Mozambique has been declared free of land mines after 22 years of demining, an global humanitarian organization said.

“It’s with great pleasure that I have the privilege to declare Mozambique a country free of the threat of landmines”, foreign affairs minister Oldemiro Baloi announced to a gathering of ambassadors and worldwide organisations that helped demine the country. The campaign was supported by contributions from the governments of the United Kingdom , Ireland, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands, according to a Halo Trust statement. Communities can now cultivate crops and graze livestock safely.

Halo said the mine clearance had helped Mozambique develop its infrastructure, access vital commodities, increase tourism and attract worldwide investment.

Mozambique’s state news agency, AIM, reported government officials, United Nations representatives and donor agencies made the formal announcement on Thursday.

More than 1,600 Mozambican men and women have been employed by HALO over the last two decades.

Mozambique’s GDP has grown 7% a year since HALO began demining, and it is now one of the world’s fastest growing economies. Overall, HALO personnel cleared over 171,000 landmines, accounting for about 80% of the total destroyed.

You don’t forget the sight of someone freshly injured from an anti-personnel land mine blast.

The demining process began in 1993 shortly after the civil war ended and since 2000 over 214,000 mines had been cleared, said Alberto Augusto, director of the National Institute of Demining. We are truly grateful to those who risked their lives in order to protect those of our children and future Mozambicans’.

HALO Trust said it had destroyed the last known mine on the territory of the gas- and coal-rich southern African country, which was devastated by a civil conflict that ended in 1992.