FRAGMENTED LEGS

Stop landmines

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:58:00 +0000

Stop landmines

Stop landmines

Stop landmines

Landmines in Egypt

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:54:00 +0000

Landmines

Landmines in Egypt

Egypt

16مليون لغم أرضى في مصر

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:49:00 +0000

16مليون لغم أرضى في مصر

Israel Using Cluster Munitions in Gaza

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Is Israel Using Cluster Munitions in Gaza?

Israel has used cluster munitions in its ongoing campaign in Gaza said John Holmes, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today, a claim also reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the Turkish Today’s Zamen.

Given the high population density of the Gaza strip, sources say there is a dangerous risk of high numbers of civilian casualties, since cluster munitions scatter over a wide area and leave behind deadly unexploded ‘duds’ that act as de facto landmines.

Israel’s extensive use of cluster munitions during its Lebanon invasion in 2006 was widely condemned for the resultant civilian casualties and galvanized the nascent campaign to ban cluster bombs. Click here to read a Landmine Action report on the impact of cluster munitions in Lebanon. For a similar report from Human Rights Watch, click here. For a particularly good short documentary film on the impact of Israel’s use of cluster bombs in Lebanon, click here.

Israel was not among the some 100 countries that signed the Cluster Munitions Treaty in December, that outlawed the transfer, production and stockpiling of such weapons and called on states to help mitigate the impact of ongoing contamination.

For more information on cluster munitions, see the previous posts on Political Minefields, or click here to view a short informational web video.

UPDATE 7 January 2009: Sources with a presence in Gaza are currently telling me that the claim that Israel is using cluster munitions may be incorrect, and may be a misinterpretation of pictures showing air burst weapons used to create smoke clouds to reduce visability. If any readers have any more information on this issue, please post a comment. Thanks - PM.

source

Political Minefields

الألغام فى صحراء الإسماعيلية تهدد الأرواح والتنمية

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:08:00 +0000

اليوم السابع

المحافظ بدأ بمساحة 16 فدانا شرق القناة وجارى مسح باقى المناطق

الألغام فى صحراء الإسماعيلية تهدد الأرواح والتنمية

مازالت مخلفات الحرب تهدد التنمية

الإسماعيلية - محمد فوزى

مازالت قضية اتساع المساحة الصحراوية بمحافظة الإسماعيلية تثير القلق، لاسيما داخل مدينتى القنطرة شرق وفايد، مع الأخذ فى الاعتبار أن المدينتين على خط المواجهة وشهدتا الكثير من المعارك على أرضهما، سواء خلال حرب يونيو 1967 أو حرب أكتوبر 1973، حيث مازالت تلك المناطق تضم ألغاماً مدفونة من مخلفات الحروب.

ذكرى الحرب الأليمة فى القنطرة وفايد
فمدينة القنطرة شرق التى تضم مساحات صحراوية كبيرة شهدت أكثر من حادث انفجار لغم أو شظية راح ضحيتها العشرات من أبناء المدينة من رجال ونساء وأطفال على مدار السنوات الأخيرة منذ عودة المهجرين، وقد شهدت المدينة خلال الثلاث سنوات الأخيرة ما لا يقل عن عشر حوادث انفجار ألغام فى أجساد أبناء المدينة.

أما مدينة فايد فقد فجر الحادث الأخير بقرية عبد الناصر بفايد، والذى راح ضحيته ثلاثة طلاب بالمرحلة الإعدادية قضية مسح وتطهير المناطق الصحراوية بالمدينة، خاصة المناطق السكنية، لاسيما وأن المنطقة التى وقع فيها الحادث مخططة لإقامة مجمع سكنى ومدرسة للتربية الفكرية على مساحة سبعة عشر فدانا منها، تم بالفعل تخصيصها للوحدة المحلية بفايد.

خطر يهدد البناء والاستثمار
محمد أبو العنين عضو مجلس محلى محافظة الإسماعيلية عن مركز القنطرة شرق، أكد أن الألغام ومخلفات الحروب حصدت العشرات من أبناء القنطرة، حيث لا يمر عام إلا وتقع إكثر من حادثة انفجار لغم فى المواطنين لاسيما الأطفال، وللأسف فإن هذا الملف الشائك لم يقترب منه أحد طوال السنوات الماضية، ربما بسبب حساسية القضية، حيث إن أغلب تلك المناطق تقع فى حوزة جهات سيادية.

وأصاف أبو العنين أن محافظ الإسماعيلية الحالى اللواء عبد الجليل الفخرانى، تنبه لتلك المشكلة، حيث قامت المحافظة بالاشتراك مع القوات المسلحة بتطهير مساحة من الأرض شرق قناة السويس، لكن مطلوب تطهير باقى المناطق لاسيما وأن شرق قناة السويس تضم مشروعات مستقبلية إستراتيجية مثل مشروع الإسماعيلية الجديدة ونفق أسفل قناة السويس.

فيما يرى محمد غنام عضو مجلس محلى محافظة الإسماعيلية عن مركز فايد، أن حادث قرية عبد الناصر الذى راح ضحيته طلاب فى عمر الزهور، يعد جريمة ولابد إعادة النظر فى تخصيص الأرض لمشروعات مستقبلية سكنية وتعليمية دون أن يتم تطهيرها والتأكد من خلوها من الألغام، خاصة وأنها كانت مناطق عسكرية ومازالت آثار الحرب عالقة بها.

جهود بطيئة بدعم المحافظة
اللواء عبد الجليل الفخرانى محافظ الإسماعيلية، أكد أن قضية الألغام الموجودة بشرق قناة السويس من القضايا التى تستحوذ على اهتمام المحافظة، وقال قمنا بالتنسيق مع القوات المسلحة واستطعنا تطهير حوالى 16 فدانا بشرق قناة السويس خلف مشروع وادى التكنولوجيا بتكلفة 200 ألف جنيه تحملتها المحافظة وجارى تطهير مناطق أخرى بالاشتراك مع القوات المسلحة، أما بخصوص الحادث الأخير بمدينة فايد فجارى الاتصال حاليا والتنسيق مع القوات المسلحة لمسح وتطهير منطقة قرية عبد الناصر، خاصة وأنها تضم مساحة عليها مشروعات قد نضطر لتجميد تنفيذها لحين الانتهاء من تطهير المنطقة.

Active landmines thread on desert

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:50:00 +0000

This is an extract from Sahara Overland II

Link below September 2007
Active landmines thread on desert-info.ch with maps (mostly in German)

Landmines

It's well known that certain areas of the Sahara are scattered with minefields, some dating back to WWII, but most laid during more recent conflicts. Anti-personnel mines will blow off your legs and possibly kill you if you step on one, but if you drive over such a mine, you could get away with just a ruined tyre. Larger anti-tank mines will destroy both you and your vehicle. In In Search of the Sahara Quentin Crewe described driving his Unimog over a mine near Nouadhibou in the 1970s. The heavy vehicle was destroyed but saved the occupants from injury. Most years a Saharan party sets off a mine somewhere, all known cases being in the areas listed below.

The best way to avoid setting off a mine is to avoid known minefields altogether. However, if you can't or don't want to do that, hire a relibale local guide to steer you through the danger zone. If you decide to go it alone using someone else's GPS waypoints through a minefield, be aware that the slightest deviation could result in a fatal accident. Follow any existing tracks and be wary of any unnatural barriers across a piste.

Known mined areas in the Sahara

Apart from the Atlantic Route (p.464), Route L6 and routes in Egypt's Western Desert, all the pistes in this book avoid mined areas so you should have little to worry about. Nevertheless, it's prudent to list the known locations of Saharan minefields, though this list should not be taken as a guarantee that mines do not exist elsewhere.

Starting from the far west, the horizontal border between Western Sahara and Mauritania is mined. Even though by now everyone knows the risks of leaving the piste when crossing the border and a new sealed road is complete, deadly accidents still happen as late as Feb 2007. There is no danger if you directly follow the couple of kilometres of stony track from leaving the tarmac at the Moroccan frontier to rejoining the tarmac at the Mauritanian frontier. Stay on the clearest direct tracks. The 2007 death occured way east of this route - no one knows why they are there but sadly they asked for it.

It's very likely that the entire Mauritanian border north with Morocco is left mined from a time when Polisario raiders got as far south as Chinguetti. There are certainly mines alongside the Layounne-Bir Mogrein road; a Paris-Dakar truck caught one here in the late nineties.

Still in Mauritania, areas east and south of Ouadane are also said to be mined although Route R8 to Guelb is safe. Again there are said to be mines north of Guelb near the El Beyyid well and rock paintings.

There are also mines between Algeria and Morocco in the Hamada du Draa and Guir region between Tindouf and Bechar, though no regular pistes cross this area. If they exist they are all well south of the Moroccan routes given in this book.

Mali is thought to be mine-free as is Algeria. In Niger Tubu rebels laid mines in the Djado region in 1997-8. They were cleared in 2001 after the rebels came to an agreement with the Niger government but in March 2003 three Italians tourists were killed when they hit an anti-tank mine north of Djado. After the accident the military post at Chirfa confirmed there were mines in the area on the route into Enneri Blaka where the former base of the FANS Tubu rebels was located until 2001. There are apparently three routes into the valley of Enneri Blaka, one is the regular route from the south via Seguidine, one from the north which cuts north east of Djaba and then goes south down the Enneri Domo, and a new one which cuts directly eastwards from Chirfa. It was this latter route which was reported to be mined.

