you know, before in a long, protracted conflict and, as you may imagine, most of the areas were affected, you know, planted with landmines, and were scattered throughout the whole national territory. And at that moment, soon after the war, what was done, the Angolan Government conducted a survey about the socioeconomic impact of communities where, through that survey, 3,293 areas were suspected of having landmines. When the confirmation came through, what we realised is that – and today, if you go to the ANAM, which is the National Agency for Landmines Clearance, their database shows that out of those suspected areas, 1,087 were confirmed as having landmines, okay, and at this point in time – I mean, then the government launched a campaign to clear the landmines. We’ve got different players on the ground, different – the mining companies, we’ve got, I mean, the Angolan have forces, they’ve got different other brigades operating in the different provinces in the country, but we’ve got also different NGOs. HALO Trust for instance is there, MAD is there and there are other companies.

Yet the efforts of all these company is not enough for the mammoth task that the country has to clear the landmines. As you might be aware, we’ve got the Maputo Declaration of 2014, which declares that when – as a goal, 2025, as a goal, to clear the – to eradicate the landmines. But what I can say is that we are still far away from that goal, because – and I like to refer to – and you, Renata, also refer to the 60 million that was promised by the Angolan Government.

I can confirm here that out of that amount, only one-third, 20 million, has been allocated by the Angolan Government, as you may be aware, and as Alex said that, referred to that, when our main commodity is oil and we – the – you know, the impact that we had in the international market, the oil price was just very low, $20, under $20, so it affected very much the commitment that the government, you know, had put forward to allocate the $60 million.

Anyway, the work has not been stopped. Currently, the government has got – has been operating in the different areas. We’ve got some areas, provinces that have been heavily mined, where we have confirmed, yes, there are still a lot of landmines there. At the end of the war, the United Nations estimated Angola was one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, I mean, it was second just to Afghanistan. Imagine. By this time – at that time it was said that we have in the country one landmine for one Angolan, so – with a population, an estimated population of 15 million people there. But the survey also showed us that it was not as bad as it was thought before, we didn’t have that, I mean, amount of landmines. In fact, the work that had been conduct and formed there the surveys on the demining that had been conduct, until now we have demined, cleared, like, or deactivated or detonated 600,000 landmines, confirmed landmines so far.

So, we are still, you know, a little bit behind from the goal that we have, so, what is required right now is more equipment, and those are the main constraints that we have. ANAM, which is the National Agency for Mine Clearing, they reckon that with the current pace that we are doing and with the underfund – because we feel that this project is underfunded, so there is little money coming in to supported landmine clearance effort in Angola. So, unless 160 million is put forward, is brought to the field to clear the landmines, we are not going to meet the Maputo Declaration goal, so, this is one of the great concerns of the Angolan Government. So, if we have to – by 2025, if we have to declare Angola, I mean, like, free of landmines, this amount, 160 million, should come from somewhere, to help the efforts.

But right now, we’ve got – specially the main efforts are in the province of Cuando Cubango, Moxiko, Bié, and Lunda Sul. These four are the heavily mined province, I mean, province with the landmines, and obviously, it’s not all bad about that, because there are provinces that can at this time be declared as completely free, or landmine-eradicated and those are Malanje, [inaudible – 28:51], Huambo, which was also one of the province that was heavily affected by the war. But now the efforts of the companies working there, the demining company, has made that province now cleared of landmines – Namibe, Uíge and Zaire.

With regards to Namibe, there are two areas which have been – they are completely identified, and we know where the landmines are, and those are from the colonial era, because they are protecting their…

Dr Renata Dwan

So, I think that’s a really important point, Colonel Rui, you’re making, which is that landmines are pretty easy to plant…

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

Yeah.

Dr Renata Dwan

…last a long time, and very difficult and painstaking to remove, because I think, you know, for our audiences who may not be as steeped in the landmine work of you three, it’s also just to point out the painstaking nature of the landmine clearance exercise and the scale of that, that that involves.

Could I maybe just ask you briefly to follow-up on one point that intrigued me in the presentation and the videoclip we saw, which is the conservation dimension? We hear a lot and we will hear more about the dangers of landmines to people, and we hear about the difficulties it presents for economic development, but we haven’t heard as much about the conservation dimension. So, can you describe a little bit about the scale of the conversation challenge, what is Angola trying to prioritise?

