Communist Web Wednesday 8th March 2000 9.30pm gmt Receding floods pose new threat AID organisations warned last night that Mozambique's flood victims face new threats from disease, hunger and landmines. Their stark warning came as British helicopters belatedly began rescue missions, following the delay caused by a Whitehall squabble over money. Flooding has meant that landmines will pose a fresh danger to people throughout rural Mozambique. Thousands of landmines were laid when apartheid South African forces tried to overthrow the Mozambique government. The mines had been charted to protect local people, but the floods have dislodged them and they are no longer marked. This will prove a danger for years to come for farmers working in their fields and particularly for children, who form a disproportionately large number of landmine victims. Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn said that Mozambique must not be forgotten once the television cameras have gone. He said that international aid was needed to chart and clear the dislodged mines. British helicopters began delivering aid in Mozambique as the flood waters receded. They were being used to take help to hundreds of thousands of thirsty and exhausted victims. Aid workers said that there was a threat from malaria and cholera caused by the fetid water and the increasing swarms of... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/rec/rec.html
