Today, the U.S. humanitarian demining program in Rwanda has reached "the sustainment phase," which is "the measure of success" for U.S.-sponsored demining efforts, Murphy says. The United States, he notes, will continue to provide the necessary resources to help the Rwandan government rid the country of "the scourge of landmines." Murphy is a senior program manager in the Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, the Department of State, which is the lead agency in coordinating U.S. humanitarian demining efforts worldwide.

The purpose of the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program is three-fold: to relieve human suffering, to develop an indigenous demining capability, and to promote U.S. interests in peace, prosperity, and regional stability.

The primary measure of effectiveness for the program is the self-sustaining capability of a partner nation to manage, direct, and control its own demining effort. Rwanda, one of the six Sub-Saharan countries in Africa where the United States has a humanitarian demining program, has reached that stage. Similar U.S. demining efforts are underway in Angola, Chad, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.

When the U.S. humanitarian demining program began in Rwanda in 1995, most of the country was infected with landmines and unexploded ordnance as a result of the fighting there in 1991 and 1994. In 1995, the Rwandan National Demining Office (NDO), established under a U.S.-Rwanda bilateral arrangement, estimated that there were some 250,000 mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance to be cleared. Continued fighting in the northwest is producing additional unexploded ordnance

Although mines and unexploded ordnance are scattered throughout approximately two-thirds of the country's land area, the heaviest concentration is in the northeast, among the rural farmlands and tea plantations near Kigali. Here, Rwandan soldiers mined roads, footpaths, and fields to impede the advance of the rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, who were entering the country from Uganda. During the fierce, three-month battle for control of the Rwandan capital in 1994, areas near schools, hospitals, and factories were heavily mined. Today parts of Kigali and areas around it have been and are continuing to be demined.

By the time U.S. demining efforts started, ethnic-based insurgences had devastated habitable areas, the work force, and the prospects for economic recovery. Both military personnel and civilians were casualties of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. Once the conflict subsided, and refugees began to return and work the soil, landmine casualties began to rise among non-combatants. In 1994, the United Nations reported that there were, on average, two civilian casualties a day in mined areas of the country.

Today, however, the returning citizens of Rwanda are put into housing built by non-governmental organizations on land cleared of mines and unexploded ordnance by the National Demining Office. For example, thousands of returning refugees from Uganda, who fled the anti-Tutsi pogroms by the majority Hutu population, are currently being resettled in demined parts of the Kagera National Park.

In May 1995, U.S. military personnel from the European Command established a training program for the Rwandan People's Army, which already had very capable combat engineers, many of whom had received training in mine-clearing from either the United States or Belgium. Within six months, U.S. soldiers had trained 85 Rwandan military personnel in demining techniques and arranged to provide them with 18 "sniffer" dogs to locate mines. The United States also provided 250 mine detectors for the program.

The 85 Rwandan military personnel assigned to the National Demining Office are organized into operational squads of 8-10 deminers, one medical staffer, and one communications expert. The NDO has established a database to collate information from the field.

U.S. efforts in 1996 focused on U.S. Special Forces "Train the Trainers" instruction in mine clearing, mine survey techniques, basic Explosives Ordnance Disposal, computer training for the NDO, the planning and conducting of a mine awareness campaign, and emergency medical training. Under the "Train the Trainers" concept, Rwandan military personnel themselves become qualified instructors and train other Rwandan soldiers to be deminers.

In 1997, the demining program emphasized providing demining equipment -- as well as dogs and dog handlers -- for support of the U.S.-trained deminers and to complement the training of a fourth demining platoon.

The impact of U.S. and U.S.-supported efforts is apparent. More than 100 miles of road essential to economic recovery and over 5,000 acres of farmland have been made safe for productive use. Rwandan deminers destroyed more than 200 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines and almost 7,500 piece of unexploded ordnance in clearing these areas.

The commander of the National Demining Office estimates that there are about 5,000 mines and 100,000 piece of unexploded ordnance remaining to be cleared. In addition, NDO deminers have located seven suspected minefields, each of which will take about three months to clear.

The NDO also implements a mine awareness program that puts information out by radio, TV, T-shirts, banners, and posters. The NDO targets areas where heavy fighting took place, focusing on children to warn them about the dangers of mines and unexploded ordnance. The mine awareness program also informs the general population where and to whom they should report suspected landmine and unexploded ordnance locations.

Today, the United States considers the Rwandan Humanitarian Demining Program to be in the sustainment phase, the measure of success of our demining efforts. The National Demining Office is a very successful solution to the landmine/unexploded ordnance problem in Rwanda, and it is justifiably proud of its achievements. While the NDO is technically capable of doing the job at hand, it still needs outside funding.

From 1995 through 1998, the United States has spent $6,000,000 on its humanitarian demining Program in Rwanda. The U.S. will continue to provide the resources necessary for the government of Rwanda to continue to administer the program effectively. For fiscal year 1999, the United States is recommending that another $1,200,000 be spent to help this beleaguered nation rid itself of the scourge of landmines.