A grenade explosion in Luanda province killed three children and injured six, the 10th accidental explosion in Angola this year.
According to reports, a group of children found the grenade in a trash can in the Boa Esperança neighborhood of Cacuaco and took it home with other scrap metal. Not knowing what it was, one of the boys pulled the fuse and within seconds the grenade exploded, killing three children and injuring six, four of them seriously.
This is the first incident in Luanda this year, but it is far from the first in Angola. Explosions occurred in the provinces of Lunda Norte, Huambo, Cuando Cubango, Kwanza Norte, Cunene and Bié in 2024.
[See more: It will cost US$238 million to completely rid Angola of landmines]
Leonardo Sapaló, director of the National Mine Action Agency (ANAM), told reporters that in the first six months alone, Angola recorded 13 injuries and 10 deaths. Most of the victims were children, either young children who often played with the devices or teenagers who collected scrap metal. Although awareness campaigns about the dangers of mines and explosives continue, Sapaló admitted that they must do more to ensure that residents receive “increasingly comprehensive information.”
More than two decades after the end of the Angolan civil war, there are still more than 1,000 minefields in the country, covering a total area of 70 million square meters, spread across more than a dozen provinces. Reduced financial resources have slowed down the country’s mine clearance process, and Sapaló said the country has sufficient human and material resources, but if it wants to clear at least 85% of the known minefields in the next two and a half years, it will need about $238 million.
However, Sapaló was quick to point out that Angola’s biggest financial partners remain the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Norway and Japan, as well as organizations such as Halo Trust, MAG, APOPO, the Norwegian NGO Popular Aid and the Angolan organization Apacominas, which have also provided a lot of help to Angola.
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