Africa for Mine Action (Afrique pour la Lutte Antimines) (AFRILAM)

Historical Creation and head office: Africa for the fight against Antimines AFRILAM in acronym is a non-profit Association created on March 15, 2008 in Kisangani, chief town of the Eastern Province in DRC. The headquarters of the Association is located in Kisangani, DRC and can be transferred to any other place in the country or elsewhere in the world by decision of the General Assembly. Africa is one of the continents most affected by the problem of mines and explosive remnants of war. It is also one of the poorest continents in terms of living standards of the population and action by the public authorities for the benefit of vulnerable populations. The absence of social cohesion, ethnic conflicts, the struggle for access to natural resources and its integration into the world economy often degenerate into armed conflicts between opposing factions with their incalculable consequences on the human being and his environment. As a result of these armed conflicts, mines and explosive remnants of war mutilate and kill innocent people long after the end of the war and prevent the population from returning to their living environment and from resuming their traditional subsistence activities which are agriculture, animal husbandry, gathering, hunting, fishing, etc. Thus, living spaces, culture, education, health care, water sources, roads, etc. are abandoned since polluted by mines and explosive remnants of war left behind by conflict. The population of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country located in the heart of Africa, has lived in this situation since the outbreak of hostilities in October 1996. Faced with this misery and suffering of the population, the action organizations against mines and ERW must take their responsibility in the face of the inaction of the public power more concerned with the conquest and the conservation of power than with the improvement of the living conditions of the population. Admittedly, international mine action organizations and ERWs often intervene in the context of an emergency to take charge of immediate risks, identify and mark areas for their future and gradual clean-up. They only intervene sporadically in the fields of risk education, In view of this insufficiency, the national mine action organizations and ERWs have emerged in the DRC and operate as operators recognized by the Congolese Center for Antimine Fighting (CCLAM) and the Center for Coordination of the Fight United Nations Antimines (UNMACC / UNMAS). With the coordination of CCLAM and UNMACC, there is now a tendency to share responsibility which leaves mine clearance and clearance of areas to international organizations, risk education, non-technical investigation and victim assistance to organizations duly accredited national authorities. Afrilam, as a national mine action organization and ERW, has been working with the affected population in eastern DRC since early 2011. It aims to prevent and reach the vulnerable populations in the most remote corners remote and often inaccessible by international organizations. In its interventions, Afrilam pays particular attention to women who work more than men in villages and to children who often confuse mines and ERW with toys. Afrilam's interventions are a necessity given the continuation of the war in the east of the DRC in order to identify and mark the new dangerous zones, educate the affected populations on the behavior to adopt while waiting for the depollution of zones and d '' assist victims in order to relieve, as much as possible, their suffering. The purpose of Afrilam's interventions is to display its solidarity with the affected populations with a view to achieving the safe return of the populations to lands formerly abandoned due to the presence of mines and ERW.