United Nation removes mines in Northern Iraq

UNOPS, specializing in demining fields, has been working in northern Iraq to improve the enironment in the region. It has concentrated its activities in the Kurdistan region, along with local Kurdish authorities, to demine some areas and limit others in the region.

Mr. Fiel Lois, the director of the UN organization in the region, studied the possibility of establishing a joint committee with local Kurdish government in the region to limit and count the mine fields there.

MAG, an EU demining organization working to demine the region since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, suggests that there might be 22 million land mines placed during 1980s in various areas in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Those mines were planted during the Iraq-Iran war and the Anfal Campaign launched against Kurdish rebels who have fought for self determination in the region since the late 1960s.

The local Kurdish Prime Minister Kosrat Rassoul Ali praised the project saying, "The government will do its best to help UNOPS." He said, "We will provide all the necessary cadres required to achieve this huge humanitarian effort."

Medical sources say an average of 5-10 person are handicapped daily as a result of mine explosions in the region.