COUNTERING LANDMINES

One of the most serious threats to Rhodesia, for example, was the landmines laid by guerrillas on roads throughout the country’s principal farming areas. Like many Third World countries, Rhodesia’s economy was based on agricultural exports. Hence, it was vital that the roads and communications links criss-crossing the country’s farm region be kept open to both commercial traffic and security force patrols. The threat was not only economic but political and psychological as well. The Rhodesian governmental apparatus, for example, was breaking down in many areas as officials found it increasingly difficult to travel in areas with heavy insurgent activity. More serious, however, were the potential effects that the mining could have on security force mobility. The Rhodesians had been horrified to discover that similarly widespread insurgent mining of roads in Mozambique had reduced the mobility of their Portuguese counterparts in that country and had turned them virtually into a “garrison army” whose personnel feared leaving their fortified barracks and posts to go out on patrol.