explosives. When necessary the teams also respond to identified unexploded ordnance (UXO) spot tasks. Cyprus Since October 2004, MAG has been contracted in Cyprus by the United Nations. They provide quality management for the work of commercial contractors, who clear minefields between the Greek Cypriot- and Turkish Cypriot-controlled regions of the country. Cyprus’s landmine contamination is estimated to span nine million square metres and consists of 77 minefields or suspected minefields. MAG's work in Cyprus, based in Nicosia, safeguards the quality of work conducted by other UN contractors, and ensures that their work complies with international standards. Contractors must execute clearance work safely and efficiently, and MAG provides the management and maintenance of a mine detection dog accreditation and testing database. Republic of Congo MAG started working in the Republic of Congo in late 2007, alongside the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Congo, to try to prevent the risk from any remnants of conflict. Its aims are to make a material contribution to peace-building initiatives and security efforts in the Republic of Congo through identifying, surveying and destroying small arms and light weapons, MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defence Systems) and other explosive ordnance, which currently poses a hazard due to their degraded state, storage conditions and proximity to local communities. Rwanda In August 2008, MAG, alongside the Regional Centre on Small Arms (RECSA), carried out a survey to determine the status of small arms and light weapons activities that were going on in Rwanda. As a result of this, they managed to get funding off the UK Government Conflict Prevention Pool to start a four-month Conventional Weapons Management and Disposal project. It includes assisting the Rwandan Army and Police, and also provides training, in stockpile management and destruction of surplus weapons, unstable ordnance and small arms ammunition. As a result of this over 10,000 weapons have already been destroyed. MAG's work is beneficial for communities situated near stockpiles, as it reduces death and injury caused by them. It also benefits the wider population, who before MAG started this project, were threatened by the risk of violent crime that followed looting of the weapons that had been insecurely stored. MAG have also trained army personnel in stockpile management, weapons destruction and basic Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) skills to make up a Destruction Team, who then started weapons destruction activities which were supervised and supported by the MAG Technical Field Manager.