Committee said Performance of the Office is Exemplary

Committee said that the exemplary efforts of the office to safeguard the society from landmine causality would contribute pivotal roles on the achievement of existing development and poverty reduction endeavors.

The Chairperson of the Foreign, Defense and Security Affairs Standing Committee of the House, the Hon. Ambassador Mohammed Ali made this statement while concluding the nine-month performance report of 2000 fiscal year of the Ethiopian Mine Action Office on May 9, 2008.

The Hon. Ambassador Mohammed Ali said that to save the people, the property and vehicles from the damage caused due to landmine, the office has carried out remarkable efforts on mine action activities aimed at helping development endeavors continue with out impediments by avoiding potential threats.

The trainings offered by the office on cost effective methods to its workers with regard to mine action and realization of the civil service reform programme should continue strengthened, the Hon. Ambassador said.

Moreover, the source of the budget either from the government or other international collaborators should be mentioned to the committee in the future, Ambassador Ali said.

Ato Gebreal Lager, Deputy General Director of the office, revealed that the office given a vocational training on how to operate mine action machines to build the capacity of employees to be cost effective and save the money allocated for foreign professionals who are detecting mines.

The office has given awareness creation lessons to the society on the damaging effect and the protective and the failing mechanisms of land mine thereby large area of the land has been made clear from landmine due to the societal involvement, Deputy General Director explained.

Meantime, questions forwarded by the members of the committee were responded by the Deputy Director General of the Ethiopian Mine Action Office, Ato Gebreal Lager.