Two minefields successfully cleared

Another two minefields have successfully been cleared in central Tajikistan, a move set to benefit thousands of rural residents, according to a demining expert. "We've been working at three sites in the Tavildara district [central Tajikistan], in Juri Bolo, Ichtiyon and Luli Kharvi settlements. Demining work has been completed at the Ichtiyon and Juri Bolo sites, but we haven't yet officially handed them over to local administrations," Parviz Mavlonkulov, an operations coordinator for the Tajik Mine Action Centre (TMAC), told IRIN from the Tajik capital, Dushanbe, on Wednesday. "When the demining work has finished in Luli Kharvi we will hand these three sites over to the village administrations," Mavlonkulov explained. About 5,000 residents of the three villages in the vicinity of the minefields will benefit from the work. In September, minefields in Kumsangir district on the country's border with Afghanistan were cleared and handed over to the local community. Based on a general assessment conducted by TMAC, the Tavildara district is a high priority, along with the Sagirdasht area in Darvoz district and two villages in the Garm district in the east of the country where demining efforts are now underway. Moreover, TMAC is conducting a general assessment of the mine situation in the southern Khovaling and Shurobod districts, the Tajik mine action official added. There are no exact figures on the extent of the landmine problem in Tajikistan, but according to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), some 3,000 sq km - an area the size of Luxembourg - is contaminated, with the number of deaths due to mine-related accidents estimated at more than 30 per year. Earlier, Jonmakhmad Rajabov, head of the TMAC, told IRIN that almost 340 people had been fallen victim to landmine blasts in various districts of the country since 1993, of whom 175 had died and the remainder were seriously injured. According to the most recent report by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), an estimated 16,000 mines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and other explosive devices can be found in the landlocked and impoverished nation, requiring the demining of nearly 2,500 sq km of agricultural land and more than 500 sq km of roads and paths. Most of the mines were laid during the country's bloody five-year civil war that ended in 1997, but can also be found along its borders with neighbouring Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.