500 Azeris killed in mine blasts

500 people have died of mine explosions in Azerbaijan so far, with the total number of persons affected by the blasts reaching 3,000, an agency dealing with mine clearance has said.

A great number of children are among the victims, said director of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) Nazim Ismayilov.

Ismayilov said 15 servicemen of the Azerbaijani armed forces stepped on landmines in 2007.

He said estimations drawn up in accord with international experience have revealed that mines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) remain in 4% of the occupied Azerbaijani territories, or 500-600 million square meters.

ANAMA has cleared 50 million square meters of land from explosives since 2001.

The agency director pointed to existing challenges, such as the lack of maps indicating the afflicted areas. “Experience shows that without such maps mine clearance takes 15 to 20 years.”

Ismayilov stressed that funds to the tune of $600 million were needed to render harmless the mines and UXOs in the occupied land.

He pointed to facts proving that hand-made mines from Armenia had been planted in the frontline regions.

During the Upper (Nagorno) Garabagh war in the early 1990s, Azerbaijan and Armenia mainly used Soviet-made anti-personnel and anti-tank mines. In the past six to seven years, however, Armenians have planted mines produced in various countries in the Azerbaijani territories. A mine with the “Made in Armenia” inscription was discovered in 2003, Ismayilov said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a cease-fire in 1994, but Armenia continues to occupy Upper Garabagh and seven adjacent Azerbaijani districts. Despite numerous rounds of OSCE-brokered negotiations, peace talks have been fruitless so far and refugees remain stranded.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 people fall victim of landmines around the world every year.*