153
On the afternoon of March 22, 2007, numerous landmines and other armaments
behind these secretive walls spontaneously detonated, killing at least 83 and injuring hundreds of people in dwellings outside the walls; missiles penetrated neighborhoods that are among the poorest and most congested in the entire greater
metropolitan region of Maputo. The ammunition was obsolete and had not been
used since the time of the Civil War. Authorities claimed that extreme heat had
caused the ammunition to detonate. And this is where I now moved quickly with
ranking officers of the military, scouting Malhazine for the purpose of helping envision and bring into being the government’s new dream: an ecological sanctuary
where once the military had stored so much of its weaponry. That was the goal of
Malhazine. To become the most environmentally sensitive major city park in all of
Africa. An ecological peace-park.
At the invitation of the government, I went to confer with the Environmental
Ministry, the military and civilian engineers, architects, and ecologists involved in
this great vision. We scouted the park by vehicle and by foot. Everywhere we
walked, large rats would later come to help the military disarm the bombs, Russian
missiles, disintegrating ordnance, old ammunition dump sites, and landmines which
we carefully skirted.
19
19 See “Mozambique plans to turn old ammo depot into nature reserve,” by Christopher Torchia,
October 12, 2015, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-mozambique-plans-toturn-old-ammo-depot-into-nature-reserve-2015-10, Accessed March 24, 2019.
Fig. 17.2 Scouting Malhazine. (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
17.3 The Search for a Sanctuary Amid Conurbations
On the afternoon of March 22, 2007, numerous landmines and other armaments
behind these secretive walls spontaneously detonated, killing at least 83 and injuring hundreds of people in dwellings outside the walls; missiles penetrated neighborhoods that are among the poorest and most congested in the entire greater
metropolitan region of Maputo. The ammunition was obsolete and had not been
used since the time of the Civil War. Authorities claimed that extreme heat had
caused the ammunition to detonate. And this is where I now moved quickly with
ranking officers of the military, scouting Malhazine for the purpose of helping envision and bring into being the government’s new dream: an ecological sanctuary
where once the military had stored so much of its weaponry. That was the goal of
Malhazine. To become the most environmentally sensitive major city park in all of
Africa. An ecological peace-park.
At the invitation of the government, I went to confer with the Environmental
Ministry, the military and civilian engineers, architects, and ecologists involved in
this great vision. We scouted the park by vehicle and by foot. Everywhere we
walked, large rats would later come to help the military disarm the bombs, Russian
missiles, disintegrating ordnance, old ammunition dump sites, and landmines which
we carefully skirted.
19
19 See “Mozambique plans to turn old ammo depot into nature reserve,” by Christopher Torchia,
October 12, 2015, Business Insider, https://www.businessinsider.com/ap-mozambique-plans-toturn-old-ammo-depot-into-nature-reserve-2015-10, Accessed March 24, 2019.
Fig. 17.2 Scouting Malhazine. (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
17.3 The Search for a Sanctuary Amid Conurbations