Iraq as the world second on demining, via local staff

Local

24-09-2022, 19:11

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INA - BAGHDAD

Iraqi Mine Affairs Department; one of the departments of the Ministry of Environment; confirmed on Saturday, that 3 Iraqi parties are cooperating in the clearance operations.

"The majority funding for demining operations is done via international organizations, but the work is being done by trained Iraqi staff," said the director general of the department, Dhafir Mahmoud Khalaf, to the Iraqi News Agency - INA.

Khalaf explained, "We also have 3 parties cooperating in this file, namely the Iraqi companies that work to remove mines at oil sites, in addition to the efforts of the national staff in the Ministry of Interior and the Civil Defense Directorate as work is ongoing."

"The working area is currently more than 250 square kilometers. The total area of the registered pollution is 2,700 square kilometers. Proposals have been submitted, awaiting approval, to obtain government funding worth approximately 500 billion to contribute to the purification of 677 square kilometers, representing a third of the total area," he highlighted.

He included, "Our needs now are mainly to fund removal projects, because most of our dependence on international grants and national effort only," pointing out that "Iraqi human staff and Iraqi companies specialized in demining exist with more than 50 companies, but the funding is weak."

"Our demand for an amount of 500 billion Iraqi dinars is set to finance a cleansing period of 3-4 years, and if more funds are available, a larger area will be worked on," he explained, stressing that "work is ongoing in every governorate where there are mines. In the forefront are the liberated governorates that depend on international grants. We work in Salah al-Din, Anbar, Kirkuk and Diyala."

He noted, "As for the southern regions, where pollution is more than 1,500 square kilometers, most of them are in oil sites. There is a contract with oil companies that have contracts with companies specialized in demining, in addition to the national effort and the presence of an international grant for Shatt al-Arab."

"In addition to these tasks, we are continuing to monitor new areas. Last year, more than 20 million square meters were discovered clustered in Basra due to the repeated wars in this region, especially at the border line with Iran, which has an area of more than 1,200 square kilometers, which was planted on the form of mines, cluster bombs, war traps and others in the eighties of the last century," he included.

He pointed out that "the mines differ in their removal in terms of their chronological age. The older the mine, the fuse or detonator corroded, the more difficult is the removal and more dangerous because of the sensitivity of the movement. Therefore, we have encountered casualties among the mine clearance workers, and therefore we must be careful and wiser dealing with it."

Khalaf praised "the Iraqi staff and the very high expertise, especially after training hundreds of deminers, who have gained experience that rivals foreign expertise."