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Mine-hunters of Iraq slowly clear Saddam's legacy
We need to be reminded of this. The mountains and plains of Iraqi Kurdistan compete with Afghanistan for the title of the most mine-ridden country in the world. By one calculation, there are four or five mines for every one of the four million Kurds in northern Iraq. Even in comparison with other landmines, the Valmara 69 is a menacing object. Five horns stick out of its head making it look like a miniature Dalek. Touch any of them and, propelled by a small charge, the device jumps into the air to waist height and explodes, spraying 1,200 lethal metal fragments 50 yards in all directions. "The Valmara is one of the most dangerous of the mines and difficult to defuse," said Gafar Gafor Abbas Wariyah, a veteran Kurdish peshmerga, famous in northern Iraq for defusing 107,000 mines, before a premature explosion tore off his hands. The mountains and plains of Iraqi Kurdistan compete with Afghanistan for the title of the most mine-ridden country in the world. By one calculation, there are four or five mines for every one of the four million Kurds in northern Iraq. Mine clearance has been agonisingly slow. Under Saddam Hussein, mine detectors were often banned from entering areas where they were most needed. After the US invasion in March 2003 the campaign to clear Kurdistan of mines should have speeded up. Instead it has slowed down as the US, in effect, took over responsibility from the United Nations for funding mine clearance. Only some of the money needed for clearing mines in Kurdistan has materialised, although the State Department has contributed $9m to the demining activities of a British-based organisation, the Mines Advisory Group in northern Iraq over the last two years. In an old Iraqi army fortress overlooking a green plain outside Sulaymaniyah in eastern Kurdistan, Twana Bashir, the operations head of the General Directorate of Mine Action said he had been forced to stop operations for four months because of lack of money. This time, he was back in business, having just procured enough money to issue tenders for clearing 50 minefields out of an estimated 4,000. The oldest active minefields date from 1974 and were laid by the Iraqi army suppressing the Kurdish rebellion. Mines protected every Iraqi army post. During the eight-year war with Iran, Saddam, short of troops, tried to defend his northern front with great belts of minefields. Posted by: phil_b 2005-04-22 |
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