UN: We have made great progress in clearing Iraq of war remnants

Baghdad - INA

The oldest program of the United Nations Mine Action Service ( UNMAS ) in Iraq announced significant progress in clearing Iraq of remnants of war.

The Senior Program Director of  UNMAS in Iraq, Per Ludhammer, said at the International Donors Conference for Mine Action, which was attended by the Iraqi News Agency (INA) correspondent, that "the effects of war and conflict, with the fourth anniversary of the victory over ISIS, are still alive, especially in the liberated areas, which It is still contaminated with the deadly bombs planted by ISIS gangs whose aim was to kill the largest number of innocent lives and spread fear."

He added that "during the past month, several fatal accidents occurred related to explosive ordnance, and most of the victims were children, and last week witnessed the martyrdom of an Iraqi with an explosive device while he was accompanying a group of Kuwaiti fishermen in Anbar," noting that "these incidents are not isolated, but rather continuous and even Removing it would be fatal."

He continued, "Even inherited landmines pollute southern Iraq and the borders, despite decades of the Iranian and Gulf wars in the eighties and nineties, but they still threaten innocent civilians and restrict socio-economic development to this day," explaining that "the burden on society is no less than the burden of the explosive devices left by ISIS." This pollution has been around for three decades."

he said, "After the request of the Mine Action Department, we worked with the Iraqi government to communicate with donors to increase the scope of our work in southern Iraq.

 In 2021, the United Nations Mine Action Department officially launched its first operations in the Shatt al-Arab in Basra to provide access to strategic areas that need agricultural and housing development." Pointing out that "our department was and still continues to purify to provide a safe environment for the Iraqi people."