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Afghanistan

Answer

DfID has provided support to mine clearance in Afghanistan over a number of years and takes the lead on larger-scale humanitarian decontamination operations. The following table shows the contributions covering the last three years.

			£
	HALO Trust	Mines Advisory Group (MAG)	United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS)
2003–04	—	—	2,000,000
2004–05	879,668	583,708	—
2005–06	2,189,428	—	175,000
(16) For coordination

Information obtained from the 2005 Landmine Monitor report estimates that the area of landmine contamination has been reduced from 1,350 square kilometres to 715 square kilometres. In 2004, over 33 square kilometres of mined areas and nearly 70 square kilometres of battle areas were cleared, destroying over 5,000 antipersonnel mines, 500 antivehicle mines and 1 million other explosives. Significant decreases in new casualties from landmines, Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) and cluster munitions compared with 2003 were also reported.Teams from the UK Explosive Ordinance Disposal group will react to newly discovered minefields and UXO where there is a threat to coalition forces or their mission. In emergencies, civilian groups can request support from the UK EOD. UK forces co-ordinate with the UN, DfID and civilian contractors to ensure that the threat to local populations from minefields is minimised. This approach will continue as the UK presence increases, though the situation will be kept under review.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

49308; 442 c1888-9W;442 c1888-9W

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Bomb disposal Landmines Afghanistan

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk