Baku / 06.10.17 / Turan: During the activity of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) 45 thousand hectares of territory were cleared, about 770 thousand unexploded ordnance (UXO) and mines were found and rendered harmless. This was said by the ANAMA Director Gazanfar Ahmedov in an interview with the Azerbaijani service of the Voice of America.
Currently, operations are continuing in Fizuli, Agdam. Agjabedi, Terter, Goranboy, Gazakh and Akstafa districts, as well as in Baku and the Gilyazi settlement, where explosions in warehouses of a military unit recently took place.
Does ANAMA have enough potential for clearing the territories contaminated by the Karabakh conflict after the settlement of the problem?
Answering this question, Ahmedov said the Agency was actually created to clear the territories of Azerbaijan, including Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas, after their liberation from the occupation, so that the population would return there.
According to Ahmadov, currently 632 operational and administrative workers are working at ANAMA. The agency has 6 special-purpose armored vehicles and 54 trained dogs.
ANAMA has the most modern equipment and vehicles.
Of course, the territories will be cleared, so that IDPs could safely return to their native places. However, we are talking about an area of about 500 million square meters. Of course, with the staff of 632 people this work is difficult to perform. However, after the liberation of the territories, all necessary measures will be taken and additional forces and means will be attracted, Ahmedov said.
Is there an approximate data on the number of mines and UXO in the conflict zone?
Answering this question, the ANAMA director said the figures change every day. It is difficult to say how many UXOs and mines there are - 100 thousand, 500 thousand or 1 million.
After the fighting, on April 2-4, 2016 mobile groups were created which, based on the information received by the Service 102 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Crisis Management Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, took measures. A total of 577 signals were received.
From the very establishment of ANAMA, the main assistance was provided by the UN and the European Commission. The United States provided both financial and technical assistance - training of personnel, equipment and vehicles.
This assistance continues to this day.
After the April war in 2016, the UK government through the UN allocated 105,000 GBP for emergency operations, which were completed in March. The British government has allocated another 105,000 GBP for the period from July 1, 2017 until March 2018.
Donor assistance is also provided by Turkey, Switzerland, and others.
This year, the third phase of the Jeyranchel project began - the cleaning of the territory at the site of the former Soviet test site in western Azerbaijan.
Work continues also in connection with the recent explosions in warehouses near the village of Gilyazi, Ahmedov said. -06D-
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