MAG Small Arms and Light Weapons teams have safely removed and destroyed 33 hazardous items from the village of Ravina near the Turkish border.
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A MAG Small Arms and Light Weapons team prepares the demolition of hazardous items found in Ravina. |
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A MAG Community Liaison officer delivers Mine Risk Education to children at Ravina School. |
The small village of Ravina in northern Iraq has had a troubled recent history.
Situated in the Amedi district of Dohuk Governorate near the Turkish border and home to around 60 families, it was attacked in 1965 by the former Iraqi military in order to drive out the Peshmerga (Kurdish forces), whose base was located on the northern mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.
In 1987, more than 370 residents were forced to leave the village when it was attacked again, by Saddam’s regime.
Four years later, following the Kurdish uprising, those displaced were able to return to, and slowly rebuild, their community. With the support of the Kurdish Regional Government, villagers were able to construct a primary school and health centre, as well as facilities to bring water and electricity to the village.
However, the area remained highly contaminated by remnants of conflict and during the late 1990s MAG Community Liaison (CL) teams delivered Mine Risk Education (MRE) to the population.
With an increased awareness of the surrounding dangers, Ravina's villagers were able to continue safely with their everyday lives, until 2007, when the village suffered renewed contamination as the Turkish military launched air-strikes against PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) forces in the area.
Following the attacks, MAG CL teams deployed to Ravina and subsequently identified six new hazardous areas. And in August and September, MAG Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) teams safely removed and destroyed 33 hazardous items including rockets, shells and mortars.
MAG has been operational in Iraq since 1992 and has had
specialist teams dedicated to addressing the country’s SALW problem since September 2007. For an earlier article on this issue, please click below:
Tackling the threat of small arms and light weapons in Iraq
Links:
MAG's work in Iraq is currently funded by: Office of Weapons
Removal and Abatement, US Department of State; Irish Aid; Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Government of the Netherlands; Sida (Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency).
30 October 08
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