KABUL - There are a few types of workers who on the one hand, save people's lives, but on the other sometimes put their own lives in danger as well. Deminers are among them.

On the early morning of 11 April, a group of deminers took a bus to work at a mine field in Kandahar province’s Daman district. Two hundred metres away from their regular parking lot, the bus was struck by a possible remote controlled roadside bomb. The huge explosion soon drew other deminers at work in the field to the scene to rescue their colleagues. A second bomb exploded, which unfortunately, left five workers killed and 16 injured.

Staffan de Mistura, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan, said yesterday, “I am deeply saddened by the loss of lives of the demining workers, and I deplore this attack on these courageous people, who for years have devoted their lives to making Afghanistan safer for all.”

Dr Haider Reza, Programme Director of the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA), said the day after the attack:” Mine action is a neutral humanitarian activity, which should not be confused with military operations in the country."

He appealed to all his fellow Afghans to "support this important humanitarian work to protect Afghan men, women and children from the threat of landmines and other explosive remnants of war.”

Two months ago, the United Nations and the humanitarian community called on parties in the conflict to respect humanitarian personnel and humanitarian aid, as increasing numbers of displaced people arrive in Lashkar Gah.

Robert Watkins, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator said: “We are calling on combatants to respect the neutrality of the humanitarian community and humanitarian aid.”

The security risk in the country, especially in the south, is a big challenge for deminers. From the beginning of this year, there have been four to five attacks against deminers. The latest attack was the most deadly one. In order to reduce risks for deminers, mine action relies more and more on community-based demining, according to MACCA.

With assistance from partners, local people are recruited and trained as deminers to clear mines in their own communities, mainly in volatile areas.

“In community-based demining cases, deminers come from the communities. Villagers all know them and their families, so they will take security on their own shoulders to protect these deminers,” said Dr Reza.

“Once the minefield is cleared then it becomes the responsibility of the community to look after it. However, we have no other measures in place to safeguard the cleared area,” he added.

The 2009 report from the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan shows that 280 communities across Afghanistan were cleared of mines between January to December 2009.

Community-based demining is currently operational in Khost, Kunar, Nangarhar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Ghor, Kandahar and Bamyan provinces.

By Kangying Guo, UNAMA