12 April 2010 - The Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) today condemned attacks on humanitarian deminers, following an attack on a team working for Afghan NGO DAFA in Kandahar on the 11 April which resulted in the death of four deminers and a further 17 being injured.

MACCA is the coordination body for all humanitarian mine action in Afghanistan, which is still one of the
most heavily mine-impacted countries in the world. 

Dr Haider Reza, Programme Director, MACCA, said:
“Mine action is a neutral humanitarian activity, which should not be confused with military operations in the country. We strongly condemn the use of all anti-personnel mines and other improvised explosive devices, which have led to such a high number of civilian deaths in this country already and will do for many years to come if humanitarian
deminers are prevented from carrying out this life-saving work.

I call on all my 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.”

The Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan, the collective name for all organizations carrying out mine action in the country, has been active since 1988 and has been responsible for the removal of over 15,000 hazard areas (minefields and battlefields) in the last twenty years. The programme is the largest in the world and employs over
10,000 Afghans in various capacities.

Contacts
Flora Sutherland/ Sartaj Shahidzai
T: +93 (0) 705 966 371/ (0) 777 771 717