Demining on the Afghan border started

Efforts are now under way to clear landmines along Tajikistan’s 1,344 km-long border with Afghanistan, one of the highest mine-risk areas in the former Soviet republic. “We started demining in one part of the Tajik-Afghan border on Tuesday, it is around 200 km south of Dushanbe on the banks of the River Pianj,” Jonmahmad Rajahov, head of the Tajik Mine Action Centre (TMAC), said from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Wednesday. “The reinforcement of the banks of the River Pianj is under way in the area and there are some mine-risk sites on the ground that need to be cleared as they hinder rehabilitation work there,” Rajabov explained. The Tajik demining body is planning to demine the area – which spans some 2,000 sq metres – within three weeks. Tajikistan has the largest landmines problem in Central Asian, with more than 25,000 sq km of land to be cleared of mines - an area over half the size of Switzerland. Most of the mines in the former Soviet republic were laid during the country's bloody five-year civil war that ended in 1997, but they can also be found along its borders with neighbouring Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Russian border troops, who were stationed in the country in the 1990s, reportedly laid minefields on the border with Afghanistan, according to the Landmine Monitor Report 2005 released by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). Tashkent began planting mines on parts of its undemarcated border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in 1999 to stave off incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) militants. IMU - currently known as the Islamic Party of Turkestan – would like to create an Islamic caliphate in the region and is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation. In 2003, Tajikistan acceded to the 1997 Ottawa Convention. According to the Convention, Tajikistan is expected to destroy all anti-personnel landmines and clear its territory of them by 1 April 2010. Although the government has already destroyed all the mine stockpiles that it had from Soviet times, as well as cleared over 180,000 sq metres of mined areas, the task is daunting. “There is little time left. This [achieving the target of 1 April 2010] depends on capacity and resources. Given our capacities this looks unrealistic for the time being, but we are doing everything possible to move towards it,” Rajabov said. Donor support is seen as the only viable solution to the impoverished former Soviet republic. “The most important aspect is timely and generous support on behalf of the donors. If they do not provide full amounts of assistance pledged, then we will not be able to achieve that target,” the Tajik official warned.