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| The German mine sweeping organization MgM People Against Mines developed a new device for the clearing of landmines. It is now being deployed in the post war scenarios in Southern Africa with great success. c/o MgM |
Margaret Busé (MB): Can you describe how MgM came to be formed in
Germany in 1996?
Hendrik Ehlers (HE): My friend and partner since childhood, Hans Georg
Kruessen, and I were on Christmas leave back home, when we learned that
our contracts with GPC seconding ADP [Accelerated Demining Program] in Mozambique as instructors and
supervisors of the survey plus explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) section
were not renewed. We had no chance but to do what many people had told us
to do before: make our own non-governmental organization (NGO). With the
help of our old school pal, Christoph Brocks, this was done within a few
days and MgM was legally founded on January 16, 1996.
MB: How has your experience, and the experience of the founders of MgM,
shaped the way MgM has been structured?
HE: We wanted to avoid the situation that an HQ and/or board members in
Germany could negatively influence our fieldwork. Therefore, the entire
board, but three members, retired five minutes after the foundation case
of beer was emptied. Hans Georg and I remained as majority over the silent
third, Christoph. Kri then shaped the IT structure of MgM and we ran off
into the bush. That gave us the unique structure to be in the field and to
be on top of the organization. We call that the reversed pyramid. This
enables us to be very flexible and to react based on field realities
rather than having to ask some distant body if we may buy a new truck or
start a new operation. Without that, our Angola operations would have
stopped long ago, just because there was no funding… To take it one step
further, Hans Georg and me both later became chairmen, which lets us take
the entire legal responsibility, too.
MB: What do you feel are the most unique aspects of MgM that set it apart
from other demining organizations?
HE: The above structure is absolutely unique and so is the fact that both
of us have no formal military background or similar education. Well, I was
conscripted for a year as a radar operator on the Hawk system. We learned
everything in the field by doing it, which as a side effect generated a
number of self-built clearance and management devices that actually work.
A very important thing is that we work in a team of multi-talents with
maximum decentralized decision-making. We are a group of friends and 99
percent of our staff has remained the same for many years.
MB: Can you describe how MgM has grown over the last six years?
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| Mine detection dogs are an important link in the chain of events of a MgM mine sweeping operation. Requirements for success are continuous and thorough training of both dogs and handlers. c/o MgM |
HE: We started with zero and my father allowed us to use his phone. We got
the first $600,000 (U.S.) from the German government in 1996, and it grew
to an annual budget of $3 million in 1998. Whereas the donors later
supported Angola only very little (with the exception of the U.S.
Department of State (DOS)), the Research and Development (R&D) section Hendrik Ehlers Consultants
(HEC) grew rapidly, so that the balance remains the same. The number of
staff has remained constant at approximately 150 for Angola and Mozambique
with seven ex-pats going to either area. With the latest development in
Angola, our staff might grow to 250, and thanks to the donations of private
people, the annual budget for 2003 is forecasted at $8 million.
MB: Have the methods of demining changed over this time?
HE: Very little. We started with mechanically assisted manual demining
(MaM), and still work in the same former unique combination of mechanical
preparation (vegetation cutting, grading) in combination with dogs and
manual methods. The number of deminers and EOD with MgM was always very
small. That is another area where I should have said we differ from other
operators—most of our staff are drivers, machine operators and mechanics.
MB: What do you feel has been the most significant change in mine action
since MgM has been operating? Has it affected your organization?
HE: Introducing MaM thinking definitely has changed the way many operators
work today. The other major change was to go away from destroying as many
mines as possible towards socio-economic impact. From 1992 to 1994, we
cleared a mine-belt around Xangongo in Kunene province, Angola, of 42,000
AT mines. We destroyed some 25,000 AP mines, mostly stockpiled in the
area, and cleaned ammo dumps from a thousand tons of explosive garbage. I
think we saved some cattle. In 1996 and 1997 we cleared 250 km of road
from 23 mines in Bengo province, Angola. As a result, almost 60,000
internally displaced persons (IDPs) returned home after seven years in
camps. Giving highest priority to social-impact has changed MgM and all
other operators significantly.
MB: How important is transparency to MgM and how does MgM incorporate that
aspect into its organization?
HE: Our motto is safety, quality, transparency and non-profit innovation.
Since 1996, our website (www.mgm.org) has brought unheard-of inside project
information out for the first time ever, and also challenged others to do
the same via the infamous MgM Demining network. I think we have set the
level here worldwide. It feels very nice to have nothing to hide and
contribute to the community, be it through the invitation to communicate
through the network, or to copy freely whatever we develop.
MB: How does MgM utilize innovations and technology in demining?
