summary
Event: UNMAS-CMAC-JICA collaboration for Africa – for stronger national ownership and capacity
Date: July 17-18, 2024
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Workshop Outline
Mines and unexploded ordnance remain not only during conflict, but also for a long period of time after the end of conflict, and can hinder reconstruction and development. In order to effectively address the problem of landmines and UXOs, it is important to increase national ownership of mine action and strengthen national capacity in mine and UXO control. The following is a brief overview of the National Mine Action Plan (NAM).
JICA has been cooperating with the Cambodian Mine Action Center (CMAC) since 1998, and since 2010 has focused on sharing CMAC’s knowledge and technology with other mine- and UXO-affected countries. To date, JICA has shared its knowledge through training and other means with more than 500 mine countermeasures personnel in Colombia, Laos, Angola, Iraq, Ukraine, and other countries.
The purpose of the workshop held in Addis Ababa was to discuss future directions in providing CMAC’s knowledge to mine-affected countries in Africa. Discussions began at a workshop co-hosted by JICA, CMAC, and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Nairobi last October. Government organizations responsible for mine action in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, and South Sudan participated in the workshop and shared the current situation regarding mine action. During the workshop, there was a desire to observe CMAC activities by the four African countries, so a visit to Cambodia by the four countries was conducted in January of this year. On the last day of the itinerary, during discussions among JICA, CMAC, and the four African countries, the four countries expressed their desire to strengthen the national capacities that CMAC has built up over the past 30 years. In response to these comments, it was decided that JICA, CMAC, and UNMAS would gather again in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with officials from the mine action government organizations of Ethiopia, Nigeria, and South Sudan to discuss efforts to strengthen national capacities.
On July 17, we visited the Ethiopian Mine Action Office (EMAO) headquarters and training center located on Mount Entoto in Addis Ababa. The Director of the Programs Directorate of the National Mine Action Agency (NMAA) of South Sudan said, “Some of the NMAA staff have received training here, and we are grateful to EMAO. Under rainy skies, the participants also observed the training of mine detection dogs and the accommodations at the training center.
(Inspection tour)
Over the course of a day and a half from that afternoon to the evening of the 18th, the three African countries discussed cooperation to increase the national capacity of mine action organizations in the three countries. As a result, the following three initiatives were proposed
(i) Training to enhance the management skills of executives of each organization
(ii) Technical training for team leaders and other on-site managers
(iii) Problem-based National Capacity strengthening platform involving executives and field managers of each organization, CMAC, JICA, and UNMAS
The training in (i) and (ii) will make maximum use of CMAC’s knowledge based on its many years of experience, and will aim to strengthen both the senior management of the organizations and the field level in order to ensure the national capacity necessary to promote mine action without relying on foreign mine action organizations. The platform in (iii) will set up a forum for each organization to bring their issues on a regular basis and discuss them with CMAC, JICA, and UNMAS in order to find ways to improve the issues.
Participants from Africa also spoke highly of the approach of cooperation linking Asia-Africa and intra-Africa regional cooperation, saying that “the opportunity to learn from CMAC, which has built national capacity, is valuable” and that “it is effective to have multiple African organizations participate in this kind of forum. The participants also appreciated the approach of cooperation connecting Asia-Africa and intra-Africa regional cooperation. They also expressed their wish that such an opportunity be offered not only to themselves but also to other African countries suffering from landmine and UXO damage.
(Discussion)
In July 2024, Minister Uekawa announced the launch of the “Comprehensive Package on Support for Mine Action” and stated that the Japanese government will actively promote mine action support through triangular cooperation and other means, with Cambodia as a hub. I hope that the “circle” of strengthening national capacity in mine and UXO countermeasures will expand from Asia to Africa, and that African countries will not rely solely on external assistance, but will take the lead in realizing a “world free of mines and UXOs” in cooperation with foreign donors and mine action organizations. I look forward to the day when our country will take the lead in realizing a world free of landmines and unexploded ordnance.
© Source JICA
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