A weekā??s clearance in Iraq
INTRODUCTION
Following the demise of the Government of Iraq, MAG has continued to conduct emergency tasks in newly liberated areas of northern Iraq, while working to establish a new integrated programme in the lower south of the country. Apart from the coalition forcesā?? Emergency Ordnance Disposal (EOD) units, MAG continues to be the sole mine action agency operational in the newly liberated areas of the north of Iraq. In the north MAG has now established two new operations bases in Kirkuk and Mosul and is currently operating in seven governorates: Sulaymaniyah, Erbil, Dahuk, At Tamim, Ninewa, Salah ad Din and Diyala. In the south MAG is based in Basra.
In addition to the work of Mine Action Teams (MATs), EOD and Mine Risk Education (MRE) in the north, MAG is conducting an UNMAS-funded Emergency Mine/Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) assessment in the south.
Landmines, sub-munition strikes and unexploded ordnance combine to pose severe problems throughout Iraq. Stockpiles and munitions caches continue to present the most serious threat to local populations at this time, with adult males and boys the groups most at risk. Currently in northern Iraq, more than 75 per cent of children's injuries are attributed to playing or tampering with UXO.
MAG trainee deminers in Kirkuk receive instruction on assembly and use of a mine detector. The students wearing MAG T-shirts had previously been employed as locally recruited labourers to assist with collection and loading of UXO. © MAG 2003
During the week 13 to 20 June 2003 MAG achieved the following results from mine action activities in the seven northern governorates:
| Governorates | Area Demined (m²) | Battle Area Clearance (m²) | Mines Destroyed | |
| Sulaymaniyah, Atā?? Tamim, Salah ad Din, Diyala | 17,050 | 29,359 | 493 | 18,293 |
| Dahuk, Ninawa, Erbil | 10,061 | 248,500 | 160 | 54,652 |
| MAG Iraq (north) Total | 27,111 | 277,859 | 653 | 72,945 |
OVERVIEW
The new deminer training course began as planned in Kirkuk this week. A total of 45 students from a mixture of ethnic backgrounds are attending the four-week long course. Some of the students were recruited from labourers employed locally in Kirkuk to help MAG move the large amounts of UXO it is encountering.
On Monday 16 June MAG conducted an initial reconnaissance of the road between Mosul and Tikrit, as well as parts of Tikrit itself. A large military base to the north of Tikrit was seen to have high levels of UXO contamination. A Surface to Air Missile site was also inspected with and some of the munitions showed signs of having been tampered with by people trying to salvage scrap metal, leaving some of the missiles in a dangerous condition. A team will deploy from Mosul next week to begin Battle Area Clearance activities around Tikrit and it is hoped to place a team permanently in the city, supported by locally recruited labourers in the coming weeks dependant upon security.
Teams operating in Ghazlani military camp in the southwest of Mosul city had to suspend UXO clearance activities on Wednesday morning following exchanges of gunfire between former Iraqi soldiers and Coalition Forces close by. They redeployed to other areas of the city and returned to Ghazlani the following day. Coalition Force representatives in the city have described the security situation as ā??semi-permissiveā?. MAG will maintain its present heightened security procedures and continue operations in and around the city.
In the south MAG has continued with the implementation of the Mine Risk Education (MRE) project in partnership with UNICEF, and the training of prospective Iraqi MRE Officers is due to finish this week.
MAG ACTIVITIES IN NORTH IRAQ
The following activities were undertaken in week ending 20 June 2003:
KIRKUK SECTOR
(Covering the governorates of SULAYMANIYAH, ATā?? TAMIM, SALAH AD DIN, and DIYALA.)
Survey:
Four Advance Teams are conducting survey and emergency MRE in the following areas:
Tamim Governorate - Laylan sub-district
Sulaymaniyah, Governorate - Qadir Qaram sub-district
Diyala Governorate - Jalawla and Khanaquin sub-districts
During the week in the ten villages visited ten new minefields were surveyed and nine UXO clearance tasks identified.
UXO Clearance:
Seven teams continue EOD and UXO clearance activities in Kirkuk city (Tamim Governorate) this, with another team in Kifri and one in Khanaquin (Diyala Governorate).
A total of 23 tasks were completed during the week.
Two Battle Area Clearance tasks were completed in and around a camp formerly used by an Islamic militant group in the Jalawla sub-district of Diyala. 693 items of UXO and 3 landmines were found and destroyed.
