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Landmines have killed 11,400 people in Colombia, second only to Afghanistan in the number of fatalities caused by the improvised explosive devices, underscoring one of the many challenges facing the South American nation as it works through a peace deal between government forces and the largest rebel army, the FARC.
President Juan Manuel Santos cited the statistic Saturday as he declared three more municipalities completely free of landmines, bringing the number of zones across the country up to eight as the years-long process continues to march forward.
“Along with destroying mines, these interventions restore rights for Colombians to mobility, land use, recreation, living without fear,” Santos said during an event in Nariño, located over 180 miles northwest of Bogota.
The three municipalities — Nariño, Guatape and La Union — are all located in the northwest department of Antioquia, where landmines have killed some 2,500 people.
The department of Antioquia is also where the controversial right-wing former president and chief leader of the “No” campaign in the Oct. 2 plebiscite on the government’s historic peace deal with the FARC, Alvaro Uribe, first launched his political career. The province’s capital, Medellin, voted overwhelmingly against the deal.
The three newly-cleared areas join five others, though dozens of other municipalities still need to be cleared, spanning some 12,800 acres. The effort focuses on 48 most affected municipalities, according to the president. The effort is part of the measures taken by the FARC and the government to de-escalate the conflict and begin building peace in the lead up to the final agreement that was reached in August.
“That is what we all want,” said Santos, “to save lives and build peace in the region most affected by war.”
A de-mining campaign backed internationally by several countries is scheduled to continue for five years.
While the future of Colombia’s landmark peace agreement, signed by the government and the FARC on Sept. 26, remains unclear after voters rejected the deal by a razor-thin margin, end-of-conflict measures including de-mining efforts and the bilateral cease-fire are still in place.
Colombia’s more than five decade-long civil war has claimed over 220,000 lives and uprooted nearly seven million people. The country is home to the largest population of internally displaced people after Syria and is second after Afghanistan in its count of anti-personnel mines.
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