MOZAMBIQUE: A species of large African field rat has become the latest recruit in the fight to de-mine one of the African continent's mine- infested regions.
The animals are being used in Mozambique to detect landmines and unexploded ordnance that is still threatening hundreds of thousands of people and hampering economic activity 13 years after the end of a brutal war that claimed up to one million lives.
Trained to sniff out the chemical traces associated with various types of explosive, the large rat is led by a handler across a suspect land area that has been cordoned off for de-mining, and segmented using lengths of string along which the rats are guided.
According to Frank Weetjens, the local representative of Apopo, the Belgium-based organisation training the giant field rats, once a landmine has been sniffed out the rat stops and begins to dig, which is the sign that a mine has been located.
"The rat is immediately fed a morsel of food by its handler. It has learned to associate the smell of the chemical traces with the production of food, and basically this is how the process works. A conventional mine detector reacts to any kind of metal, but our rats are trained to react only to the smell of explosives.
"This method not only saves time, but money and the lives of people who would otherwise be searching for the mines themselves. The rats are too light to set off the mines and the species chosen has a high curiosity level, which gives it a longer attention span than sniffer dogs are likely to have," says Mr Weetjens.
Apopo - an acronym in the Flemish language for technology to detect mines - set up a base in Mozambique in 2003 near the town of Chimoio, about 1,200km from the capital Maputo, to work with a non-governmental organisation engaged in de-mining.
The region, bordering Zimbabwe, was infested with landmines dating back to Mozambique's bitter 16-year civil war which ended in 1992. Areas mined included towns, villages, water sources, power sources, pylon lines, dams, roads, tracks, paths, bridges, railway lines, and military installations.
But since the Apopo project officially began in October 2004, the 23 rats on duty have only managed to clear 3,000sq metres of land. This is due to a lack of support from collaborative groups, such as organizations that have machinery that can clear away vast tracts of vegetation, that are needed to support the project.
"The vast sums of money that were being ploughed into de-mining when Lady Diana was a supporter of the cause have now dried up, and the big de-mining organisations are more focused on other areas where the problem is more severe, Mr Weetjens said.
"We are funded by the Flemish government so we can carry on, but we need the support of others to be effective," he added.
Since 1993, about 115,000 landmines and 150,000 other explosive devices have been destroyed in the country.
Initially, mines were spread over 528-million square kilometres, putting 1.7-million people at risk, but today the number has come down to 171-million square kilometres and about 800,000 people.
However, despite the obvious need of the project, Mr Weetjens believes their programme in Mozambique will come to a complete standstill in the near future. But the setback has not ended the project.
As it was perceived a success under international de-mining standards and received an official licence from the Mozambican government, the Apopo project is being moved to Sudan later this year to start again.