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Sunday, 28 July, 2002, 01:29 GMT 02:29 UK
Afghanistan's landmine legacy
![]() A mine-free Afghanistan is many years away
Widespread fighting may have finally come to an end in Afghanistan, but the threat of landmines still casts a dark shadow across the country. Renewed focus on the issue comes as an anti-landmine conference which opens on Sunday in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
Organisers of the conference aim to put pressure on the Afghan Government to sign the 1997 Ottawa Treaty which bans the use, stockpiling and sale or transfer of landmines.
Landmines have been used indiscriminately in Afghanistan since the arrival of Soviet forces in 1979.
Click here for a map of Afghanistan's most heavily mined areas.
As result hundreds of thousands of mines lie unmapped and undiscovered in large areas of the country.
'Most mined country'
According to statistics released by British de-mining agency the Halo Trust, Afghanistan is the most mined country in the world.
Other agencies estimate there could be as many as 10 million mines in the ground. Now employing 1,800 Afghan staff the charity recently celebrated clearing its millionth explosive in the beleaguered country. Halo Trust spokesman Tom Dibb told BBC News Online that vast number of returning Afghan refugees was making their operations even more critical. "We're finding ourselves right in the thick of it. Civilians are in a desperate state and there can be no question of the benefit of mine clearance to them. "Refugees are living in tents literally right beside mine fields."
A surge in worldwide funding has brought the agency's budget for this year to $8m, making it the largest de-mining agency operating in Afghanistan. With the co-operation of the UN Mine Action Programme, and several smaller de-mining agencies, Afghanistan's heavily mined regions could be mine-free in eight years, the Halo Trust estimates. Ratifying treaty The ICBL are confident the conference in Kabul will soon lead to Afghanistan ratifying the treaty in the coming months. "We want to urge the Afghan government to join the treaty and ban landmines as soon as possible," said ICBL spokeswoman Liz Bernstein.
"They recognise its importance to move forward. And we'll be watching to see if their words will be matched by concrete actions." Peace has finally brought a greater emphasis on the importance of de-mining operations in Angola after nearly three decades of civil war. Seventy varieties of mine still scar the earth, most of them manufactured in Western Europe. In Cambodia, an estimated 40,000 people have suffered amputations after suffering landmine injuries since 1979.
Over 140 nations have already signed up since 1997. Of these, 125 have integrated the treaty into their laws. Other states, including the USA, Russia and South Korea, have avoided the issue, insisting that anti-personnel weapons are important to national security. "The US should sign up immediately," says Liz Bernstein. "It's very disappointing. The country calls itself the leader in human rights issues." ![]()
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10 Dec 01 | South Asia
04 Jan 02 | Asia-Pacific
24 Dec 01 | UK
04 Jan 02 | South Asia
15 Nov 01 | UK
09 Oct 01 | South Asia
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