Roots of Peace and MAG in Visionary New Partnership

Roots of Peace and UK non-profit organization MAG (Mines Advisory Group) have joined forces to fight the scourge of landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) worldwide. The partnership aims to keep at the forefront of the public mind the needs of the men, women and children whose lives are threatened by these deadly weapons, organizing global events that will raise funds to remove these items from some of the world's poorest nations.

April 2007 marks a decade since Diana, Princess of Wales' historic footsteps in the minefields of Angola, and vast numbers of landmines still remain silently poised within the soil - endangering lives and preventing the cultivation of lands. "This is a global call to action," says Heidi Kuhn, CEO and founder of Roots of Peace. "We aim to continue Diana's vital work by replacing these 'seeds of terror' with 'seeds of hope'."

Lou McGrath, Executive Director of MAG, says: "It's virtually impossible to put a figure on the number of landmines that remain in the ground of more than seventy countries worldwide, but approximately every 22 minutes, a person is killed or injured by a landmine, most of whom are civilians." In a joint effort to target the most heavily mined country on the most heavily mined continent in the world, MAG and Roots of Peace are launching initiatives to help the people of Angola, and to raise money to fund clearance worldwide.

Roots of Peace and MAG have successfully developed a series of DEMINE/REPLANT partnerships in recent years - transforming minefields into bountiful agricultural lands. Together this innovative UK/US partnership has saved lives and improved the economic stability of farmers living in war-torn regions by removing landmines and planting high value crops. MAG/Roots of Peace agricultural projects have included planting rice in Battambang, Cambodia and wheat in Mosul, Iraq - creating a harvest of hope for innocent families who have lived in fear of farming their own land.

This new partnership marks the commitment of Roots of Peace and MAG to expand the DEMINE/REPLANT model from spring 2007 and to continue to "plant peace" from the ground up in honor of Diana, Princess of Wales.

MAG, a co-laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize, employs more than 2,500 people worldwide to help provide safer futures for lives affected by conflict in countries such as Lebanon, Angola, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Vietnam and Sudan. MAG has cleared millions of landmines and unexploded bombs across the world and saved millions of lives and limbs with its programme of conflict recovery. www.magclearsmines.org