The funding provided by the Foundation allowed HALO to survey areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi. The HALO Trust undertook plans to conduct an assessment of the humanitarian mines situation in the Central African region. Initially the assessment was to focus on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi. However, in reaction to events during this period, the survey encompassed Central African Republic (CAR) as well. The survey has had a great influence in HALO's strategic planning for its own African operations, and has been extremely useful in the briefings the HALO regularly gives to major mine clearance donors. A peace agreement, between the warring parties was signed on July 30, 2002 and the process of withdrawing troops by Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Uganda has begun.
Over the course of 2002 HALO has been monitoring the situation in the Great Lakes. Given that considerable headway has been made towards peace in both the DRC and Burundi, HALO will be deploying a mission to the Great Lakes Region in order to assess the impact of mines and UXO.
For more information about the above photos, and to see videos and more information about The HALO Trust, go to www.halousa.org