Besides this, the far eastern reaches of the Seguedine-Zouar piste are mined around Col de Yei Lulu just before the Chad border, and also reports of wired-off mine fields further north.

Libya

Libya has plenty of mines from both WWII (mostly in the east) and along its southern border following the war with Chad and related to the current Tibesti rebellion. WWII still exist east of the line from Ajdabija (south of Benghazi) to Jalu as well as further south. A surveyor working in southeast of Libya reported that 'Many areas of country to east of Kufra-Benghazi road are mined' although the run from Al Jakbub close to the border across a passable 'neck' of the Calansho Sand Sea down to Kufra is becoming a popular off-piste excursion with no known reports of mines (see also 'Egypt' below). These mines have long been a sore point with Libya who've insisted Germany and Britain pay for their clearance and as a result of Libya's continuted rehabilitation, in March 2003 the Virgin Group announced a deal where they would sell an airship-based landmine clearance system using radar to Libya.

It's also been reported that in the broad plain leading from the tarmac road about 90km north of Sebha. southeast to the Sarir al Qattusah is mined (in 1989 a traveller was warned by a Libyan police patrol who followed).

In southern Libya between Serir Tibesti and the Rebiana Erg in the Dohone region, the Passe de Klingue on Route L6, KM409 has mines from several periods and wrecked vehicles to prove it. Mines located at this point damaged a truck in 1991, nearby in 2001 and again in 2003.

In August 2000 a Swiss party hit a mine on the way back from the well at Gongom on the western side of Dohone. The mine was located in the Oued Oyouroum (N22° 40' E18° 45'), which was not known to be mined.The travellers were returning along their own three-day-old tracks. Later they met an Chadian army patrol near Kilingue looking for Chadian rebels who probably laid the mines, thinking the new tracks belonged to rebels using the well. It seems the Chadian army has permission from Libya to venture into deep southern Libya to lay mines in theor operations against the Tubu rebels so it's simply best to avoid this part of Libya.

Chad

Chad, or to be precise the north as far south as Faya and up to and beyond the Libyan border is the most mined region in the Saharan, dating from the Libyan war of the 1980s and, as you've just read, still being mined today. Mines exist alongside tracks, some are well marked, others are not. In August 2002 the leader of the rebel MDJT movement himself was among the dead in a landmine incident. Near the Libyan border the mines at the Passe de Korizo are well-known with a well developed alternative piste. A truck hit a mine on the track south of the Pass on the Arkiafera Plain north of Wour. Mines also wrecked a Unimog at N22° 19' E17° 25' on the way to Aozou and other tracks in this region are well known to be mined, such as the track between Ouri and Aozi, east of the Dohone spur.

There are said to be mines around Ounianga Kebir and the piste northwest to Gouro as well as the piste between Faya and Fada through the Kora dunes (just above N18°). They block the line of least resistance which everyone would follow and you must know the places to avoid by crossing a 50m-high dune belt. South of Ounianga Kebir the ominously named Wadi Doum (N18° 22' E20° 23') - where the Libyans lost the 1980s war and now a Chadian military base - is littered abandoned military hardware, UXO and is heavily mined. Those minefields which are crossed by the clear piste are carefully fenced off with barbed wire. You may by quite safe staying on the piste but walking around to a look to the military equipment is dangerous.

In January 2003 in the first reported mine clearance operation in Chad, the head of the anti mine unit funded by a UN development programme announced that they had removed some five hundred mines from around Faya Largeau and the area was mine free up to 10kms from the town.

In this region as well as the western Ennedi it is wise to travel with an experienced guide. Even the sides of the well-used piste about 20km WNW of Fada are mined at a narrow passage. This list is far from exhaustive and sticking to previous tracks or travelling with a guide if coming down from Al Gatrun all the way to Faya (should it even be safe enough to do so) seems to be the only advice. Guides however are not a guarantee that you will avoid mines which, along with its other dangers, is why northern Chad is the least visited Saharan country.

Egypt

The Western Desert of Egypt saw fierce fighting in WWII and its northern part, between El Alamein and the Libyan border, as well as the Qattara depression, was heavily mined. All mines have been eliminated between the coastal road and the sea, but further inland any number may still remain. The Qattara Depression was never cleared, and both the German and the British armies mined the northern parts, below the cliffs, to prevent the other from getting behind their lines. Given this situation, all parts of the Depression away from travelled roads and tracks are best avoided.

Tensions between Egypt and Libya resulted in some of the border areas being mined. At Jebel Uweinat there is a marked minefield (with large anti-tank mines) blocking the west side of the entrance of Karkur Talh (N22° 02.7' E25° 07.9'), and also at the low pass where the track skirts the northern spur of the mountain and continues towards the Libyan border at N22° 04.5' E25° 02.8'. It's also reported that there are mines near tracks passing a series of hills at N22° 04' E25° 16', about 20km NE of Uweinat where two red tracks join on the 1942 Uweinat map.

There are unconfirmed reports of mines at the pass between Peter and Paul, and mines may be expected at any easily blockable route close to the border. In February 1999 German tourists ran over a mine in the southern Gilf Kebir at the western entrance of the Wadi Wassa (N23 00.2', E25 51.3'), and it may be expected that the western reaches of the Wadi el Firaq are also mined; a vehicle hit a mine here in 1983 around N22° 53' E25° 47', half a kilometre from some iron poles and near a yellow drum.

There have been reports of the Aqaba Pass at the central Gilf Kebir being mined, however this seems extremely unlikely as countless vehicles have gone through this narrow pass overr recent years. Old reports suggested that the western entrance of Wadi el Gubba in the northern Gilf Kebir was also mined, but this too is unlikely. A Dakar Rally passed through here in 2000 as have several travellers since, taking the track rounding the western Gilf and heading for the entrance to Silica Glass valley (see p.000).

The recent minefields placed by the Egyptian army are marked with posts and barbed wire, and small stone cairns. If you see any obviously man-placed object (piles of stones, big slabs, steel drum, etc.) directly across the track, this is likely to be a warning sign for mines.

SOURCE

http://www.sahara-overland.com/mines/index.htm

EGYPT GEOLOGY

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:46:00 +0000

EGYPT GEOLOGY

Egypt

Stop !! its a landmine

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:44:00 +0000

Stop !! its a landmine

When wars end,

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:39:00 +0000

When wars end,
landmines and bombs remain.

clear path international

the most wanted by egyption

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 05:36:00 +0000

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan teenage cluster bomb victim battling for ban

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:24:00 +0000

Afghan teenage cluster bomb victim battling for ban

By Robin Millard
Agence France Presse

Afghan teenager Soraj Ghulam Habib, whose legs were blown off by a cluster bomb, is campaigning hard for a ban on such lethal munitions that would spare other children from his tragic fate.

A 10-year-old boy when the unexploded bomblet left him close to death, Habib, now 17 and wheelchair-bound, is in Dublin to press officials from 109 countries who have gathered to thrash out a landmark ban on cluster bombs.

The conference, due to conclude on May 30, is aiming for a wide-ranging international pact that would completely eliminate the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions among signatories.

Habib’s childhood curiosity with a funny-looking object left him a whisker from death, yet another innocent civilian victim of deadly cluster bombs.

“One day, I went out with some of my cousins for a picnic in a public park,” the softly-spoken teenager, from Herat province in north-western Afghanistan, told AFP through a Dari-speaking interpreter.

“It was the beginning of New Year in Afghanistan and on the way home, on the sidewalk, I saw a yellow can. I picked it up and wanted to open it. When I threw it down, it exploded.”

The same colour as the emergency food parcels air-dropped by US planes, the yellow can was in fact a BLU-97, a sub-munition dropped in a cluster bomb during the US aerial bombing campaign to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

“It’s a dangerous weapon but it looks nice, it looks very interesting to a child,” he said.

Taken to hospital, the doctors wanted to give the 10-year-old a lethal injection, judging that his life was not worth living given the extent of his injuries.

“He said to my father, ‘it’s not good for his future life to be like this, let’s let him die,’” Habib said.

But the boy’s father disagreed and the youth was operated on. A week later, a small piece of sub-munition was found in his stomach, which had entered his body through his leg. Again, the medics operated.

After four months, he was allowed to return home, with daily visits from the doctors. Further operations followed.

The physical horror of his ordeal is visible, but the emotional and social damage is not.

Leaving hospital, the destruction of his childhood became clear.

“Cluster munitions injure but also do not lead us to be in society,” Habib said.

“I wanted to go outside and play with my friends, but they did not want to play with me. They said that now I was a wheelchair user, I was not able to do anything.”

Fighting his corner, his uncle pushed for him to be allowed in school.

“It was a social problem that nobody would play with me,” he said.

“I had a lot of dreams, to do for my friends, my family, my community and my country; it destroyed all my dreams and all my wishes.”

He is not the only one whose childhood has been wrecked by cluster bombs. Campaigners say they disproportionately affect civilians, with Handicap International estimating that 60 percent of civilian casualties are children.

“There are a lot of people affected by cluster munitions in Afghanistan, especially in Herat,” Habib said.

“In my rehabilitation centre, one of my classmates also lost both his legs.”

Habib is clear about the outcome he wants from the talks at Croke Park stadium in Dublin.

“I’m calling on all the states, especially those here, to stop it, join with us and let the children have peace and a life without cluster munitions.

“I hope from this conference that we come out with good results to save future lives,” he said.

“It’s the responsibility of those countries … save the lives of children and give them a brilliant future.”

Habib now works in Herat with the Kabul-based ALSO, the Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organisation.

“I try to bring back the dreams I had before: to work hard and offer the help that I can to my people, my community and my country,” he said.

VOICE FOR VICTIMS

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:19:00 +0000

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Civilian casualties are often forgotten, overshadowed in the news coming out of conflict zones by more sensational stories. CIVIC believes victims of war deserve a voice.

Telling their stories…
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When they’re harmed…
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Starting a youth revolution…
Most big movements for change depend on young people for support and their spirit. They’ve got the energy, the time and the passion to make helping war victims a revolution. CIVIC gets young people involved through our new student website.

Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance: A Resource Book

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:51:00 +0000

Linked with the international campaign to outlaw landmines, this is the most comprehensive study of landmines in the post-conflict situation ever published. Written by one of the leading voices of the anti-landmining campaign, this book also ties in with a growing and widespread understanding of landmines and their destructive capacity, providing a wide range of data on all aspects of land mining and the motions for abolition.

http://books.google.com.eg/books?id=wi5jcrg_BfAC&dq=how+do+soldiers+define+mine+fields&source=gbs_summary_s&hl=en

« less

Minefield Areas in Egypt

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:43:00 +0000

Photographs of Minefield Areas in Egypt

Western Desert Problems

Each region of Egypt has special technical problems. The principal technical problems in the Western Desert are:

Wind blown sand burying mines and fragments up to 2 metres deep in places, though mostly less than that.

High fragment density in many areas.

Age of mines - up to 60 years.

Unknown, or partially known location of minefields.

Many, large and sometimes unstable UXO's distributed across area, many UXO's considered to be more dangerous than the mines.

Drawing: Typical ground structure in Alamein area. Windblown sand surrounds small bushes in shallow soil over limestone bedrock. This shows typical demining problems in the Western Desert: mines lie close to bedrock, and UXO's lie in minefield area. Extensive frag from fighting, lying on what was the surface in 1941-1943, generates many false alarms. In places, the sand has drifted to depths of up to 2 metres.


Photo: eg24-19a: The back end of a large British bomb can be seen inside the hole. The bomb was dropped on a British position heading south. The bomb was discovered during routine mine clearance in the area. It is awaiting an EOD team to destroy it in place, and the evacuation of the adjacent bedouin camp.	Photo: eg24-18a: Close up of bomb in hole showing compacted sand with small limestone pebbles embedded in it.


Photo: eg24-27a: Minefield being cleared. Each red flag denotes the position of a mine, all AT mines in this instance. Each mine has been located and removed from its position and placed alongside each hole. This can be a dangerous procedure as some mines have mechanisms which, if badly corroded, can activate the mine with the slightest movement.	Photo: eg24-22a: Mk 4 AT mine removed from hole. The depth of sand above the mine was approximately 320mm here. Normal metal detectors should have no difficulty locating this kind of target.


Photo: eg24-21a: Close up of hole showing lower layers of compacted sand which can easily be rubbed away by fingers. The upper 10 cm of sand is loose. All this sand would blow away under appropriate conditions.	Photo: eg24-23a: Typical small bush. On the downwind side sand has built up in the bush. The prevailing winds are from the north west.


Photo: eg24-24a: British Mk 5 AT mine removed from its hole.	Photo: eg24-25a: Close up of Mk 5 AT mine showing advanced corrosion.


Photo: eg24-28a: Hole where a large fragment was found. This is one of very few such holes, indicating that there were few false alarms in searching for mines here.	Photo: eg24-29a: Metal spring (found by deminers). The white flag behind the red flag indicates the edge of the minefield boundary.


Photo: eg24-30a: New irrigation canal under construction through mined areas. The government wants to release land here for irrigated crops, using underground water. Note the blown sand indicating that sand is very mobile here under the right conditions.	Photo: eg24-31a: Col. Mahrous, Commanding Officer, Engineers Brigade responsible for demining Alamein area, echanging gifts with author.

Drawing: Map of area drawn from memory. Shapes are indicative only of minefield records which are partly misleading because of the limited accuracy of those records. UXO (and some mines) lie scattered across entire area

so the entire area has to be cleared.

you can have detailed information from

Photo Album - Pictures from the Western Desert Minefields

there you can find

Landmines in Egypt

Explosive Remnants of War in North Africa

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:31:00 +0000

I have read about this in a copyright protected site

here

Journal Of Mine Action

really it is a rich content site

there are people who would like to help

I hope you find it interesting as i did

Hidden Menace of “Iron Soldiers”

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:35:00 +0000

Nearly four years ago, Ali Haq was playing near his home in the western Iranian province of Ilam when an explosion left him disabled for life.

Now 11, Ali Haq has to cope with life with one leg and one eye, and deal with the daily expressions of sympathy – and occasional mockery too – from his classmates, teachers and relatives.

Born long after the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88, Ali Haq nevertheless counts as a victim of that devastating conflict.

His home in the village of Firuz Abad lies close to the border with Iraq and was in the zone of territory heavily strewn with landmines. Two decades on, millions of these deadly devices are still there – and it was one of them that injured Ali Haq.

He is just one of thousands of children injured by unexploded munitions left behind in the war zone. It is estimated that 10,000 people have died in mine blasts in the last 14 years alone.

Iranians call the unexploded mines “iron soldiers”, buried weapons waiting in the ground to kill or maim a curious child, a farmer or a careless passer-by.

There are an estimated 110 million landmines in 64 countries of the world, and according to the trauma research centre at the Sina Hospital in Tehran, Iran’s share is 16 million – a huge proportion of the total.

That puts Iran in second place, after Afghanistan, for the number of unexploded landmines. Egypt follows in third place.

Iran is also among the seven countries with the highest number of casualties of mine explosions, the others being Iraq, Cambodia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Columbia and Angola.

On a visit to mined areas of Iran in November 2004, the head of the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining, Stephen Nellan, said the volume of mines in the country was beyond compare.

According to the former secretary of the country’s National Demining Committee, General Hossein Vaziri, the Iranian government would need 300 billion tomans, or 324 million US dollar, to clear mined areas completely.

The main provinces affected are Khuzestan, Ilam, West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan and Kermanshah, all in the frontline zone of the war with Iraq.

As Vaziri said, “The landmines have made two million hectares of land unusable and dangerous.”

The Mine Clearing Collaboration Association, an active non-government group, estimates that there are an average of 2.2 cases a day where individuals are left permanently disabled by landmines.

The current head of the official Demining Committee, Brigadier-General Murtaza Habibi, says that as a result of government measures, the latest figures indicated that this casualty rate had fallen to 1.5 a day.

As in other countries with large numbers of landmines in the soil, a substantial proportion of fatalities and injuries involve children who come across a mine while playing, or women who are out farming the land. Often the villages they live in are remote and poorly provided for, so casualties have to make a long journey to get to hospital and some die on the way.

A study conducted about six years ago by the University for the War Disabled, an average of 7,000 mines have exploded annually over the last 16 years. Ninety-five per cent of the casualties were civilians.

Demining in any country is a costly and time-consuming business. In Iran, though, international politics have added to the problems – not least because sanctions make it harder to bring in the right equipment.

“Not having access to the latest available technology for identifying and neutralising mines has created a host of difficulties for Iranian deminers,” said Shirin Ebadi, the noted human rights activist who set up and now runs the Mine Clearing Collaboration Association,

She noted also that demining is made more complex because even after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Iran and Iraq have not yet exchanged maps of the minefields they laid during the war.

It should cost between 300 and 500 dollars to make a landmine safe. In Iran, however, this can rise as high as 1,000 dollars because of the obstacles to importing modern technology, the lack of maps, and the fact that landmines may have shifted position over the years.

The defence ministry currently has overall responsibility for mine-clearing, but has devolved some of the work to seven private companies.

Brig-Gen Habibi, who is in charge of the Demining Committee and is also deputy head of the ministry’s engineering department, says the international community has tended to ignore Iran.

“International organisations have not paid the required attention towards Iranian minefields, and do not do so now,” he said. “And this is despite the United Nation’s statement that Iran is far more hard-hit by landmines than its neighbour Afghanistan.”

Habibi conceded that the Iranian authorities used to view the landmine problem as a security issue, and this made it difficult for both domestic and international non-government groups to get involved.

Now, though, he said, “Our view has changed, and we are also waiting for a change of view from international and human rights organisations.”

He added that as part of new plans to reduce the number of mine casualties, monthly training and education programmes were being run in frontier areas, in conjunction with the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Iranian Red Crescent,.

The training is designed to familiarise people with the various types of landmines they might encounter, and their relative risks.

Mostafa Salimi, who worked in demining during the war with Iraq and is currently using these skills with a non-government group, explains that the classes teach children not to go near, let alone enter, areas where there are warning signposts.

It may be too late, but Ali Haq is among the children attending the classes, although he says he does not understand much.

The longest crime in history

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:33:00 +0000

There are approximately 110 million landmines lying in wait for victims in 70 nations. This enormous number alone serves as a daily reminder of the hundreds of thousands of dead and the 125 million maimed by these deadly weapons.

To Egypt, World War II bequeathed some 17.5 million landmines in the area extending from Al-Alamein to Egypt's western border. The wars between Israel and Egypt have left some 5.5 million landmines in the Sinai and the Suez Canal zone. In other words, Egypt alone hosts 20 per cent of the total amount of landmines in the world.

It is perhaps the late Princess Diana who did the most to bring the tragedies caused by landmines into the limelight, thus popularising a much-neglected cause. In Egypt, where funds are lacking for the location and removal of mines planted by Germany, but mainly by the Allies, in the run-up to the Battle of Al-Alamein, it is the Bedouins of the Northern Coast who have suffered the most. Now, however, local efforts are beginning to bear some fruit. A recent conference on Minefield Eradication for Community and Environment, held under the sponsorship of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, could mark a significant first step.

In the opening address, Nadia Makram Ebeid, minister of state for environmental affairs, noted that the eradication of landmines is, in a sense, something of a minefield itself, demanding integrated, concerted efforts to address the political, military, legal, moral, environmental, technical, economic and developmental aspects of the problem. The Ministry of Environment, she said, is concerned with the eradication of landmines not only because it seeks to optimise land use (one of the mainstays of sustainable development), but, more importantly, because these mines continue to pose an ever-present threat to the lives of innocent civilians.

The international community has a major onus to bear in the eradication of this threat. In this regard, Ebeid urged international NGOs and associations to lobby their governments so that the necessary technology, expertise and financial assistance may be extended to those countries that are still paying the price of wars for which they were not responsible.

The governor of Alexandria emphasised the fact that the Egyptian people, who can hardly be blamed for the presence of landmines, continue to be the principal victims of these silent, deadly weapons. "It is up to those responsible for planting these mines to offer compensation to the victims and the governments of those countries in which these mines are located," he stressed. The issue of compensation and responsibility was raised at the recent disarmament conference in Geneva, he added. As one form of compensation to the people of the Governorate of Marsa Matruh, he proposed that the countries responsible for planting these "fields of death" undertake an agricultural reclamation project and create an international park in Al-Alamein as an enduring symbol of peace.

Almost every inhabitant of Al-Alamein knows someone who has been killed or maimed by a landmine, the deadly legacy of World War II. While the problem remains a "global humanitarian concern", little concrete assistance has been offered to countries like Egypt, for which the elimination of landmines would make all the difference

Soheila Nazmi of Al-Ahram's Alexandria bureau, the author of a documentary film on the tragedies landmines have inflicted upon Egypt and the Egyptian people, said: "We must promote this cause at the international level in order to obtain the rights of landmine victims." Various publications on the issue, a specialised Internet site as well as frank, in-depth televised interviews with political and media personalities from the countries responsible for planting the minefields were suggested as means of publicising the issue.

Nazmi reminded participants that, until September 1998, Germany had paid $75 billion in compensation to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, while Swiss banks have paid an additional $1,250 million in compensation to the victims of Nazism. Such compensation would not have been possible without the sustained efforts of Jewish groups taking full advantage of media opportunities.

Supporting the participants' appeal to international NGOs, Hamdi Alawani, professor of engineering at Alexandria University and president of the San Stefano Rotary Club, the main organiser of the conference, said the club's connection with other rotary clubs and various NGOs in Egypt and abroad could be put to good use. The problem of landmines, he noted, is a global humanitarian concern that should mobilise domestic and international resources. Landmines, he added, pose a major obstacle to comprehensive and sustained development in an area covering approximately 16,000 square kilometres.

"Although the Second World War ended in 1945, its aftermath persists in Egypt," said Omar El-Hadidi, of the Finnish Consulate, referring to "the most atrocious traditional weapon of warfare, whose threat to human and animal life has remained dangerously latent for decades after the official cessation of hostilities." In recent years, El-Hadidi said, the growing numbers of victims claimed by landmines have prompted the international community to react. Numerous conferences and seminars have been held worldwide with the aim of prohibiting the production and use of these weapons. In 1995, the Brussels Declaration called for the ban of landmines. This was followed, in 1996, by the UN General Assembly resolution of 2 February 1996 calling for international assistance in the eradication of minefields. In December 1997, another declaration banning landmines, issued in Oslo, was signed by all nations with the exception of a handful of major powers. According to the most credible statistics, landmines claim the lives of 70 innocent people a day, or one every 15 minutes. Most of these victims are children. Yet, El-Hadidi remarked, "even as yesterday's enemies gather as today's allies in October every year to commemorate those who fell at Al-Alamein, and to appeal for the protection of mankind from the horrors of war, they stand at the very edge of the minefields they planted during that war, and which continue to claim Egyptian lives every day." Alluding to President Mubarak's statement to the international disarmament conference in Geneva in February, when he said that the European nations should bear full responsibility for removing the mines they planted in Egypt and for repairing the damage caused by these mines since 1942, El-Hadidi added: "These countries have continued to ignore this problem for over half a century, making it the longest sustained crime in history."

Ayman Surour, executive director of the Centre for Combating Landmines, remarked on what he termed a "strange coincidence": of the three permanent members of the Security Council (the US, Russia and China) and the three nuclear nations (Israel, Pakistan and India) that refused to sign the Ottawa Declaration on the eradication of landmines, four of these (US, Russia, China and Israel) also opposed the establishment of an International Court of Justice responsible for implementing the provisions of the Ottawa Declaration, which would have obliged the parties that planted the mines to remove them or offer financial and technical assistance.

One participant likened the presence of landmines in Egypt to the dumping of poisonous waste in countries like Thailand, Benin, Guinea, Nigeria and Venezuela. The same moral and legal standards that apply in these cases should also apply in the case of minefields in Egypt, he said. When Egypt first began to request the removal of landmines, the nations responsible for planting them claimed that the maps showing the location of the mines had been lost in the war, explained Mohieddin Mosaad of the Court of Appeals. Mosaad pointed out that the danger posed by landmines increases with time, since they are subject to continual displacement due to the effects of rain, wind and the movement of the desert sand. Tangible evidence of this phenomenon was offered recently in Burg Al-Arab, which falls outside the Western Desert battlefields, but where a mine caused several casualties.

Another participant, Mohi Mohamed, focused again on the obstacles minefields pose to development. In the Western Desert, he noted, they continue to discourage investors who would otherwise be keen to establish tourist, agricultural, industrial and petroleum projects. The loss is two-fold: the government is unable to sustain the exorbitant costs of eliminating the hazard, and no investor would be willing to establish a project without necessary safety guarantees. The random explosion of a mine in a tourist spot, for example, would set back the tourist industry in that area for decades.

Egypt would need at least 2,000 mine sweepers to clear the mines that threaten it. Against this figure, Great Britain's offer of 50 mine sweepers was lamentably paltry; its grant of 500,000 sterling pounds, made between 1981 and '91, similarly fell far short of the bill. While it costs only $3 to produce a mine, it costs in the neighbourhood of $1,000 to remove one. Multiplying this by the 23 million mines still existing in Egypt gives a rough estimate of the billions of dollars entailed. Nevertheless, the Egyptian government began to implement an ambitious project in July 1991, targeted for completion in 2006. The removal of mines -- and the killing and maiming of innocent people -- must, however, remain contingent on the government's limited financial and technical resources for the time being.

Signatories to the Ottawa Convention and Their Alternatives to Landmines

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:02:00 +0000

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (known as the Ottawa Convention) was open for signature from December 3, 1997, until its entry into force on March 1, 1999, six months after it had been ratified, accepted, approved, or acceded to by 40 countries. After that date, no country was allowed to sign it and ratify it later. Countries could join (become a party to) the treaty, however, through a one-step procedure known as accession.

As of September 2000, 107 countries had ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to the convention. Although few of these countries are actively searching for or developing alternatives to landmines, many are monitoring international developments in this area; several countries are participating in a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) study on the consequences of the APL ban and possible technological alternatives that do not have the negative effects of APL. The Committee on Alternative Technologies to Replace Antipersonnel Landmines found a few instances of countries other than the United States identifying or working to identify alternatives to APL.

AUSTRALIA

An Australian company, Metal Storm, has developed an all-electronic firing system that represents a breakthrough in gun technology, which the company believes could lead to “the development of an area denial weapons system to replace antipersonnel landmines” (Metal Storm, 2000a). The Australian Army has approved a three-year program for the development of a prototype minefield-replacement mortarbox system, utilizing Metal Storm technology (Metal Storm, 2000b). Conceptually, this application would be similar in operation to the U.S. Claymore and the French Sphinx-Moder. According to the company's description, a man-inthe-loop, after observing and identifying a target, would fire a launcher sending a variety of projectiles into the protected area.

CANADA

The Canadian Centre for Mine-Action Technologies (CCMAT), a joint initiative of the Department of National Defence and Industry Canada, is mandated to “conduct research and gather information to show that viable and more humane alternatives [to APL], which do not target civilians, can be developed.” CCMAT also conducts research on demining technologies, medical treatment, and the rehabilitation of mine victims (CDND, 1998). CCMAT is exploring nonlethal alternatives only (ICBL, 2000). It is also conducting a series of studies “to determine the impact of removing antipersonnel landmines on land force operations and to determine if replacement technologies are necessary” (Roy and Friesen, 1999). The first volume in this series, a study on the historical uses of APL, was made available to the Committee on Alternative Technologies to Replace Antipersonnel Landmines.

According to the Antipersonnel Mine Operational Planning and Policy Guidelines for the Canadian Forces, Canada would replace its APL with “a mix of sensors, commanddetonated weapons [such as the M-18 Claymore reclassified as C19s], additional infantry, artillery, armour and air-delivered weapons” (Fredenburg, 1997).

FRANCE

The Sphinx-Moder (described in Chapter 6) is designed to fire wounding, warning, or practice munitions. It is being produced in series and has been adopted by the French Army to take the place of antipersonnel mines.

JAPAN

The Japanese Defense Agency is developing an alternative weapon system to APL called the “antipersonnel obstacle system,” which combines sensors and remote control.

Blowing up the Myths of America's Landmine Policy

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Global landmine contamination has been recognized by the international community as a pressing humanitarian crisis. Each year sixty-four countries care for or stockpile over two hundred million extant landmines, lay two to five new million landmines, and clear only one hundred thousand old landmines from their territories. Landmines caused thirty-three percent of all total American casualties in the Vietnam Conflict and caused thirty-four percent of all American causalities during the Gulf War. Fifty-five percent of landmine victims die before receiving medical assistance, twenty-eight percent of mine survivors lose one or both limbs after amputations, and seventy-five percent of amputees require blood transfusions, straining on global blood supply. The U.S. State Department estimates that landmines kill or injure one civilian worldwide every twenty-two minutes-totaling nearly twenty-six thousand victims per year. Landmines also pose a threat to global economies and ecosystems, particularly of third world countries. Landmines render large tracts of agricultural land unusable, often causing malnutrition or starvation among agrarian populations. A posted sign may warn people that one landmines lies buried within a village field, but since the exact location of that landmine is difficult and expensive to determine, the entire field must be avoided. Because of this phenomenon, many third world countries, particularly Afghanistan and Cambodia, simply cannot establish an agrarian base necessary for them stabilize their national economies. Likewise, as especially seen in Mozambique, landmine corruption can also lead to severe drought and famine because landmines consume large amounts of otherwise farmable land. Not only do landmines limit economic production, but also burden these countries with enormous medical problems. For example, within the past ten years landmines have reduced the population of Angola by twenty-five percent. In Cambodia, one out of every two hundred thirty-six citizens is a landmine amputee. Because of these trends, the international community has reassessed the ethicality of anti-personnel landmines. Many argue that landmine usage violates Article 22 of the Hague Regulations on Land Warfare, part of the Hague Convention of 1907 which set specific limits on military conduct. These laws have been expanded in modern times to prohibit the attack of set civilian objectives, to require the cancellation of a mission if more civilians than troops would likely be harmed, and to limit superfluous suffering during war, both to combatants and civilians. For these reasons, the international community-approximately 190 countries (through the "Ottawa Process")-has concluded that anti-personnel landmines contradict our sense of humanitarian and military ethics, and has therefore agreed to stop producing, trading and/or planting new landmines. The United States government, not officially joining Ottawa, has taken many actions on its own to address American landmine usage. In 1993, under the leadership of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Congress adopted a one-year moratorium on American exports of anti-personnel landmines, a law which President Clinton made permanent in January 1998. As of May 1998, the Department of Defense announced that in 1997 the United States removed approximately two and a half million non self-destructing APL from current American stockpiles, drastically improved de-mining technology, and increased funding for international de-mining efforts. The Clinton administration has reaffirmed "America's strong commitment to…sign the Ottawa Convention." America's commitment to the landmine treaty, however, remains ambivalent. Although the Clinton administration has taken a more active role in landmine negotiations, (attending, most recently, the Oslo, Norway phase of Ottawa in September 1997), it has jeopardized the integrity of the treaty itself. America entered these conferences with a series of new conditions which arguably undermine the intent of Ottawa. Specifically, these American representatives demanded that the current landmine treaty allow the unlimited use of "smart mines," future landmine technology which would deactivate landmines after a specified length of time, and allow America to use both smart and "dumb" mines, current landmine technology, to protect the North Korean peninsula. The American representatives also insisted that America should receive special exemptions from the treaty until the year 2006, or until India, Russia and China also sign and ratify the treaty. There are a number of inaccuracies in this current American stance on smart mines. Although smart mines may eventually reduce accidental civilian landmine casualties, smart mines do not make landmines more humane to ground troops as defined by the Hague Resolutions. Besides, even if the landmines are "programmed" to self-detonate after a given amount of time, while they remain active smart antipersonnel landmines still cannot distinguish between a soldier and a civilian. An exception allowing America to lay smart mines means an exception for everybody to lay smart mines, thus defeating the spirit of the treaty. Also, America has historically used unilateral disarmament as a successful military tactic. President Kennedy led the United States to a unilateral ban on nuclear testing. Similarly, in the 1980s President Reagan initiated the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). These actions forced the international community, including the Soviet Union, to join us in productive negotiations. Both these examples also illustrate the impact the United States has on global demilitarization. There are many other, more self-interested, motives behind America's reluctance to agree to the Ottawa Process. The American military wants to continue the use of a proven tactical weapon as well as maintain its overwhelming advantage in strategic posturing. Landmines, besides stabilizing the balance of global power, also save the lives of American troops when in combat. However, America's massive production and exportation of landmines may be a more accurate reason why America refuses to participate in Ottawa. From 1969 to 1992 the United States exported nearly four and a half million antipersonnel landmines to at least thirty-four different countries (including Afghanistan, Angola, Vietnam and Iraq). For these landmines America received on average one hundred twenty-five million dollars per year. Over forty-seven American companies manufacture APL, their components or delivery systems. Landmine production contracts in the late 1980s and early 1990s have earned companies upwards of three hundred thirty-six million dollars (Alliant technologies; 1985-95). While currently American corporations are adhering to the American moratorium on landmine production (America's stockpiles are full), the American defense industry is no doubt reluctant to lose such lucrative business relationships with the Pentagon and the foreign countries who also purchase these landmines. The United States must put aside mere self interest and do what is best for the world. Although the Ottawa Process can succeed without the United States' approval, the treaty would have greater legitimacy and more enforceability if the world's superpower also ratified and followed it. The United States alone has the power to end the use of landmines, cruel devices which breach military ethics, impede international progress and violate human dignity.

China and Anti-Personnel Landmines (APLs)

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:51:00 +0000

China's APL Production, Stockpiling and Domestic Use
Summary of the APL Ban
Chinese Views on the APL Ban
Full Chinese Statements on the APL Ban

Background Information:

APL Production and Proliferation
China is reportedly the largest producer of APLs in the world. Chinese factories linked to the China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) produce most APLs; the Technical Equipment Research Institute of Wuxi serves as the center for APL research and development. In accordance with the revised Protocol II of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), China should have already halted the production and export of its most heavily produced APL called Type 72. By 2007, China must completely cease to use the Type 72. Currently, China's Type 72 is one of the cheapest in the world, costing only US$3 per landmine. In addition to the Type 72, China has independently produced 22 types of APLs. Aside from a few APLs of Russian design, China has designed most of the APLs it produces. Some of these APLs include the PPM-2 blast mine, POMZ-2 and –2M fragmentation stake mines, Type 58 fragmentation stake mine, Type 59 wooden box mine, Type 68 and Type 69 bounding fragmentation mines, and Type 66 Claymore-type directed fragmentation mine. China also produces remotely delivered APLs such as the GLD 112 and three similar unnamed models. The latter four types of APLs were initially developed in the 1970s to be dropped by parachute, rocket, ground vehicle and several types of aircraft.

Chinese mines have been used in parts of South Asia, the Middle East and as far as Africa. In particular, the Type 72 has been used in Iraq, Kuwait, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Angola, Rwanda, Zambia, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Africa and Mozambique and the Type 69 has been uncovered in Cambodia, Laos, Iraq, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea and South Africa. At the CCW Review Conference on the 22nd of April, 1996 representative Wong Jon indicated that China would cease exports of the Type 72 APL and all "scatterable" APLs without self-deactivating mechanisms. However, despite these concessions, the Chinese delegation made no statement on the export of detectable APLs without self-deactivating mechanisms. According to the Landmine Monitor Report 2003, there has been no evidence of Chinese APL exports since China's 1996 pledge.

Stockpiling
Estimates of China's inventory of APLs indicate that China has 110 million APLs, 100 million of which are Type 72. Since China may not use the latter after 2007, the stock of Type 72 APLs must either by replaced, destroyed or re-constructed to meet CCW specifications. China has not indicated its planned course of action.

Domestic Use and Cleanup
China has used APLs along its borders in clashes with Russia, India and Vietnam. Estimates indicate that over 10 million APLs line China's borders with the latter three nations. China's greatest APL problem lies in Yunnan province and the Guangxi National Autonomous Region. It was in these areas, during China's confrontations with Vietnam in the late 1970s and early 1980s, that over 800,000 APLs were laid, covering over 270 square kilometers. Known as "the region of death", the Chinese government admits that there is a threat to civilians in the two regions. Though the Chinese government has not shared landmine casualty data it may be collecting, surveys carried out by Landmine Monitor researchers in 2001 revealed that in several counties of Yunnan and Guangxi provinces most casualties occurred in the late 1970s to early 1980s. The researchers found that survivor treatment and rehabilitation services are often lacking due to excessive distances to adequate facilities.

The PLA undertook its first large-scale demining effort in 1992 and 1994, resulting in the clearing of 108 square kilometers. The second demining effort, initiated in 1997 and continuing into 1999, is intended to clear an additional 100 square kilometers and permanently seal off more than 50 square kilometers in an effort to protect civilians from danger. The UN commented that the PLA demining operations were exceptionally executed. Xinhua reported in August 1999 that Chinese officials reported that the mine threat was mostly eliminated from its 2,000 km border with Vietnam. This demining effort reportedly cost China 200 million yuan and required 2,000 soldiers, but generated a significant economic gain for the provinces involved. The revenues from seven border counties in Guangxi Province increased from 200 million yuan to 500 million yuan between 1993 and 1999. ["Further on Clearing Last Landmines on Vietnamese Border," Xinhua, 11 August 1999.] New mine clearance activities reportedly began in December 2002, after China and Vietnam pledged to complete, by 2005, surveys of mined zones along their borders.

Recently, the Beijing Xinhua reported that Chinese scientists have developed, after ten years of research, a new mine detector that can be utilized in a variety of climates and terrain and will detect even the smallest quantities of metal. The PLA has used the new mine detector to successfully clear a 2000 sq km area.

Summary of the Anti-Personnel Landmine (APL) Ban:

The international anti-personnel landmine (APL) ban prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of APLs.

Efforts toward an APL ban have been pursued in three main forums: (1) the Geneva Conference on Disarmament (CD), (2) as part of the review process of the Inhumane Weapons Convention (IWC)/Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) (1980 landmine protocol and revised version), and (3) as part of the so-called "Ottawa Process"--1997 multilateral negotiations on a total APL ban taking place in Oslo, Sweden.

The more than 90 countries that participated in the 1997 Ottawa Process accepted a final APL ban treaty text on 18 September 1997--the "Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production, and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction." The treaty was open for signature at Ottawa starting in December 1997. As of October 2003, 136 countries were States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, and 11 had signed but not yet ratified. This total constitutes some three-fourths of the world's nations.

For more in-depth information, please consult the Inventory of Nonproliferation Organizations and Regimes, which can be found on the CNS website at: http://cns.miis.edu/pubs/.

China and the APL Ban:

China opposes a total ban on APLs, arguing that landmines are a legitimate means of self-defense for many countries and that a total ban on APLs would violate the basic principle that arms control should not decrease a country's security. China's position is governed by such issues as its long land border, its status as a major mine producer and exporter, and its large stocks of APLs. In particular, the Chinese military sees landmines as key to China's national security given its large and highly contested land borders with countries such as India, Vietnam and Russia.

China reiterated its position on anti-personnel landmines in its July 1998 white paper called "China's National Defense", stating:

"China has all along attached great importance to the problem of threat to innocent people caused by the indiscriminate use of anti-personnel landmines (APLs). It is in favor of imposing proper and rational restrictions on the use and transfer of APLs in a bid to achieve the ultimate objective of comprehensive prohibition of such landmines through a phased approach. In the meantime, the Chinese government maintains that, in addressing the problem of APLs, consideration should be given to both humanitarian concern and the legitimate defense requirements of sovereign states. To safeguard the safety of their people by sovereign states through legitimate military means, including the use of APLs in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations itself is part and parcel of humanitarianism."

In March 1998, Chinese Disarmament Ambassador Li Changhe stated similar policy goals:

[Statement by Li Changhe, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, to the Conference on Disarmament, at the Plenary Meeting, 12 March 1998.]

Elaborating Li Changhe's statements, Mr. Song Rong Hua, the Second Secretary of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, submitted a statement at the 3rd NGO Conference on AP mines explaining China's limitations as a developing nation. Until China develops the technology to produce a feasible alternative, China is dependent upon landmines for the protection of its national security, especially along the borders.

China has stated that it will support practical restrictions on APLs and humanitarian efforts to help civilian victims of landmines.

China has also supported a "phased" ban, but it cannot agree to an immediate and total ban of APLs, saying:

"China is not opposed to the objective of prohibition of APLs realized in a phased approach, but cannot agree to an immediate total ban. In order to meet its legitimate territorial defense requirements, China cannot but reserve its legitimate right to use APLs on its own territories before alternative means are found and defensive capabilities established. China can only accept an international APL agreement that fully accommodates its above-mentioned security concerns. China has always pursued an independent foreign policy of peace and never engaged in overseas aggression. We have no intention of using landmines in other countries. Should China use APLs in legitimate circumstances, it would be for the purpose of defense against foreign military intervention or aggression, safeguarding its national unification and territorial integrity and ensuring a peaceful life for its own people."

[Statement by Sha Zukang, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, to the Conference on Disarmament, on an APL ban, 26 June 1997.]

China prefers that the APL issue be addressed in the context of the the IWC/CCW and its protocols, stating that its "prefers achieving the ultimate total prohibition of APLs in a phased approach within the CCW framework." [Statement by Sha Zukang, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, to the Conference on Disarmament, on an APL ban, 26 June 1997.] China participated in the negotiation of the new landmine protocol to the IWC/CCW and signed it. China has instituted a moratorium on exports of APLs that do not comply with the requirements of the protocol.

China is not against the APL issue being addressed in the Conference on Disarmament (CD), but prefers that the CD "concentrate on arms control and disarmament issues that have a significant impact on international security and stability." China refused to endorse or take part in the "Ottawa Process," stating that the process "focuses solely on humanitarian concerns while neglecting or not adequately taking into account many countries' legitimate military requirements for the use of APLs in defending their territories." China has not signed the Convention that resulted from the Ottawa Process. China did, however, send a delegation to the December 1997 signing conference of the Ottawa Treaty--the delegation participated in round-table discussions on mine removal and the provision of aid to mine victims.

In October 1997, China elaborated its position on APLs:

"The Chinese Delegation holds that APL is a weapon of pure defensive nature, and that the humanitarian concern caused by it is exclusively due to two reasons: the shortcomings of old-type APLs and their indiscriminate use; and inadequate post-conflict demining efforts. The elimination of civilian casualties should be our sole objective. The fundamental way to achieve that objective should be to clear the old-type APLs left over from the past, while overcoming their shortcomings to ban the further use of such types of APLs."

"China is in favor of imposing strict and feasible restrictions on APLs and their use, with a view to achieving the objective of an ultimate ban in a step-by-step manner. In order to meet its legitimate defense requirements, China can not but reserve its legitimate right to use APLs on its own territories before alternative means are found and defensive capabilities established. China can only accept an international APLs agreement that fully accommodates its above-mentioned security concerns. China has always pursued an independent foreign policy of peace. It has never engaged in overseas aggression, nor does it have any intention to use landmines in other countries. Should China use APLs under legitimate circumstances, it would be entirely for the purpose of defending against foreign military intervention and aggression, safeguarding its national unification and territorial integrity and ensuring a peaceful life for its own people."

"We noticed that some countries have concluded a convention on total ban of APLs in Oslo recently. China respects their sovereign choice and understands their humanitarian concern. Meanwhile, China maintains that in addressing the APLs issue, both aspects of humanitarian concerns and legitimate security requirements of the countries concerned have to be taken into account. In the final analysis, security itself is an important aspect of humanitarian concerns." [Statement by Sha Zukang, Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, at the First Committee of the 52nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, 14 October 1997.]

China's restated its position on APLs in the July 1998 defense "white paper" called China's National Defense. The document devoted an entire sub-section to articulating Beijing's current position on APLs. In particular the "white paper" provided new details about China's own demining efforts and its assistance to other countries to de-mine their territories. The document stated:

The Chinese government has always done its utmost to assist APL-affected countries. It furnished Cambodia and some other mine-affected countries with mine-detection/clearance equipment, and also helped train demining personnel for these countries, thus contributing to their smooth post-war rehabilitation. In November 1997, the Chinese President Jiang Zemin declared that China would continue to actively support international demining efforts and cooperation, including donation and provision of assistance in the fields of demining training, technology and equipment through the relevant international demining funds. The Chinese government also sent observers to participate in the Signing Ceremony of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction and the international demining roundtable (Mine Action Forum) held from 2 to 4 December 1997 in Ottawa."

Furthermore, as part of China's continual support for international mine clearing operations, China's Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs Li Changhe outlined the extent of Chinese assistance for demining efforts in a 1999 speech before the UN's Conference on Disarmament. He noted:

[Statement by Li Changhe, Chinese Ambassador for Disarmament Affairs, to the Plenary Meeting of the Conference on Disarmament, 11 February 1999.]

[TEXT OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PROHIBITION OF THE USE, STOCKPILING, PRODUCTION, AND TRANSFER OF ANTI-PERSONNEL MINES AND ON THEIR DESTRUCTION]

Full Chinese Statements on an APL ban:

For more on China and conventional weapons issues, see:

[CHINA AND THE INHUMANE WEAPONS CONVENTION (IWC)]

[CHINA AND CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS NONPROLIFERATION]

[CHRONOLOGY OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS-RELATED STATEMENTS AND DEVELOPMENTS]

Mines Action Canada

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:49:00 +0000

Mines Action Canada (MAC) is a coalition of Canadian non-governmental organizations that came together in 1994. It is affiliated with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The coalition's primary concern is the human and socio-economic impact of landmines. As such, the MAC coalition is committed to a complete ban on the use, production, stockpiling and trade of anti-personnel mines and other weapons which function like anti-personnel mines, including cluster bombs and anti-vehicle/anti-tank mines with anti-personnel effect. The coalition is also committed to ensuring the needs and aspirations of people physically, socially and economically affected by mines are met.

As a member of the ICBL, the MAC coalition supports the general orientation of guidelines and policies adopted by the ICBL and its various Working Groups. MAC coalition activities in support of its objectives include research, public education, policy development, and dialogue with government, private citizens and other parties both nationally and internationally.

As part of its work, nationally and internationally, MAC initiated this site. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to duplicate other sites containing information about landmines, but it does strive to be universal in scope and application. The centerpiece of the site is a map of the world, broken down into the main geographic regions. Those accessing the site will be able to click on any region of the world to obtain country specific information.

Landmines

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:47:00 +0000

An anti-personnel mine is “a mine designed to be exploded by the presence, proximity or contact of a person and that will incapacitate, injure or kill one or more persons.” These hidden, indiscriminate weapons cannot tell the difference between the tread of a soldier or a child. They continue to kill and maim long after wars have ended.

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), more than 350 different kinds of anti-personnel mines have been produced by more than 50 countries. AP mines act to injure or kill victims by both the explosive blast and the fragmentary metal debris projected upon detonation.

Generally speaking there are two types of AP mines: blast mines and fragmentation mines. Placed in or on the ground or scattered from the air, blast AP mines are often less than 10 centimetres in diameter and are activated by the weight of a foot. They are the most common type of AP mines. One of the most insidious mines is the "butterfly" mine a blast mine scattered from planes that looks like a toy but which explodes when played with.

Fragmentation mines are generally activated by a trip wire and project shards of metal at incredible speeds toward the victim.

In addition, "bounding mines" are fragmentation mines that jump into the air before exploding, spraying fragments across a large area.

Anti-personnel mines came into widespread use during the Second World War. They were intended to stop the theft of anti-tank mines. Anti-tank mines were intended to destroy battle tanks, but they could be easily seen by foot soldiers, who stole them and implanted them in their own minefields. Anti-tank mines were originally unexploded artillery shells with their fuses exposed. The first anti-personnel mines had the capacity to explode with the weight of a foot. During the Cold War, a number of technological advances were made and the use of these weapons spread.

Used by military forces throughout the world, the low cost and easy deployment of landmines have made them a weapon of choice in the world's poorest countries. In countries such as Angola, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Bosnia, the threat of landmines is a terror ordinary people live with every day.

In some situations, various types of AP mines are used together to create an elaborate labyrinth in a mine field, designed to trick even the most skilled demining crews. This may include piling mines on top of each other underground and placing different mines close to each other so that by diffusing one, other nearby mines are detonated.

Anti-personnel mines are not indispensable military tools. According to a 1996 Red Cross study, military experts examining 26 wars where anti-personnel mines were used concluded that mines did not lead to a strategic advantage in war. The reality is that mines do more to create fear and cause suffering in civilian populations than they do to deter the movement of soldiers. According to the United Nations, landmines are at least 10 times more likely to kill or injure a civilian after a conflict than a combatant during hostilities. Once mines have been laid, they are completely indiscriminate in their action. Unless cleared, they continue to have the potential to kill and maim long after the actual fighting has ceased.

In addition, AP mines are often used by warring parties to purposefully induce terror in villages and communities. This is a far stretch from the stated defense uses of AP mines and it affects civilians already caught in the crossfire of surrounding battles.

The major producers of anti-personnel landmines in the last 25 years have included the United States, Italy, the former Soviet Union, Sweden, Vietnam, Germany, Austria, the former Yugoslavia, France, China and the United Kingdom. The most commonly found mines around the world were from China, Italy and the former Soviet Union.

According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 14 countries had not banned the production of anti-personnel landmines. These were Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, India, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, United States and Vietnam. Some of these countries have not actually produced AP mines in recent years, but refuse to ban production officially.

The ICBL also points out that with the exception of the Former Republic of Yugoslavia, the most mine affected countries in the world received all their mines from sources outside of their borders. While it is difficult to track mine shipments, there are no major AP mine exporters anymore, and Iraq remains the only country that has not made an official statement that they no longer export AP mines.

Canada ceased production of anti-personnel mines in 1992. It had only produced one type of anti-personnel mine, commonly known as the "Elsie" mine a plastic-bodied, cone shaped mine that cost approximately $40 to purchase. The Elsie anti-personnel mine was produced by SNC-Industrial Technologies Inc, a subsidiary of the SNC-Lavalin group. Prior to 1986, the Elsie anti-personnel mine was produced by the crown-owned Canadian Arsenals Ltd, which was then sold to the SNC-Lavalin group. The last export of anti-personnel mines from Canada was completed in 1987 with a shipment to Kuwait.

The widespread use of anti-personnel mines has created a humanitarian crisis of global proportions. Attempts have been made to estimate the number of AP mines in the ground around the world through reporting procedures by countries under the Ottawa Convention. However, it is now apparent that the number of mines in the ground is not an accurate measurement of the landmine problem.

Instead, the most significant measurement of landmine consequences is the amount of high-priority land that contains mines. This is land that is arable, socially and / or economically valuable or essential for transportation to the local residents. The risk of death or injury inhibits use of the land. Whether a field has 2 mines or 10,000 mines means it cannot be used by a community. Since any attempt to determine the number of mines laid around the world will only be an estimate, mine action groups now focus attention on the humanitarian crisis posed by landmines.

The real seriousness of the landmine problem is reflected in the numbers people affected by landmines, especially new victims estimated to be in the tens of thousands each year. Landmines cause huge barriers to social and economic development in some of the world’s poorest countries.

It is estimated that since 1975, there have been more than one million landmine casualties most of them civilians, many of them children. Where they do not kill immediately, landmines severely maim their victims, causing trauma, lifelong pain and often social stigma. World wide there are some 250,000 landmine amputees. Survivors face terrible physical, psychological and socio-economic difficulties.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, there are three types of injury anti-personnel mine injury amongst survivors. The most severe injury results from stepping on a buried anti-personnel mine. This usually results in the amputation of the foot or leg with severe injury of the other leg, genitalia and arms.

The second type of injury occurs when a victim triggers a fragmentation mine. If death is not instant, there are wounds similar to those from any other fragmentation device and can affect any part of the body.

The last type of anti-personnel landmine injury is caused by accidental detonation while handling a mine generally seen among mine-clearers, those planting mines or curious children who pick up or play with mines. This involves severe wounds to the hands and face.

Surgeons with the International Committee of the Red Cross estimate that up to half of all AP mine victims die on site within minutes of a blast and that only 28 per cent of AP mine casualties arrive at a hospital within six hours of the explosion.

Due to their small size and the relative closeness of their vital organs to the mine blast, children are more prone to death and serious injury from landmines than adults. They are more likely than adults to die immediately or shortly after being injured, because they are not able to survive the blood loss during the time it takes to get them to a hospital for emergency treatment.

The suffering of landmine victims is compounded by the lack of medical and transportation infrastructure in most countries that have an AP mine problem. For example, even if the victims survive the blast and make the long, arduous journey to a medical centre, the physical injuries are usually far greater, the emotional trauma much deeper, and the economic prospects significantly bleaker than for an adult.

AP mine injuries for children are most difficult for surgeons to treat because of the need for constant blood transfusions, antibiotics, anaesthetics, X-ray films and follow up medical attention. Children may require ongoing amputations for prosthesis fittings on growing limbs. A 10-year-old amputee may require at least 25 prostheses during his/her lifetime. Artificial limbs cost about $125 each beyond the means of many victims, where average wages are only $10 to $15 a month.

For successful rehabilitation to occur, there must be extensive rehabilitation programming including job, and independent living skills training, at a minimum. In most underdeveloped countries, this is simply not available to children. For example, UNICEF estimates that only 19-20 per cent of disabled children in El Salvador receive rehabilitation therapy. The rest are forced to fend for themselves and often have to steal or beg to survive.

Tropical soils impede landmine detection

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Use of a metal detector is the most common technique when searching for landmines, which litter the soil in approximately 90 countries around the world. Many of these countries are located in the tropics where intensively weathered soils are prevalent. These tropical soils have certain properties that can limit the performance of metal detectors due to soil magnetic susceptibility. This problem is enhanced by the spread of minimum-metal mines. Magnetic properties of soils are

caused by ferrimagnetic minerals, such as magnetite and maghemite. The negative effects can result in a reduction of detector sensitivity or cause false alarms. To overcome these problems, the metal detectors have been continuously re-hauled over the years but only now has the geoscientific research of the soil been taken into account. The knowledge of soil magnetic properties may allow detectors to be adapted to meet the local conditions.

Geoscientists at the Leibniz Institute for Applied Geosciences and the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hannover, Germany conducted a study on the magnetic susceptibility of tropical soils using the soil archive of the Federal Agency. The magnetic susceptibility of more than 500 soil samples from the entire tropical belt was analyzed with the goal of classifying their impact on landmine detection. The research was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and was published in the January-February 2008 issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

The study revealed that the problem of soil influence can occur quite frequently. More than one-third of the measured soil samples may generate severe or very severe limitations when using metal detectors. Soils were grouped according to their parent rocks. On average susceptibility of soils with basaltic origin were higher than those of other origin. However, the variability within the different g

Land Mine-Detecting Flowers

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:18:00 +0000

Bringing a beautiful solution to the tragedy of undetected landmines, Aresa Biodetection has genetically engineered the Thales cress weed to turn red when growing near landmines. The weed is sensitive to nitrogen dioxide, a byproduct of mines, 110 million of which are estimated to remain undetected across 45 different countries. While many debate the ethics of bioengineering, this is a poetic solution that we should all agree is worth the science.