Mine Clearance:
Demining was ongoing in six minefields in Sulaymaniyah Governorate during the week.
Partial clearance of a large minefield in Kifri was completed during the week after fourteen days demining activity. The minefield is where one BBC cameraman died and another crew member was seriously injured during the war. A total of 1,032m² was cleared and 302 mines destroyed. MAG conducted clearance of the unfenced part of the minefield which lies extremely close to the edge of Kifri town. As the mines were laid in defined rows, the relatively small area cleared enabled over 500,000m² of land to be used again.
Training:
45 students began deminer training at MAGā??s new training school in Kirkuk on Sunday 15 June. The training school is situated in an old military base close to the city.
Mine Risk Education:
MRE teams have focused on training with IDPs who are mainly situated on six sites around Kirkuk. Three sites were covered during the week and 3,070 IDPs received MRE training. 1,910 printed MRE resources of various types were distributed.
Accidents:
Two UXO related accidents were reported in Kirkuk this week.
MOSUL
(Covering the governorates of DAHUK, ERBIL and NINAWA)
Survey:
Three MAG Advance Teams conducted survey of mine, UXO and cluster bomb contaminated areas in the sub-districts of Mosul city during the week. A total of 90 emergency tasks were identified.
UXO Clearance:
Following the arrival in Mosul of a MAG EOD Senior Technical Advisor, joint work with the Civil Defence EOD team has begun. It is planned that over the next three weeks the MAG Senior Technical Advisor will conduct an on-the-job training needs analysis of the Iraqi teams, whilst they are conducting live clearance operations. On Monday 16 June the team deployed to Quayarah West airport where several 2000lb bombs had failed to explode on impact and are deeply buried under the main runway and taxi-ways. It is hoped to open the airport to civilian and humanitarian flights once the bombs have been dealt with. The Civil Defence team showed high levels of competence in tuning and operating their bomb locator and planning and conducting a systematic search of the suspect area. Due to interference from the reinforcing bars laid in the airport runway, only one bomb could be pin-pointed. The team will return to the airport next week and use explosive digging methods to remove the reinforcing bars to allow location and disposal of the bombs.
Eight MAG teams continued EOD activities this week in the following locations:
One team continues to be deployed at the Larjan Village demolition site, managing bulk demolition of items cleared by the other teams. During the week they destroyed 5,732 items of UXO and 65 mines.
Two teams are working at the former Republican Guard base at Bartella, during the week they conducted Battle Area Clearance of 41,900m² locating 22,780 items of ordnance.
One team continued to clear Ghazlani military camp in the south west of Mosul city. Battle Area Clearance of 137,000m² took place and 11,513 items were moved to Bartella for future demolition. Work had to be suspended on this site for half a day during the week due to exchanges of gunfire nearby.
Three teams conducted mobile operations in districts of Mosul city, villages along the ā??green lineā? south of Erbil, and villages surrounding Mosul. A total area of 20,359m² received Battle Area Clearance and 69,600 items of ordnance were removed.
Mine Clearance:
Demining continues in five minefields along the ā??green lineā? between Erbil and Mosul. These mined areas were laid earlier this year around defensive positions close to the villages of Gwer, Qushtapa and Mergasor. A total area of 10,061m² was demined and 160 mines destroyed.
Chardagh ā??Bā? minefield was completed on 17 June and a handover ceremony was held on 19 June. Representatives of the local authorities, villagers, landowners and Civil Military Operations Centre (CMOC) attended. The village is in the Qushtapa district to the south of Erbil. The contaminated area took 15 days to demine, with a total of 1,686m² of land cleared, although through area reduction activities a total of 9,800m² of safe land was returned to the community. 16 mines were destroyed in the process (14xPMN, 2xV69, 4xVS2.2).
Kandi Biri Shini minefield was also completed on 17 June and a handover ceremony will be held next week. The minefield is next to the Sebiran village in the Qushtapa district to the south of Erbil. The contaminated area took 12 days to demine, with a total of 11,292m² of land cleared, although through area reduction activities a total of 39,920m² of safe land was returned to the community. Twenty-five mines were destroyed in the process (12xPMN, 5xV69, 8xVS 2.2).
