Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

The Karabakh War that emerged as a result of Armenia’s baseless territorial claims against Azerbaijan in early 1990s still continues to create problems for Azerbaijan.

The former landfills, blown up ammunition depots, ammunition, which are scattered throughout various regions, pose serious problems for the country.

The landmine/unexploded ordinance problem in Azerbaijan has emerged in areas that are still under the occupation of Armenian forces and those areas that have been liberated during the war operations.

Hafiz Safikhanov, the chairman of the Azerbaijani Anti-Mine Campaign public union said on August 3 that active combat operations took place in the territory of the Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions.

He stressed that international experience, particularly in the Balkans, shows that 4-6 percent of such territories are considered to be contaminated with mine and unexploded ordnance.

Safikhanov went on to say that taking this fact into account, about 500-800 million square meters of the occupied territories face hazardous conditions.

So far, the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action cleared over 278 million square meters from the UXOs and mines in the country, as well as detected and neutralized about 690,000 unexploded mines and ammunition.

Demining operations are presently underway in the Agdam, Aghjebedi, Agstafa, Fuzuli, Gazakh, and Tartar regions of Azerbaijan.

The mine and unexploded ordnance in Azerbaijani territories along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, as well as on the contact line of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops poses a great threat to the lives of both soldiers and civilians.

In 2014, 25 people suffered as a result of mines and unexploded ordnances in Azerbaijan in 15 accidents. The mine explosions claimed the lives of four soldiers and one civilian, while 12 soldiers and 8 civilians were wounded as a result of the accidents.

The regions that have suffered more from the explosion of mines and unexploded are Gazakh, Aghdam, the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, Fizuli, Tartar, and Goychay.

The project is designed to create an indigenous capacity to survey, map,and clearcurrently liberated areas and to prepare for dealing with the UXO problem in the occupied areas after their liberation.

Armenia captured Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions from Azerbaijan in a war that followed the Soviet breakup in 1991. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and nearly 1 million were displaced as a result of the war.

Large-scale hostilities ended with a Russia-brokered ceasefire in 1994 but Armenia continued the occupation in defiance of four UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal.

Peace talks mediated by Russia, France, and the U.S. have produced no results so far.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova

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