+ Aresa Biodetection

Via Christian Science Monitor:
New weed may flag land mines
By John K. Borchardt | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

A weed that turns red when it grows near land mines could help clear dangerous fields in war-torn countries such as Bosnia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The genetically modified Thales cress is sensitive to nitrogen dioxide, a byproduct of mines, and changes from green to red when the gas is present in soil.

Currently, mines can be detected only by human or canine probing. Scientists hope the plant will show where the land mines are so they can be removed safely, greatly reducing fatalities and injuries among those who hunt for mines and the unsuspecting public.

Danish biotechnology company Aresa Biodetection, which is creating the genetically altered plant, hopes to start selling it within a few years, after researchers complete field tests on its effectiveness.

Lab results so far look promising, says Simon Oestergaard, chief executive of Aresa. He envisions that the plant will be used mostly to clear fields suitable for farming. “The main target of this product is soil that will be used for different agricultural activities,” he says.

Some 110 million land mines are hidden in 45 countries. Many of them have been buried for years. It will cost $33 billion to remove them and take 1,100 years under present demining rates, according to the United Nations. It estimates that governments spend $200 million to $300 million on the removal and detection of 10,000 mines each year.

In addition, the Red Cross estimates that 26,000 people are killed or injured each year by leftover mines. Large areas, as much as 40 percent of all land in Cambodia and 90 percent in Angola, go unused because of land mines.

Currently, explosives experts remove mines by putting a stick into the ground to locate them. They then excavate and detonate them. They also use dogs and metal detectors, but these approaches can be dangerous: For every 5,000 mines removed, one explosive expert is killed and two others are seriously injured, according to the Vietnam Veterans Foundation of America.

Researchers hope the modified Thales cress will offer an easier and safer method of detection. Its seeds can be sprayed over fields from planes or via spray guns at a cost significantly less than conventional methods.

Comparison of Landmine Detection Methods

noreply@blogger.com (BROKEN LEGS) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:15:00 +0000

Mine detection with new level of safety, accuracy and speed:

- Landmines are detected from a safe distance.
- New low level of personnel injury risk.
- The devices are light and small enough to be hand carried.
- Meets the United Nations standards for humanitarian demining.
- Has new low level of false positives, it is more accurate and detection work are completed more quickly.

Better data: Computerized map of landmines and other anti-personnel (AP) and improvised explosive devices (IED).

Research & Development: Considerable R&D resources have been invested into developing this device.

In 2000, a research report discussed the technology needs for humanitarian mine detection and proposed complicated safe detection techniques. This is elegantly answered in 2005 with the Greatcore remote landmine detector.

Greatcore GDM1 Portable remote landmine detector by Greatcore

Risk Comparison of Landmine Detection Methods

Summary

The United Nations has specified a mine clearance standard of 99.6% for humanitarian demining. Currently the only way to achieve this is with manual demining methods. Although we present the breadth of available detection methods below, only the Greatcore remote detector, conventional manual landmine detector and remote unmanned vehicles can possibly meet or exceed this standard. The advantages of the Greatcore GDM1 method are analyzed below.

Methods	Risk Profile
Greatcore GDM1 remote landmine detector	- Detection from up to 30 feet - no injury risk during detection. - Can detect landmines with low metal content, resulting in higher success.
Metal manual landmine detector	- Close proximity to landmines. - False positives of 1000 for every 1 landmine. - Low success with landmines of low metal content.
Use of animals for mine detection	- Time and investment taken to train these animals. - Indeterminate false positives. - Lacking compliance with U.N. standards for humanitarian demining.
Use of plants for landmine detection	- Still experimental with indeterminate false positives. - Issues of ecological control of a new genetically engineered specie. - Question of meeting U.N. standards for humanitarian demining.
Bacteria for landmine detection	- Certain explosive chemicals are yet undetectible. - Question of meeting U.N. standards for humanitarian demining.
Nuclear detection	- Still theoretical.
Unmanned landmine detection vehicles	- Relatively high cost operations. - Logistics of transporting and servicing these vehicles.

Descriptions of other landmine detection methods

Manual detection with metal landmine detector

The typical first step in manual demining is to scan the area with metal detectors, which are sensitive enough to pick up most mines but which also yield about one thousand false positives for every mine, and cannot detect landmines with very low metal content. Areas where metal is detected are carefully probed at close proximity to determine if a mine is present, and must continue until the object that set off the metal detector is found. Technologies that improve safety include large, pillow-like pads strapped to the bottoms of shoes that distribute weight and dull the impact of footsteps, as very slight disturbances of the ground can tip off old, unstable, or intentionally sensitive mine triggers. Safety requires that procedures are followed rigorously. Only one out of 1,000 detections by this method turns out to be landmines. The rest are either metal fragments or ground minerals.

Other manual landmine detection methods

These typical methods are not amenable to zero risk tolerance for human injuries.

Use of animals for mine detection

- Dogs

Several countries have trained dogs to smell explosive chemicals like TNT in landmines.

- Rodents

Specifically, Gambian giant poached rats have been trained to smell landmines, and yet are small and light enough not to set them off. Further experiments hace also guided certain rats into virtually unreachable areas by using electrode to guide them.

- Marine mammals

Sea lions and dolphins are known to have been trained by The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program to detect seamines.

Use of Plants for landmine detection

Landmines release nitrous oxide that turn these plants turn red. The best studied is the specie mustard Arabidopsis thaliana which has been genetically manipulated for this purpose. However, nitrous oxide can also be released by denitrifying bacteria, resulting in the risk of false positives. Researchers are addressing this problem by making the plant less sensitive. In theory , these plants could either be sown from aircraft or by people walking through demined corridors in minefields. No studies have yet been conducted with actual landmines, though successful studies have been done in greenhouse environment.

Use of Bacteria for landmine detection

Scientists have genetically engineered a strain of bacteria to fluoresce under ultraviolet light in the presence of TNT. In tests, the bacteria successfully detected mines when sprayed over simulated minefields. successfully located mines. This method has been found to produce relatively quick results, and could be used over different terrain. Even small amounts of TNT are detected but there are some false positives near plants and water drainage. However, Unfortunately, no strain of bacteria is capable of detecting RDX, another common explosive. They also may not be visible under desert conditions. Newly-laid and well-engineered mines may escape detection under this method due to insufficient corrosion.

Nuclear detection for landmine detection

The concept of detecting explosives through elemental analysis by neutrons to detect nitrogen has been proposed. Majority of explosives are nitrogen rich. The focus has mainly been directed at airport security and hostile trucks although its use for landmine detection has been suggested.

Landmine sensing vehicles for detection

Landmine detection vehicle

Low cost robot

Various types of unmanned vehicles have been considered for landmine detection and clearance on the premise that they keep human beings out of harm's way. The larger landmine sensing vehicles are more appropriate for peace-keeping and military use to clear landmine-free paths. Lower cost robotic vehicles are being developed with wider humanitarian deployment in mind. They are programmed to move in all directions, scanning for the existence of landmines. If any landmine is found, the ULSV sends the information using a FM transmitter interfaced to it. The vehicle is operated with battery power. At the base station a mini-computer receives information about the location and distance of the mine.

FRAGMENTED LEGS

Stop landmines

Landmines in Egypt

16مليون لغم أرضى في مصر

Israel Using Cluster Munitions in Gaza

الألغام فى صحراء الإسماعيلية تهدد الأرواح والتنمية

المحافظ بدأ بمساحة 16 فدانا شرق القناة وجارى مسح باقى المناطق

الألغام فى صحراء الإسماعيلية تهدد الأرواح والتنمية

Active landmines thread on desert

This is an extract from Sahara Overland II Link below September 2007 Active landmines thread on desert-info.ch with maps (mostly in German)

EGYPT GEOLOGY

Stop !! its a landmine

When wars end,

the most wanted by egyption

AFGHANISTAN: Afghan teenage cluster bomb victim battling for ban

VOICE FOR VICTIMS

Landmines and Unexploded Ordnance: A Resource Book

Minefield Areas in Egypt

Photographs of Minefield Areas in Egypt

Western Desert Problems

Explosive Remnants of War in North Africa

Hidden Menace of “Iron Soldiers”

The longest crime in history

Signatories to the Ottawa Convention and Their Alternatives to Landmines

AUSTRALIA

CANADA

FRANCE

JAPAN

Blowing up the Myths of America's Landmine Policy

China and Anti-Personnel Landmines (APLs)

Mines Action Canada

Landmines

Tropical soils impede landmine detection

Land Mine-Detecting Flowers

Comparison of Landmine Detection Methods

Risk Comparison of Landmine Detection Methods

Descriptions of other landmine detection methods

Manual detection with metal landmine detector

Other manual landmine detection methods

Use of animals for mine detection

This is an extract from Sahara Overland II

Link below September 2007
Active landmines thread on desert-info.ch with maps (mostly in German)