The demining curriculum of the SA Army Engineer Formation’s School of Engineers looks set to move onward and upward thanks to the expertise residing in the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS).
Formation General Officer Commanding, Brigadier General Charles Buys, and his Chief of Staff, Colonel Gerrit Janse van Vuuren, recently met senior UNMAS personnel at Formation headquarters with training and capacity building among the agenda items.
UNMAS has been operational since October 1997 working worldwide to eliminate the threat of mines, explosive remnants of war (ERW) and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). This takes the form of co-ordinating UN mine action, leading operational responses at country level and in support of peace operations, as well as through developing standards, policies and norms.
The two-strong UNMAS in South Africa earlier this month were Commandant Richard Piggott and Jordan Sorabjee representing the UNMAS threat mitigation advisory team’s United States-based mobile training team.
They, according to Lieutenant Daniel Maluleke of SA Army Corporate Communication, discussed improving the Kroonstad School of Engineers curriculum to align it with international best practices as well as raising awareness of UNMAS opportunities, including training and capacity building programmes. The visit was also an opportunity to elaborate on the “train the trainers” concept. This will see Engineer Formation instructors take on wider training roles and multiply mine action expertise in the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) and wider to “foster a safer and more secure” continent and world.
Summing up the meeting, Maluleke has it it was “a significant step toward strengthening the partnership between the SA Army Engineer Formation and UNMAS “ultimately contributing to global efforts in mine action and explosive hazard mitigation”.
Apart from the uniformed demining specialists, Denel in its Landward Division now houses what was standalone company Mechem, specialising in demining and safe removal of ERW and IEDs. The once UN approved contractor is, according to Denel, not currently doing any demining work but has the capability to work on a case by case basis.