Mine Risk Education:
Dahuk: During the week the teams visited 3 primary schools in highly contaminated areas and conducted MRE to 19 male teaches, 11 female teachers and 709 students. They also visited 7 villages and 1 collective town, where they conducted data gathering and delivered direct MRE to 298 men, 113 women and 320 children). Additionally the MRE teams conducted distribution of leaflets and childrenā??s magazines and stuck posters on walls in highly populated areas.
Erbil: The teams visited 4 villages to conduct data gathering and deliver MRE to 96 men, 148 women and 1,230 children). 36 UXO clearance tasks were identified. The teams also carried out visits to primary schools and communities in Prdeh town, 55 km south of Erbil. They conducted data gathering and delivered MRE to 353 men, 154 women and 439 children). 40 UXO clearance tasks were identified.
Accidents:
Seven mine and UXO accidents were reported to MAG teams by local hospitals during the week, five in Erbil (Governorate) and two in Mosul.
MAG ACTIVITIES IN SOUTHERN IRAQ
MAG has now established an operations and accommodation base in Basra. MAG has continued the initial stages of implementation of the MRE project in the south of Iraq, and has also conducted MRE training for other NGO staff and local municipal leaders.
The following activities were undertaken in week ending 20 June 2003:
MINE RISK EDUCATION
National staff training
The training programme for Iraqi MRE officers commenced on Saturday 14 June. The course is being held at the University Medical School in Basra, and will continue until Wednesday 25 June. MAG plans for teams to become operational as soon as possible after the end of training. MAG will train 12 people, from which it is currently planned to recruit 6 MRE Officers. In addition, 4 staff from Save the Children (SCF) are also attending the training together with 2 members of the local Civil Defence Unit.
The six people to be employed as MRE Officers by MAG will be selected by the end of the training, and three MRE teams consisting of two Iraqis managed by experienced Arabic-speaking team leaders will become operational as quickly as possible after the end of training. These teams will all consist of both males and females.
Civil Society Liaison
MAG has been involved in ongoing liaison with education networks, religious leaders, the Red Crescent, Civil Defence structures, and municipality leaders in and around Basra. This will develop key networks through which MRE messages for the local population, with a particular focus on children, will be delivered once the team are fully operational within the next 2 weeks.
Materials development
There has been ongoing work in developing second-generation MRE materials for distribution through a range of networks throughout Iraq. Local artists have produced a range of posters which have been discussed with other organisations at the weekly MRE coordination meeting. These will now be finalised for printing and distribution as quickly as possible. It is currently planned to produce one poster aimed at children, and one for adults.
COORDINATION
North:
MAG continues to attend regular meetings with CMOC, the UN, mine action and other NGOs in Erbil, Kirkuk and Mosul. Cooperation with Coalition forces has been effective and MAG continues to be held in high esteem by local representatives and the local population.
South:
MAG has been attending regular coordination meetings with UN MACT Basra, CMOC, mine action and other NGOs. All activities are being conducted in coordination with, and the support of, the UN MACT and all other relevant agencies.
Initial discussion has been undertaken between the UN MACT, Basra CMOC and other relevant agencies regarding the formation of an Iraqi NGO to become involved in MRE and Demarcation of Dangerous Areas. MAG has offered to provide assistance with this initiative.
This week, MAG again chaired the weekly MRE coordination meeting on Sunday 22 June. MAG will be chairing the MRE meeting until the UNICEF MRE coordinator returns from Baghdad in the next few weeks.
MAG attended an NGO MRE meeting hosted by Save the Children on Wednesday 18 June, where it was agreed that a weekly meeting will take place to allow detailed coordination of MRE in the southern region between implementing agencies. This meeting was also attended by representatives of Iraqi NGO CIVIC, who have conducted a survey of victims of war throughout the south of the country.
In addition, MAG has been regularly attending the daily Humanitarian Open Forum hosted by the UN in Basra. This Forum has been suspended from Thursday 19 June, and is currently under review.
DONORS
MAG thanks the following donors for supporting the vital work that is being conducted on their behalf:
- SIDA (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency)
- US State Department
- DFID (UK Department for International Development)
- UNICEF
- UNMAS (through the Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action)
- ECHO (European Community Humanitarian Office)
- Stichting Vluchteling
- Trocaire
- Cordaid
- Concern.
*Please note, this figure does not include ordnance of a calibre less than 12.7mm which MAG considers to be small arms ammunition (ā??rifle bulletsā?). Very large amounts of small arms ammunition have been found and destroyed by MAG since March this year, but MAG considers reporting these items as UXO cleared would be misleading.
