3.2 To do what?

What does one do in a post-war Eritrea, where moods are still high, and we were not very welcome in some circles?

Just a little background first. I'm not going to bore you with the colonial history of Eritrea. In short, Eritrea has been an Italian colony since 1888. Since December 1950, after WWII, the UN has adopted a resolution making Eritrea a federal part of Ethiopia. It was against the will of the Eritreans.

On September 1, 1961, the Eritrean Liberation Front began an armed struggle for independence. This struggle raged until 1991, when the rebels expelled the Ethiopians from their land, declaring independence. (Dan Cornel's excellent book, “Against all odds”, tells the story of this relatively unknown piece of history.)

However, certain border areas have been disputed by both Eritrea and Ethiopia. Ethiopia moved deeper into Eritrea in some of these areas, culminating in the 1998-2000 Eritrean-Ethiopian war. These protracted conflicts led to pollution of, especially the border areas, with minefields, unexploded ordnance, and abandoned ammunition.

A UN peacekeeping force, which included engineer elements from Kenya and Slovakia, was deployed in the south of the country. The task of the Kenyans and Slovaks was to clear the minefields.

Mechem has been contracted by the UN to secure roads. For that, Mechem deployed a CASSPIR[1] with the MVMMDS (MECHEM Vehicle Mounted Mine Detection System) with its crew, as well as landmine cleaners from Mozambique and Zimbabwe and South African dog handlers with their sniffer dogs.

I understand little about technology, but I will try to explain. MVMMDS is in effect several mine detectors mounted on a rubber strip (the mat), so that together they cover the entire width of the mat. The width of the mat is about the same as the space between the rear wheels of the CASSPIR. The mine detectors are then connected to a computer in the vehicle. Behind each mine detector are also sprayers connected by pipes to a tank of paint. As soon as a mine detector registers a metal object under the mat, that mine detector sprays a splash of paint on the road.

The computer in the vehicle is constantly monitored by one of the crew members. When a mine detector registers an object, an alarm goes off in the vehicle. The vehicle, which is traveling at about walking speed, stops immediately. The computer can then, as in a video, be turned back to where the object appears on the screen.

The image shows the shape of the object, while the computer shows the size of the object. In this way it can then be confirmed whether it is possibly a landmine or a piece of ammunition.

After that, the sniffer dogs, who have been taught to detect explosives, can comb the area. If the dog then indicates explosives, by sitting down, the deminers are called in. They go through their procedure to locate, neutralize, and remove the object.

If the dog shows no explosives, the mine cleaners still follow the same procedure to identify the object and remove it. When the team has "swept" a road, no metal should be left under the ground.

But what if the CASSPIR detonates a landmine? Well, prevention is better than cure. But still ... It can happen. That's why we used a Casspir, which was built as, among other things, a landmine protected vehicle. And very effectively so. The CASSPIR's design was so good that, when most standard mines (even the larger anti-vehicle mines) were detonated, it could be repaired relatively easily, quickly, and cheaply and that injuries would be relatively minor if the rules were followed.

So, to what? To save lives, and to support relief in post-conflict areas.

Picture:  Wikipedia

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[1] Casspir is an anagram from the abbreviations Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and South African Police (SAP)