Iraq needs international community’s help to clear landmines – al-Maliki

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Monday called on the international community to help Iraq in removing landmines, according to a statement of his office. “Iraq needs support from all countries and organizations that have the experience in dealing with this serious problem,” the statement quoted al-Maliki as saying, asserting that Iraq tops the countries in this regard. “Removing mines from Iraq is difficult because there are no maps to indicate the mined areas,” al-Maliki said at a government-organised landmines conference in Baghdad. “That is why we need the effort of donor countries and the experience of the international community,” he told representatives of donors to Iraqi reconstruction since the 2003 US-led invasion, a list which includes the United States, European Union, Japan and the United Nations. “Iraq is losing the blood of its sons,” he said in reference to deaths by unexploded landmines remaining from the 1980-1988 war against Iran, the 1991 conflict over Kuwait, and the 2003 invasion. “We are responsible for the security of our people,” al-Maliki said. Daniel Augstburger of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) highlighted the scale of the problem. “Iraq is one of the most contaminated landmine- and unexploded-ordnance affected countries of the world,” he said. “More than 20 million anti-personnel landmines were laid together with unexploded ordnance, including cluster munitions,” said Augstburger, head of UNAMI’s liaison assistance mission. He said 1.6 million Iraqis were affected by landmines, and that 90 percent of contaminated land was agricultural. “This contamination also impacts on numerous development projects, including oil and gas,” said Augstburger. Last year, the United Nations said Iraq‘s decision was seriously damaging the war-battered nation’s pledge to rid itself of the deadly munitions. Iraq signed up to the Ottawa Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention in 2008, requiring it to clear all areas littered with such ordnance by 2018, but the UN warns that the target is in jeopardy. SH (S) 4