You’ve also got the Okavango Delta, the famous Okavango Delta in your area. It’s a worldwide, world-renowned space for, in particular, all sorts of flora and fauna, and you’ve also got a significant elephant population. So, perhaps just if you could share a word with us on the conservation challenge and how and where that meets the landmine effort, and how can both reinforce each other?

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

That’s a very great question. Listen, as you have referred, the Okavango Zambeze project is an enormous area, it’s with its potential, and as – I can confirm that it’s HALO Trust, has been working that area. They’ve made a great deal of work. They have, you know, demining part of the – of that portion of the land, but yet there is still, you know, a lot of work to be done. But the thing is, some – it’s – and also, essentially it’s a tourist area, but obviously, some tourists are scared of, you know, moving around in that area because you might, you know, just step in one landmine here, one incident there. And this is the reason why many people participating into this campaign, they were former combatant, former soldiers, people with some experience in, you know, dealing with the landmines. And the government is – has got as a priority the – that particular area, for the importance, obviously, that it represents.

And also the other thing is that with the war we had herds of elephants, for instance, moving from Angola to Botswana, to, you know, neighbouring countries like Zambia, Botswana, and amazingly, because some of the areas, I mean, has been cleared, what has been happening is that we can see now, there is satellite image that shows us the return of the herds of elephants through Angola again, to their former habitat, which is, you know, great news, and it’s good news for us. But the government is also concerned because what we want to do is just to develop, like, to bring about business, tourism, sightseers, so that people can go. But, yes, and there was also a team of National Geographic that were conducting, you know, some research in the area, and they have found that – discovered there are different species that we have never seen before, species that is – cannot be found elsewhere in the world, which means that we are on a good track.

What we really need to do is just to, like, you know, just to double our efforts in order to make some money available, maybe organising some – I don’t know, trying to mobilise different donors, so that they can put in some money, so that the work can just continue, and then get those species there for the good of the biodiversity.

Dr Renata Dwan

No, I think, in a year in which we’re going to have a global conference on biodiversity, it’s an important consideration to think about that space and that use. If I may, Sarah, I’m going to come to you now. I know that you’ve written and worked on issues about humanitarian demining in Angola, but I do also know that you’re working on peacebuilding issues and issues around development. So maybe, help us get some sense of the scale of Angola’s economic and poverty-related challenges, and to what extent demining, successful demining is critical to that sustainability and to that recovery issue? What’s the focus and the priorities and the experience in Angola?

Dr Sarah Njeri

Oh, thank you very much for the opportunity to be in this panel and to be able to address this, and, yeah, I – mine action is critical, and for Angola specifically in, you know – when the war ended I think the World Bank was first to, kind of, highlight the critical role that mine clearance was going to play in the reconstruction period of Angola. So, we see that mine action plays a very – has very intrinsic – I call them intrinsic capacities, that support peacebuilding and long-term development and the evidence is, this is quite obvious when you look at Angola and the extent to which you – if you focus, for example, on the infrastructure and how that is connected to their livelihoods, in terms of open up fertile land. It’s also connected to the socioeconomic, you know, of communities around – in places where mine clearance is happening. So we – in terms of the intrinsic capacities of mine action, you find that in a sense, that mine clearance facilitates the reintegration of combatants, for example.

And I think I want to pick up on one particular aspect that we saw in Angola especially, what the Colonel was highlighting, and what Alex was talking about, that when clearance happens, especially along critical infrastructure, you find communities that have been living in isolation, these are marginalised communities, kind of, coming together and having social – you know, forming social cohesion, and therefore you see that mine action – well, you know, there is always a debate as to what – the extent to which mine action does support this fuelling. And if you’re looking at mine action in isolation and not interpreted and as a whole, then you miss these connections. So, one example, for example, when we did the research that we did in 2019, we – talking to communities, we had about – the – especially the impact that the railway has – had provided. It provides not just a means to get – for local communities to get their produce to the market, but it also – those markets are places where people cohere and people – and then reintegration happens.

And to quote one of the government officials who says that – who said that, “The railway became a symbol of progressing from conflict to reconciliation,” it provides communities with that sense. So, we find that years later there are still places, communities where we actually – my colleagues and I drove up to a road in Madinga where we see that there – complete disconnection and the only ways that communities can move from there is through flights, which are beyond the reach of some of the local community. So, unless these mines that are on the ground are removed, those local, you know – which may seem quite irrelevant to, you know, to a lot of people – are very critical, in terms of making sure that families are reunited, that produce that is being produced from one area is finding market, and diversifying as well the, kind of, the staples, or food staples that are being – that are available in the market and that people have access to.