HE: When Hans Georg had to clear the road from Maputo to Renamo Garcia in
1995, a grader overtook him. The image of unearthed mines neatly lined up
on the berms should define our later way of working, but not through
inventing something, but by looking at military scrap yards and
combine/modify existing solutions into a working system. This was the case
for the first boom-mounted vegetation cutters on a Wolf and later Samil
20s, for the armored graders with dogs (Voodoo System). We found a
lot to learn in Vernon Joynt’s pre-Mechem toolbox and only re-designed it.
For Rotar Mk I and Mk II, we found solutions in the construction industry
and now with our latest baby, the MMS [Mine Mulcher System], it was the hazardous environment
demolition industry that offered the perfect robotic base. You will still
hear a lot of this little machine; it is what everybody has been looking
for. We experiment a lot and as we started relatively late. We could
afford the luxury to buy state-of-the-art equipment in communication and
documentation, as there was no need to be backwards compatible. We
developed a standard kit for all vehicles using not only SELCALL HF, but
also a passive global positioning system (GPS), which enabled the
CommsCentre in Luanda to track all movement. We developed a number of
specific software solutions for survey, logistics and archiving. We build
our own field UPS, VPN-Sat comm suites, Survey Kits, First Aid Kits, mobile
offices, etc. All of our development is strictly field-orientated.
MB: What have been the successes and drawbacks of some of the technology
that you have used?
HE: A major drawback is that prototyping is quite an expensive
entertainment. Diversification of heavy kits causes some standing around;
this is why we look more and more into multi-tools. On hi-tech, we have
always underestimated the amount of training and supervision it takes. For
example, in order to make an Angolan dog handler use a computerized
weather station… This is why we favor low-tech like MMS and PWS, not
excluding to combine them with hi-tech systems like Mineseye or similar.
MB: Where do you feel research and technology need to be headed to better
aid demining operations?
HE: Detecting mines and/or defining areas free from explosives more
effectively without compromising safety and quality.
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| MgM’s Rotar MK1. c/o MgM |
MB: How does MgM specifically aid in the rebuilding of infrastructure?
HE: We got into it without really wanting to and then it quickly became
an integral part of our work. If the road is not drivable, you have to
re-build it, if the bridge is blown up, you have to build one, if there is
no water, you have to repair the well/pump, if there is no health post, the
paramedics make overtime, etc. After some time, this creates an entire
system thinking and today we understand ourselves as not a pure EOD team
anymore, but as a specialist team re-opening hazardous areas integrated
into the aid work of other organizations.
MB: Do you have examples from your own work where demining has changed the
socio-economic impact?
HE: The above-mentioned Bengo operation was called by a former World Food
Program (WFP) Director the most successful repatriation operation WFP has
ever done. Of those, we want to do many more.
MB: How has infrastructure development and socio-economic impact affected
donor support for your organization?
HE: That is a tricky one. In the end you find yourself clearing the
occasional ammo dump, just so that donors don’t think you are lazy or
incompetent by the low numbers of mines destroyed. We were once even
threatened with funds abuse because making a road drivable was understood
as such. We are not very active in mine awareness towards the affected
population; we usually do this through a local partner NGO like Trindade
in Angola. Mine awareness requires a lot of donor education, but this is
rather difficult, as many donor representatives have just arrived in the
country, are on leave, are just about to go somewhere else or know it all
anyhow. There are exceptions, unfortunately few.
MB: How did MgM develop its Standard Operating Procedures
(SOPs)? Do you
have a procedure for updating them or field input from your supervisors or
deminers?
HE: The first one was adapting the 1995 ADP set written by Mike Croll,
based on the British army’s handbook. We do an annual update, and whenever
a new technology or methodology is introduced, we add a chapter.
Responsible for this is our Safety Officer, Ken O’Connell, who in this
aspect is superior to Hans Georg and I. But, above all, there are the
national SOP requirements, which differ significantly from country to
country. In the future, the paperback version of IMAS [International Mine
Action Standards] will make
everybody’s life much easier.
MB: What do you feel is the most critical trait necessary in a deminer? In
a field supervisor?
HE: They need discipline and concentration. They also need courage and
dedication to the cause. It is very nice to see that our staff loves the
work, and that is valid for all levels.
MB: How extensive is your training for deminers and supervisors?
HE: Strictly demining related training is done in accordance with the
requirements of the local authority like IND [National Demining Institute]
for Mozambique and INAROEE [Angolan National Institute for the Removal of
Obstacles and Explosive Devices] for Angola. They certify SOPs and staff. Our Safety Officer, Ken, does
additional refresher courses on base as needed. Dog teams are under
permanent training/evaluation and so are paramedics through their work
with the population. We stimulate local staff to get driver’s licenses,
take computer courses, learn languages, etc., but I guess all training
could be better.
MB: What do you feel has been the most significant accomplishment in MgM’s
work in Angola?
