Long term time bombs
Decades After Liberation, Landmines Remain Lethal
Stanley Karombo
HARARE, Apr 12 (IPS) - Rumbidzai Zulu, a woman in her early twenties, stares at the freshly bandaged stump that used to be her leg. A landmine blew off the limb while she was looking for firewood in the bush - also claiming the life of her unborn child - and she is struggling to come to grips with the trauma.
Hundreds of people have been killed, maimed or injured by mines which were planted by government troops and their opponents in the 1970s, during Zimbabwe's liberation struggle. A toll has also been taken on domestic and wild animals.
It is estimated that Zimbabwe is one of the most heavily-mined countries in the world, its borders with Mozambique and Zambia being virtually impassable in certain stretches.