Dr Renata Dwan

It’s – yeah, I think that’s really critical and often under looked and, Sarah, and maybe I’ll come back to you, Colonel Rui as well, just some sense of how many people are working in the demining industry or process, exercise in Angola? Because I think there’s often a perception, perhaps erroneous, that this is an exercise of Western NGOs and supporting conflict-affected communities, but there’s also a whole component of risk education, there’s a whole component of capacity-building, there’s a whole component of building local ownership and capacity to manage that. How has that advanced, Sarah, in Angola, and to what extent has it engaged local communities?

Dr Sarah Njeri

I think we saw clear examples of, for example, even organisations, you know, local organisations that have had, you know, people who’d been trained by the international NGOs, who’d formed – gone, hired and formed their own NGOs, doing mine clearance in Angola, we saw evidence of that. And I think the best way to look at the impact of clearance, especially in terms of the numbers of people, is how, by extension, you know. So, if you set up camp, for example, demining camp in a certain area, you have to employ people, and that, by extension, you’re helping families.

So, in some of the ways in which you look at how mine action is important, or mine – the presence of organisations such as mine clearance organisations is important in communities, is to look at the longer-term or the longer chains of people – of the way people can be connected to, you know, to a certain activity. There’s a lot of mine risk education, so, people going out to communities, training them on how to identify mines, how to stay safe, is also – and I think even in the presence of COVID, they had mine clearance organisations using that same systems to – for people to go out and talk about the impact of COVID or the health messages.

There is also – think about the – for example, the infra – the economic infrastructure as well, you know, those cars that are there, they need servicing. So, it’s, you know, kind of, long chains that helps communities, sort of, mobilise and return to normalcy. So, the presence of, yeah, mine clearance organisations in whatever, you know – ideally you would not want to have a mine clearance organisation, because it means then you have a problem, but when they are present, then they are a force that helps with the economic reconstruction of communities, yeah. And I think a key one as well, I think, which is important to my broader peacebuilding lens and angle is that, for example, in the immediate aftermath of conflict, the ex-combatants, the people who’ve got the knowledge of the weapon system, who are employed by mine clearance organisations or who engage in that to help in helping the communities or in engaging in demining and therefore using that knowledge, that – to be able to be a service of good to their communities.

Dr Renata Dwan

Absolutely.

Dr Sarah Njeri

Yeah.

Dr Renata Dwan

It really is peacebuilding from the ground up, literally…

Dr Sarah Njeri

Yeah.

Dr Renata Dwan

…in the ground up.

Dr Sarah Njeri

Absolutely, yeah.

Dr Renata Dwan

In terms of – thank you, Sarah. I’m going to turn back to you, Colonel Rui, and then I’m going to be opening up the floor to questions, but you talked about the lack of funding, and notwithstanding the government’s commitment, you flagged that difficulties, economic difficulties has made that difficult, for that commitment to be continued, notwithstanding the fact that oil prices are quite high right now globally around the world, and I think that might be one question coming to you, well, what about the increase in oil prices that we’ve seen, hasn’t that provided opportunities for more resources for the Angolan Government to think about its goals?

But maybe I just wanted to ask you, give us a picture of Luanda, the capital of Angola today. To what extent in the political day-to-day life, in the commercial day-to-day life, in the ordinary media and engagement, is the problem of mines front and centre, or is it also seen, as it can be here seen in the West, as something that’s finished and over and done? So, how present is it as a policy issue for your government and for your elites and wider publics?

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

Well, let me tell you that landmines is being taken very serious by the government. We are fully aware that you cannot have economic development if, you know, you’ve got problems. I mean, there are – mind you that most of areas, especially in South, like Cuando Cubango for instance, in the centre, in Bié or those areas, the majority of the people living there, they are peasants. They live in the village, so – and obviously they may work there, so they just – they go to the fields to produce, you know, these subsistence agriculture, and obviously. And we’ve had some incidents, you know, when people going – peasants go into the fields trying to cultivate, and then they just activate a landmine, some of them, you know, get maimed, and those less luck, they getting – yeah, they just lose their lives then, and the government is aware of that. This is the reason why much impact have been – and also the government has been adapting itself, you know, the infin – the different institutions, to the current situation and there is – it’s, like, it’s a priority for the government.