HE: To have cleared significant areas from explosive hazards without a
single accident neither through nor after operation. Also, that we have
not left Angola, even in the worst financial and war situation. That is
something we are proud of.
MB: What are your future projects in Angola?
HE: Specialization on the clearance of roads, bridges, landing strips,
etc. The workload for Angola is vast. The big vision is to clear from
Kunene, via Kuando Kubango, to Moxico and through this, re-open and
re-connect the entire east/northeast with the rest of the country.
MB: Can you describe the significance in demining the Limpopo railway in
Mozambique?
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| Children in the Angolan slums. c/o Guy Tillim for MgM |
HE: There are two aspects. One is to create safe agricultural land for the
population, which traditionally stretches along these 42 km of densely
mined railway. The other is the technical challenge of a lousily laid
minefield in various rows stretching 42 km through partially very dense
vegetation with a dense population. This has become our number one test
and application area for vegetation cutting and intelligent
berming/sifting procedures. With a Hydrema Excavator, heavily modified by
Hans Georg, and a MgM/HEC Rotar Mk II, we still are too slow. Hopefully, an
extended test of the U.S. DoD NVESD [Night Vision and Electronic Sensors
Directorate] HDD Unisifter will bring some more
effectiveness into the process. The significance is also the dialogue
between the sole donor, the German government and our conflict of quality
against speed. Thank heaven the Germans continue to allow us to work on
quality, and do not apply something like commercial standards to this
nightmare.
MB: What are MgM’s activities in Namibia?
HE: Well, I live in Windhoek and run my duties as voluntary chairman from
my house. From an office/workshop I also run the International Desk as
Programme Manager in financial and logistics management. As it is not far,
I also travel often to Kunene province and handle operations personally.
But most things done in Namibia have to do with my company HEC, which is
the R&D branch for MgM. HEC designs and builds demining equipment of all
sorts and does the testing and documentation of our R&D joints with U.S.
DoD, EC-ESPRIT (European Commission-European Strategic Programme for
Research and Development in Information Technology) and others. Namibia is the rotating disc in the center of
MgM. HEC is a non-profit commercial feed into MgM. Its income pays for
staff (like me) that cannot be paid through demining funds and all it
generates in terms of equipment is directly channeled into MgM’s demining
operations. Thanks to a special agreement with the Angolan government, MgM
also runs a non-profit commercial workshop in Ludanda serving the NGO
community and paying for MgM’s administration and logistics in Luanda. All
of the above is handled from the international desk in Namibia and audited
through MgM Germany, which links MgM Swiss, MgM Austria and MgM U.S.
Future plans of HEC are that it will develop into a more commercial
developer, manufacturer and deployment agent for in-house, out-sourced
demining equipment and services worldwide. This will focus on specialized
demining equipment and services which are not common to normal demining
operators. As we don’t foresee this effort to be a donor-driven concern,
we still are working on a multi-sector business model that makes this
viable and enhances our demining activities at the same time.
MB: What variables contributed to the demining efforts along the Ruacana
power lines in Namibia?
HE: I think that Namibian Defense Force (NDF) and U.S. DOS did a
successful job. I really appreciate that this job was finished and not
left half-done ñ as it sometimes looked like. One can only congratulate
U.S. DOS for their ongoing commitment to this threat. I believe that the
training of local capacities still could be optimized. The special drill
of the sifting of berms is definitely not applicable to the challenges the
NDF deminers find in areas like Caprivi and Kavango today.
MB: What are the future demining efforts for MgM?
HE: We will revolutionize demining worldwide. Together with a group of
young scientists, I will present a new technology called PWS during the
U.S. DoD Workshop in Washington 22-27 August. In relation to this, Havard
Bach will have to rewrite his view of future demining technologies that he
wrote in your last issue.
MB: Based on your extensive field operations in Africa, what do you feel
has been the most catastrophic result of landmines in Africa?
HE: Something we call "The return of the white spots" relating to large
areas without people and without information, like on medieval maps. You
don’t know about these areas and the problems people suffer, as nobody can
go there. This is the real catastrophe, but we, as the demining community,
can stop this and make the world a better place. I do not like to think of
demining as something saving individual’s lives—although it does, and is
an essential part of it. But in my dreams, the faces of 80,000 victims of
landmines in Angola alone sometimes haunt me. We have to become better and
do more.
Contact Information
Hendrik Ehlers, Chairman, Director OPS and R&D
Stiftung Menschen gegen Minen eV
MgM MineClearance NGO
International Desk Namibia
Cell phone: +264 81 1277020
Fax: +264 61 243477
E-mail: ehlers@mgm.org
Website: www.mgm.org
  Publisher: MAIC Contact: MAIC@jmu.edu |
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