DUSHANBE, November 9, 2009, Asia-Plus — A regional two-day conference on demining cooperation in Central Asia is scheduled to take place in Dushanbe on November 16-17.
According to the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, the conference participants include representatives and experts from Central Asia’s states and a number of European countries.
The main objective of the event is in creating conditions for dialogue between the Central Asian countries on a demining cooperation. Clearing landmines along the Tajik-Uzbek border will be one of major topics of the conference the source said.
We will recall that mines were laid along the Tajik-Uzbek border by the Uzbek authorities in the late 1990s. The action was reportedly taken to stave off incursions by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). This unilateral decision of Uzbekistan has caused many casualties among the civilian Tajik population. Most of the victims were women and children who were gathering firewood along the border as well as shepherds pasturing cattle in the areas.