Obviously, you don’t have the same impact – the people, the ordinary people in Luanda, they don’t talk about landmines. I mean, there are no landmines in Luanda. But for the government it’s a priority and it’s high in the agenda and we still look, you know, forward. We are still committed to the Maputo Declaration, as long as – and as you – you put that on very well, oil prices now are over US $100 a barrel, and that definitely might, you know, come to the benefit of the Angolan Government, so you feel a little bit more comfortable, you know, to allocate some resources, some funds for the mining.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thank you. I’m going to ask you all one final question, and then I’m going to open it up to the audience. You know, we’ve seen at the moment in Europe – we see Ukraine, and we see the risk of large-scale conflict, we see the activation of large-scale conflict with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and landmines being front and centre, one of the issues and the threats, and indeed, being part of Ukraine’s conflict for the last eight years in Crimea.

But we also see conflicts as far – as long back as Angola, we see conflicts in Cambodia, we see mine – demined areas in Afghanistan, to such an extent, even in, still in the Southeast Europe today. And at the same time we see a waning of the global attention on the humanitarian demining issue, we don’t have the same visibility and profile that you showed us, Alex, with the videos of the visit of Princess Diana. And you referenced the decline of UK Government funding. How do we think about maintaining the humanitarian mine action front and centre of the global agenda at this time of, let’s face it, massive challenges, COVID, COVID recovery, geopolitical tensions, economic inequality, massive urbanisation? Help us think about, what are some of the arguments that we can make? And I will come to you, Alex, last to tell us what are some of the things that Chatham House should be doing to have that legacy. So, I’ll start with you, Sarah. How do we bring that message to the world?

Dr Sarah Njeri

I think one clear way is to demonstrate, you know, let’s use Angola as an example. How many years post-conflict are we talking about the problem of places in Cuando Cubango where you cannot drive to from Luanda or from wherever? To demonstrate the reality of the challenges that the use of these weapons does in societies, in communities.

We’ve seen, for example, even in places like Somaliland, where I’ve done a fair bit of research as well, where 30 years on that the same, you know, the same challenges we’re still seeing. We might not see as many landmine injuries, but we do see how mines are impacting these communities, impact – and how increased, in terms of, if you think about huge infrastructure projects, where demining has to be built in because this is a problem. We’re seeing communities, for example, in Yemen are not able to return safely to their villages. Even, you know, supposing the war in Ukraine stopped, you know, ended tomorrow, there’ll be need for clearance, you know, and I think this is what, I think, we’re using examples of Angola, using examples of Somaliland, using examples of Cambodia to illustrate that this is an – a, you know, a long-term, sort of, challenges that we should be thinking very, very concretely before we engage and use some of the weapons that are being used in the conflicts today.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thanks so much, Sarah. Colonel Rui, would you like to offer any thoughts on what can be the way that we can bring more visibility to the landmine question? You’re on mute, Colonel Rui.

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

Yeah. Yes, well, I think, we have to campaign for that, we have to campaign. We have to, you know, sensitise the international community, the donors, people that, you know, with interest in the field, that I think it’s especially, you know, even in the business community. For instance, there are – we may have these conglomerate of companies and they’re interested for reasons to invest in tourism. If we can approach them and say, “Listen, we’ve got these province –” Cuando Cubango is a huge province, massive. It’s, like, it’s got the dimension of one or two European countries together. So, if you, you know, a tourist company, one tourism company wants to invest in the area, how about if you, like, contribute your effort in the demining area and then, you know, they can get into a, sort of, agreement with the government over how they are going to do that about the technicalities. Now, it’s something apart, but they can contribute toward that. And then, they have a free area, which they have helped to clean, which they can also bring their business in, so it’s good for everybody, so it’s, like, a win-win situation.

Dr Renata Dwan

No, thank you for that. Alex, what can and should institutes like Chatham House and British-based think tanks to do keep this high on visibility?

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Well, think innovatively about this. As you said, Renata, don’t regard humanitarian action, demining as a dying trade, but as something that’s very living and vibrant and is important for peacebuilding and crisis response. And I do think Angola is an example that the job can be done within the decade, it’s just about money and focus, so the Angolan Government can provide significant resources with high oil prices, no doubt. But the thing that’s novel about Angola now is that it – in the Southeast of the country it has this critical wilderness. The Minister for the Environment, Paola Coelho, in the clip talked about the Cubango-Zambeze trans-frontier. Colonel Rui talked about Botswana, Zambia and Namibia, opening that border, absolutely unlocking the potential of that critical wilderness, and what none of us have spoken about is the role of multinational companies.

