ACBL for hault to landmines' entry into Afghanistan

Frontier Post
By MIKI MUNAKATA

PESHAWAR - Afghanistan called on the mine manufacturing nations not to create any more problems by sending new mines which hampered the development and restoration of the country, quoted the Afghan Campaign to Ban Landmines (ACBL) newsletter published last month. Afghanistan demanded that "the countries which send mines into the country in order to kill people and destroy its already wrecked economy should not increase this war-torn nation's suffering." So far, about 54 types of mines from Russia, Belgium, China, former-Czechoslovakia, Italy, Pakistan, Singapore, Britain, Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe and Iran have been identified in the country.

To date, up to 350 types of mines have been used across the world and mines have been laid in 68 countries. Afghanistan comes first in the list of the most mined countries with about 8 million mines, 10 per cent of all the mines planted in the world. More than 700 square kilometres of the territory is known to be littered with mines. During the last 52 years, more than 350 million mines have been made by 56 mine manufacturing countries. According to the report, 80 million of these mines have already been planted, with the remaining 250 million stored in depots waiting to be used in future. Afghanistan considers the use of landmines as un-Islamic as civil law forbids the planting of mines in residential areas, roads, irrigation canals, agricultural land or pastures.

The ACBL report noted that the existence of mines was a barrier for reconstruction of the country which had created a dangerous situation for those refugees returning to the country, and also it is a continuing disaster that would affect future generations. Up-to-date reports from hospitals in Afghanistan show that 90 per cent of mine victims are civilians, of whom 63 per cent are children. According to a new survey quoted by the ACBL newsletter, the damage inflicted on Afghanistan amounts to $650 million. On agricultural sector alone amounts to $110 million and cattle worth $60 million have been lost as a result of mine explosions.

The cost of various means of transport destroyed totals $110 million. Roughly 90 per cent of the area affected by mines includes roads, residential areas, agricultural land, irrigation sources and pastures. "The presence of mines is an obstacle to the redevelopment of the national economy," the ACBL said. In 1996, despite the expenditure of huge sums of money on clearing mines and despite numerous mines victims in the world, only 100,000 mines were discovered and defused, and in the same year, between 2 and 5 million mines were planted, according to the ACBL report.

According to statistics released by the International Committee of the Red Cross, taking into account the present mine clearing capabilities, it will take 1,100 years to clear all the mines in the world. "In the case of Afghanistan, conflict is not the reason of slow mine clearance. Demining itself is a really difficult task," said Dr Najimi of the ACBL. It is believed that it will cost $33 billion to clear all the existing mines in the world. "Afghanistan, which has estimated 10 per cent of all the existing mines in the world, will need hundred of millions of dollars to clear the mines on its territory, assuming the use of mines stops right now. Also a budget of estimated $700 million is needed to help people landmine victims in various countries of the world, and make them physically and financially independent," said the ACBL.