DUSHANBE, May 17, Asia-Plus – Another person has been killed in landmine explosion in Tajikistan.
On May 11, Tajik border guard Ilyos Yuldoshev was killed after he stepped on anti-personnel mine during extinguishing cane fire in the border area in the Panj district, Jonmahmad Rajabov, the head of Tajik Mine Action Cell (TMAC) said.
According to him, the border guard is already the fifth victim of anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnances in the country since the beginning of the year.
Most landmines in Tajikistan were laid during the devastating five-year civil war, which ended in 1997. In many areas the mines still pose a deadly threat as well as a major impediment to effective land use. Additional mines were laid along the Tajik-Uzbek border by the authorities in Tashkent in the late 1990s. The action was reportedly taken to stave off incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organization.
“This year, demining operation started in Tajikistan on March 12,” the TMC director said, adding that demining teams are currently working on two minefields – Dahana in the Hamadoni district and Navobod in the Panj district.
This year, the demining teams have cleared more than 7,049 square meters of land and neutralized 38 anti-personnel mines.
Since 1992 landmines have killed 279 people, including 84 children and 35 women, and injured 301 (94 children and 42 women) in Tajikistan, according to TMAC.
Tajikistan signed the Convention on the Prohibition on the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Antipersonnel Mines and on their Destruction (the Ottawa Convention) in 2000. All signatory states undertook to ensure the destruction of all anti-personnel land mines they possess, as soon as possible but no later than 10 years after signing the convention. In the case of Tajikistan, this means that the country should be mine-free by 2010.
According to TMAC, Tajikistan completed the destruction of its anti-personnel mine stockpile in March 2004 and the use of landmines is no longer part of military training or activities.
In January 2002, the Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan also launched a special program, entitled Raising Awareness of Mines and Unexploded Ordnance. The goal is to cut the number of casualties by teaching local people in affected areas some rules of safe conduct.
The UN Children”s Fund (UNICEF) has also made its contribution to raising mine awareness, particularly among children. Trainers supported by UNICEF have conducted training in 50 schools in Panj, Isfara, Rasht, Vanj, Darvoz and Tavildara districts.