Now, Angola will remain an important oil producer, whatever’s happening with the climate change debates, it will remain so for the next decade or so, and the oil companies are looking at how they decarbonise and how they carbon-offset. And one of the things that they’re looking at is exactly this wilderness area of which, for example, Angola represents 17% of it, on how they can invest in there, and support biodiversity and decarbonise by offsetting. So, I think this is where Angola can also play a role, in terms of supporting mine action, because it’s really a contributor also to preserving the environment and ultimately the climate. So, I think this is something that can also happen, and BP has already provided money for Angola for mine action, committed some millions of US dollars, they can do more. NE has done the same, and one of the things that they did do was realise the importance of this at that meeting that we hosted here at Chatham House in 2019, Renata. After that it was – that’s when their wallets and their chequebooks opened and they gave more money to Angola, and I think that’s where they can do more.

Dr Renata Dwan

Super, thanks, Alex. I’m going to open up to some questions now, and it’s my great pleasure to invite one of the legators of the Margaret Cleeve Circle, Claudia Hamill, to take the floor. Claudia, would you like to take the floor? You’re unmuted.

Claudia Hamill

Yes, I’m very happy to do so. I hope you can hear me. I hope I’ve unmuted successfully. Yes, I’m delighted actually that this has – initiative has happened. I used to work at Chatham House. I was then invited onto Council and was then re-elected onto Council, and have been helping in small ways with Chatham House ever since, and I’m a legator.

My question was really to Alex, to ask – and you’ve just now just explained what needs to be done, in terms of the environmental side. I’d like to know a little bit more, historically, apart from the evidence you gave to the All-Party Committee – Group, rather, what else Chatham House has done to help to develop the strategy with Angola?

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Shall I answer that, Renata, would you like me to? You’re on mute, but I assume that is a yes.

Dr Renata Dwan

You can first, but briefly if you may, because I’m going to bring in a few others.

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Oh, do you want me to wait?

Dr Renata Dwan

No, you can answer…

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Okay.

Dr Renata Dwan

..but then – yeah.

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Alright, thank you. So, Angola’s been a key focus of Chatham House since 1998, so the British Angola Forum predated the Africa Programme in fact at Chatham House, and we have been working closely with all Angolans in thinking of policy, including, how do you diversify the Angolan addiction to oil? And so, I think this goes back to what I – and part of my answer was about biodiversity. It is about partnering with the Angolan Government in thinking about, “How do you reduce poverty and develop the country in various ways,” of which one aspect is mine action, which is what we’re talking about this evening?

Dr Renata Dwan

Super, thank you very much. I’m getting in plenty of questions, so, I’ll try to get round to them, but if I may, I’m going to read a couple out just because of timing. So, I’m going to read out a question from John-Paul Rosario, and it’s not specifically on landmines, but just to capture the scale of challenge that happens to a country. Cluster bombs were used in the Angolan Civil War in addition to landmines, and how much of that – of a challenge is presented for the clearance of those devices? Sarah, I’m going to ask you, if you may, just to briefly talk about that, because you’ve talked about lots of different forms of threats, including anti-tank and anti-vehicle mines, in your work.

Dr Sarah Njeri

Yeah, thank you very much. Cluster bombs is something that we did – have been focused in specifically in in our work. However, my understanding from engagement in mine – with mine action people is that cluster bombs actually present an even bigger challenge because of the instability of it as a weapon and the fact that it’s not, you know, like landmines and anti-vehicle mines will be, and on the ground they are more accessible to children, and therefore cause more of a danger, in terms of immediate danger for civilians and communities.

And I’ll leave it at that, because I imagine the Colonel might have better understanding of clusters than I do. Thank you.

Dr Renata Dwan

Colonel Rui, would you like to add anything to that?

