Unexploded ordnance (UXOs) are weapons (bombs, bullets, shells, grenades, and land mines that did not explode when they were employed and still pose a risk of detonation.
Rwanda like any other country that experienced war from the 1990s inherited a lot of undetonated explosives. In the Northwestern Region, a lot of explosive weapons were left scattered beneath the soil. These explosives pose a lot of danger today.
According to Police, on October 3, 2012 three tortoise grenades were recovered. One was recovered next to the parliamentary building where COTRACO is currently building a retaining wall while two others were recovered in the ceiling of SP Petrol Station house in Nyagatovu cell, Gitarama Sector in Muhanga District. The examples are a clear indication that these weapons are still at large.
Police statistics show that in the last four years, about 30 people were killed by such explosives while about 300 others were injured.
Governemnt put in place a team of experts in demining exercise to get rid those UXOs and to also sensitize the public to beware of such dangerous explosive weapons.
The sensitization process includes displaying to the community various types of explosives and the way they should avoid them.
“This has in return helped the community have prior knowledge on those deadly munitions and also take precautions to keep away from them. They in the process joined the campaign and a number of people showed where some of these ammunitions were kept or hidden.”
Note that some people especially children, were [and still] killed by these explosives, unknowingly, trying to play around with them.
These efforts the police say have since paid-off since many of these ammunitions have been recovered and disposed off. But the few which are still out there pose a threat to people’s lives, especially children, and the public is cautioned to beware.
Everyone is called upon to take preventive measures and report any suspicious device, avoid touching them and notify the nearby security organs or other concerned Institutions.