SUMMARY (Reporting Period: 01 December 2007 - 31 January 2008)

Activities & Outputs Summary:

- Search and clearance of a total of 10,150 square metres of land through a combination of hand, electronic, and visual techniques.

- Removal and destruction of a total of 3,503 hazardous items: including 236 UXO, 3,264 items of small arms ammunition, and 3 AP mines.

- Destruction of 4,964 weapons.

- 181 Dangerous Areas identified.

- 212 MRE sessions conducted targeting 41,048 beneficiaries.

Note: The overall outputs for this combined two month period are slightly down compared to the previous months, reflecting the operational stand down period over the Christmas/New Year break as well as limitations imposed by the full onset of the rainy season. Good planning however has limited these impacts to a minimum.

Impact Summary:

Significantly, clearance operations at Camp Ngashi have been completed on January 29. In total, from June 2007 to January 2008, over 28,000 sq/m of land have been cleared, over 3,500 weapons, 5,000 UXO and 35,000 items of ammunition have been destroyed, and MRE sessions have been given to over 10,000 people. The area around Camp Ngashi has now reached a low level of threat from UXO.

Clearance activities have not only prevented accidents from explosions but also freed land for agriculture and rendered safe many roads and a water source crucial to the villager's daily activities. Socio-economic development around Camp Ngashi will no longer be limited by remnants of conflict.

The destruction of the ammunition also means it will not be available for trafficking - a significant problem in the Great Lakes region - thus contributing to regional peace-building.

ACTIVITIES

Equateur:

The project funded by the Pooled Fund to undertake clearance of Camp Ngashi continued in December and January with the final demolition taking place on January 29. Aerial bombs were successfully destroyed with the assistance of the FARDC in providing trucks and drivers, as well as the commercial hire of a crane truck. The emergency response to Camp Ngashi is now over. At the end of January, under funding from the Humanitarian Action Plan Pooled Fund, a Community Liaison team deployed to Buburu and Imese on the Ubangui River at the border with the Republic of Congo. In collaboration with the UNHCR, MRE sessions will be provided to refugees returning to Equateur. Furthermore, in January, a new forward operating base has been established in Gemena; initially this will support the deployment of the Small Arms and Light Weapons teams around northern Equateur following which it will be used as the field base from which HMA teams will deploy.

Katanga:

Sida and DfID sponsored HMA activities for December and January took place in Pweto, Lofwashi, Pepa and Kasenga. MAG Clearance Teams cleared 210 Dangerous Areas which resulted in the removal and destruction of 205 items of unexploded ordnance and 3,264 other miscellaneous items. Community Liaison teams delivered 119 MRE sessions to 39,697 beneficiaries. In January, planning for MRE was conducted in order to respond to the demand from UNHCR which is restarting a refugee repatriation programme from Zambia into Pweto and Moba. Dutch Government funding commenced in January and is initially focussed in Katanga, with support for a CL and clearance team.

Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Destruction Project:

The operation to undertake destruction of weapons at the Central Logistics Base has been ongoing in December and January for a total of 4,964 weapons destroyed, through funding from the United States. Recruitment and EOD training has taken place in the 6th Military Region (Katanga) while the team in the 3rd Military Region (Equateur) prepared a deployment to Gemena. Moreover, the survey funded by the UK Global Conflict Prevention Pool (GCPP) conducted in the 2nd Military Region (Bas-Congo) by the Technical Operations Manager at the end of January revealed three military weapon storage facilities at Matadi, Kitona and Banana. The Technical Operations Manager also liaised with the Ministry of the Interior and High Ranking Police Officers to provide MAG with the authorization to destroy police stocks of surplus weapons. Finally, in Kinshasa, a visit to the Central Logistics Base was organized for RECSA (Regional Center for Small Arms) representatives visiting DRC.

MAG would like to express its gratitude and many thanks to the following current donors to the Democratic Republic of Congo programme:

- Department for International Development (UK); Pooled Fund; Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; Global Conflict Prevention Pool (UK); United States Department of State, Political Military Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement; Royal Government of the Netherlands (commenced January 2008).

For more information on this or any of MAG's programmes across the world please visit www.maginternational.org.

Or contact: Diderik van Halsema, Head of Communications. E-mail: comms@mag.org.uk; MAG, 47 Newton Street, Manchester, M1 1FT, UK; Tel: +44 161 236 4311; Fax: +44 161 236 6244.