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

Yes, well – and maybe also the next question. We all know, but how about the land – anti-personnel landmines and the anti-vehicle landmines? So I’m going to touch a little bit very quickly on that. The cluster bombs, they are not used as landmines, totally different, two different things, totally different because those are – we call that, in Portuguese, bomba de [mother tongue – 56:40]. So, when they are fired, they are actually fired, they are not something that you are going to lay on the ground, no. They are fired, and when they land, they don’t just burst at that time. And it’s special – when you’ve got, I mean, heavy concentration of troops or they are dis – or they’re somehow heavy concentrations or dispersed, they’re in many numbers and in many people, but dispersed. So, what they do is just, they land here and you may think that, okay, this bombs is faulty, and after a few minutes it’s just going to detonate, and then as a surprise, many people will die of that. Those are the cluster bomb.

Now, the landmines are a different ballgame. You will plant them on the soil and you’ve got the personnel and then you’ve got the vehicle ones. The personnel landmines, as the name, you know, indicates, it’s been manufactured to wound or to kill people, you know. When you step in or you just go and you touch, there is a wire that’s there, you just go, as long as you touch that wire, you are doomed, you go, whether you die, you get, you know, you lose one of your limbs or whatever, different. But then you’ve got the anti-vehicle landmine, which is – it’s like a heavy-duty landmine. It’s normally – it does not – it’s not activated by a soldier or person. It must be, like, a motor vehicle, tanks, armoured vehicles, and sometimes, as I explained, the same question also was asked when we had these discussion in Chatham House, someone wanted to know the difference.

For instance, you can – and the military, that’s what they normally do. When they plant the landmine, the anti-vehicle landmine, sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes, they plant that with an anti-personnel landmine. So, combine the two, and then just to make the, I mean, the damage even worse, it can easily be activated by a small vehicle. And the personnel landmine, it’s very light, you know, sometimes when – with the rains, it can even go with the rains. That’s why we’ve got – or you may plant the mine here. With the years, you know, as the years pass by and the rain can drag, the waters can drag the landmines and then just move them to a different place.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thank you so much, Colonel Rui, also and I think this question is very much on people’s minds also with what’s happening in Ukraine, so, some of the questions were exactly about that, “Is that a risk?” I’m going to try to combine three final questions into one, with apologies to our speakers, but Trisha de Borchgrave asked a question, and it’s directed at you a little bit, Alex. “Why has Angola been omitted from the UK’s latest list of countries in need of demining?” And then from Tigi Styamara, our colleague, “What can international partners do in the face of these funding cuts, and can there be international funding support to help meet the gap that the UK Government has left?”

And from Esperanza Pereira, “What can ordinary citizens in the UK do to support the clearing of landmines in the UK – or UK citizens in Angola and elsewhere?” So, I’m going to start with you, Alex, and then Sarah and then, Colonel Rui, you have the last word as our Angolan on the panel this evening. Alex.

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Okay. I think it’s that Angola isn’t a prior – as high-priority as it was during the war, and so when the UK Government is looking for places to cut back on, then Angola’s an easy cut. There’s not a strong lobby in the UK, there is the All-Party Parliamentary Group, but it doesn’t meet very regularly, and I also think that actually the Angolan Embassy’s own advocacy in the UK hasn’t been as strong as it was 20 years ago. So, I think those have contributed to that decision.

In terms of, what can British citizens do? They can write to their Members of Parliament, and they can also encourage – well, even the Duke of Sussex, even though he’s in California now, they – but use celebrity also to draw attention to the Angolan issue, that this is something that can be done. And finally, I do think the conservation angle is the way probably to crack this, to get this job finished. The idea of elephants stepping on antique tank mines is paradoxical, but I think that really does mobilise attention.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thanks, Alex, great points. Sarah, your thoughts on what can be done and on the funding question, on keeping the attention?

Dr Sarah Njeri

And I think there is – there are quite a fair bit of effort and I am a member of – a Director in one of the campaigns, an organisation called Revive that also advocates for inclusion of victims and victim empowerment, so, it’s continuing with such debate in – where we’re highlighting and presenting this to the public, and also to Parliamentarians to illustrate how the issue is. And I think the – what is happening in Ukraine at the moment gives us a window and an impetus in drawing those conversations and bringing them back to the fore, and arguing that, you know, while landmines might have dropped off the agenda, while Angola is – may have dropped off, that these are still, you know, issues that need addressing. I’ll leave it at that.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thanks, Sarah. Colonel Rui.

