Nagorno-Karabakh: The area is still full of mines, a year after the war | Conflict Issues

Baku, Azerbaijan A year after Armenia and Azerbaijan launched a brutal civil war in Nagorno-Karabakh, the region is still flooded with mines and explosives that could take more than a decade to evacuate.

In the past year, tens of thousands of weapons have been removed, but mining companies say a lack of equipment and inadequate information is hampering the cleanup process.

The Halo Trust, a humanitarian organization that helps countries recover from the war, is working with other organizations to clear areas of the Armenian population, while the Azerbaijani project works with the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA). .

As well as the number of land mines on both sides, the Halo Trust says the biggest problem in the Armenian region is machine guns, which scatter weapons or bombs over a large area.

They have found and destroyed almost 2,000 artillery weapons since the end of the war in November last year, but are suffering from a lack of funding. It has 150 employees as opposed to 250 essential.

A study conducted by the Trust found that 68 percent of residential properties are equipped with group instruments or evidence of their use.

The group told Al Jazeera that it still has access to agricultural equipment for groups and places where families are often used for picnics.

An Armenian man has been killed since the end of the war, in which 20 people were maimed or had life-threatening injuries.

The Trust estimates that an area of ​​more than 16 square kilometers (6 square miles) has been affected, and the search will continue for another four years.

Miles Hawthorn, Halo Trust program manager for Nagorno-Karabakh, said:

The most popular varieties in Nagorno Karabakh have a well-known pink ribbon, which makes them look pretty cruel to children.

Controversy on my maps

According to Human Rights Watch, Armenia and Azerbaijan used weapons of mass destruction, which have been severely restricted by international cooperation during last year’s war.

They all refuse to use them, but oppose the other.

For ANAMA, the biggest and most time-consuming problem comes from finding land mines because of poor photography.

With a team of more than 600 people in the field, it is said to have so far removed about 18,000 anti-humanitarian mines, more than 9,000 types of mines and 23,000 non-explosive, and more than 19,000 hectares (47,000 acres). the world.

As part of last year’s peace agreement, Armenia released a number of maps showing mining areas. However, according to ANAMA, they are incomplete and are approximately 25 percent accurate.

“The big question is, are these mining maps?” said Samir Poladov, deputy chairman of the ANAMA board.

What we received was wrong and incomplete. Many do not even have information about coordinates, they just have a picture of the area with the information and the places nearby, but it is better to be empty. ”

Baku believes Yerevan could have more mining maps than was converted last year. However, Armenian experts and commentators assert that no.

Old conflicts

Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet Union states, have been fighting for six weeks since September last year at Nagorno-Karabakh in a war that killed more than 6,500 people – mostly soldiers.

In November 2020, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, signed a ceasefire agreement that gave Azerbaijan control of parts of Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as neighboring territories occupied by Armenians since the first Karabakh war in the 1990s.

During World War I, bombers on both sides of the border exploded, making the whole area dangerous. A recent study by the United Nations and the United States found that more than 100,000 land mines had been planted.

According to estimates by Armenian tribal leaders in Nagorno-Karabakh, a land mine explosion killed 180 people and injured 507 in the 1990’s – the highest number of land mines per person in each region. on earth.

The crisis was aggravated by the second world war, but Azerbaijan is determined to push for more freedom and return for those displaced during the first world war. For many years, they lived in temporary shelters.

Poladov said some people, who want their first sight since the 1990s, have returned to the area unprotected. As a result, 60 civilian casualties, including two, were killed.

The blast also injured five miners and killed two Azerbaijani journalists and a government official.

Efforts for many years to come

Although visiting newly acquired areas still requires government approval, ANAMA is conducting a mining accident awareness campaign with UNICEF Children’s Organization (UNICEF) to raise awareness of the dangers.

More than 600,000 Azerbaijanis fled Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas during the first world war, between 1988 and 1994; the country is one of the world’s largest refugee populations in every country.

As part of last year’s peace agreement, Armenia released a number of maps showing mining areas. However, according to ANAMA, they are incomplete and are approximately 25 percent accurate [File: Aziz Karimov/Reuters]

While the government is preparing a number of smart cities to help them return, Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov told Al Jazeera that it could take 10 to 12 years for the area to be cleared of dangerous weapons.

It is speculated that the first Azerbaijani people will be able to return to live in Nagorno-Karabakh later this year or early next year.

The use of anti-humanitarian mines is a violation of international law, but either Armenia or Azerbaijan did not sign the 1997 Mine Ban Convention to limit its use. Both say they do not want to stop using it until the other one stops.