The Zimbabwean army and private companies have unearthed 26,000 landmines over the last 18 months, thereby freeing up a 20 km tract of land in Victoria Falls for tourism and other tracts in the Zambezi valley for resettlement, news reports said on Tuesday. The reports said the army has so far removed 6,000 landmines from Victoria Falls, while a private company, Koch Mine Safe had cleared 335 km of land in the Zambezi valley, leading to the release of prime land for resettlement. The mines, added the reports, were planted between 1976 and 1979 by the Rhodesian forces to stop liberation war fighters from crossing into the country from Zambia and Mozambique. The Zimbabwean army estimates that about two million landmines were planted on Zimbabwe's borders with South Africa and Mozambique.
Source: 26,000 landmines cleared in Zambezi Valley (18/04/2000)