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

Yes, well, I think people can help in answering the question when they – they may help by incentivising the different – the concerned organisations, by – or the need to still, I mean, to do the work that – it has just started and we still need to go, but the job has not yet finished. And obviously, I think one of the things that can be done, obviously, as Alex pointed out very well, is for instance here, people, when they’ve got a matter, they’ve got a concern, they go to their local MPs. These are the people that, in the Parliament, they will, you know, raise the matter and, you know, drawing the people’s attention for this, this, this and that, that shouldn’t be that.

This is one of the good thing – one thing that can be done, but there are also other events. I would like to disagree – agree and disagree with Alex, with regards to the Angolan Government not being that active, that it’s – well, it’s not like in the past, but obviously, there are other priorities in the agenda, not that demining is not priority. It is, but I think we’ve got some pressing matters that should be dealt with now, it’s urgent, and we need to deal that.

In the meantime, demining is being also done, but not in the same pace that we’ve been doing – that we had been – was doing – were doing so in the past. But, yes, again, I mean, I think we are in a very good position now. I do believe that, as I told previously. I think that the Maputo Declaration is still achievable. I think that with an air force, the rearrangements that the Angola have – Government has made to deal with this landmine clearance, I think that it’s still possible. As – again, as I said, we need to have focus and we need to get this funding that is very much required. If we can approach the donors, I think we’ll get there.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thank you. Thank you, Colonel Rui. I mean, Alex pointed out that the role of institutions on mine action is partly advocacy, keeping the attention and the focus. It’s partly ideas and innovative ideas, and it’s partly also keeping to tell the story of successes, because humanitarian demining is a story of success. It is a story of what can be done, and what can be achieved by people, by ordinary people in – and in conflicts and after conflicts.

I also want to flag that Angola’s a success story, a success story still in the making, it’s not a success story ended, the work is still to be done, and – but what we’ve seen, I think, is that, as Sarah pointed out, it’s a peacebuilding exercise. As Colonel Rui pointed out, it’s a conservation exercise, and then, as Alex pointed out, it’s part of a development strategy and a national development strategy, and that’s the case in almost every country that you see landmines today.

The other thing, I think, came through, but we didn’t have enough opportunity to explore is that it really is a multistakeholder exercise. We have a whole range of humanitarian organisations involved in demining. We have the HALO Trust, we have the Mines Advisory Group, we have groups on the ground. Sarah, you pointed to women’s groups and community groups on the ground. So, it really is a whole-of-community, beginning with government, governments abroad and national governments, but not ending with governments, being really communities and people and support. And so, I think that has an amazing effect of both community-building, as Sarah pointed out, but also a wider interest.

And the third point I would flag is, we’re a world that is urbanising and we need space, and we’re populations that are growing. Every piece of land is precious. We’re in a world today at which global com – food commodity prices are at historical highs and they will go higher. We need the land, we need to be able to use it and we need to be able to use it effectively, and only through humanitarian demining and effective mine action can we get there. So, I think the work is still to do, and what I would like to say on behalf of Alex, I hope, Alex, that really mine action will remain a central interest of Chatham House, and Angola will remain close to our hearts and our engagement, and I know under Alex’s leadership in the Africa Programme.

So, let me thank you all today for joining us. We very much appreciate your support, your engagement, and the continued focus on humanitarian demining at this critical time. Let me also just offer a final word of thanks to our wonderful Margaret Cleeve Circle supporters, and to this opportunity to talk about the tangible work that institutes like Chatham House, and that specifically Chatham House seeks to do.

Alex, I will leave the farewell notes to you, with thanks to you all for joining.

Dr Alex Vines OBE

Well, I just want to thank Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves, because I know that he’s leaving the United Kingdom, returning back to Angola, and so he’s seen us through this journey, Renata and colleagues, but I think this is where he’s called back to continue the development of his country on Angolan soil, not on British soil. So, Colonel Rui, thank you so much for the partnership that you’ve shown. I’m very grateful for your counsel and the work that we’ve been able to do together, and Renata is right, Angola is in the heart of Chatham House.

If you look at our staircase, there are many Angolans that are named on it as part of our centenary, and humanitarian mine action, not just in Angola but globally, will continue to be a focus of the institute. So, again, thank you to everybody and particularly to those who are members of the Margaret Cleeve Circle. We’re tremendously grateful for your support, and particularly honoured that your inaugural lecture is on Angola and on humanitarian mine action. Thank you very much.

Dr Renata Dwan

Bye, everybody.

Colonel Rui Nelson Gonçalves

Thank you very much, Alex. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Dr Renata Dwan

Thank you.