Mozambique Free of Land Mines At Last

MAPUTO – Mozambique has been declared free of land mines decades after efforts began to clear the country of the killer hazard.

According to the Guardian, Mozambique is to declare itself the first heavily mined country in the world to be cleared of all known minefields. One of the major movers behind de-mining efforts has been the Halo Trust, which began in Mozambique more than 22 years ago, the report said. The trust said at least 170,000 mines had been removed.

The antipersonnel mines were first planted in the 1960s during a war for independence from Portugal, then in a civil war that followed, and continued to inflict thousands of casualties long after peace was declared in 1992, the Guardian reported.