Clearing the Killing Fields
by Onnik Krikorian

GYULABLY, Azerbaijan - A few kilometers from the border of the officially unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, a shepherd sits with his grazing cattle in the lush pastures of Armenian-controlled Azerbaijan. The scene could grace the front of any postcard from the scenic Caucasus. The twisted carcasses of rusting vehicles along the roadside tell a different story, though. The shepherd is sitting in a minefield.

A blast resonates in the distance as a newly discovered, booby-trapped TM-57 anti-tank mine is detonated, but it doesn't seem to rattle the shepherd or his herd. Along the road, a mine-clearance team from the HALO Trust has already uncovered 17 anti-personnel and three anti-tank mines. Armen Harutyunyan, assistant operations manager for the British charity, says that as many as 200 mines still remain in an area covering just 500 square meters.

Eight years have passed since an armistice brought peace to Nagorno-Karabakh, the largely Armenian-populated territory in Azerbaijan that demanded reunification with Armenia, sparking a war that claimed more than 25,000 lives. Since the 1994 ceasefire, however, the HALO Trust estimates that incidents with landmines and unexploded ordinance (UXO) have caused more than 900 deaths and injuries.

And while that may sound insignificant compared to the thousands who have died in other war zones where the HALO Trust operates, there is concern that casualty figures will increase over time. Continual shifts in the front line have left the land littered with minefields and UXO.

Although the HALO Trust initially started work in Karabakh in 1995, it wasn't until five years later that it started to clear the disputed territory of UXO [read article]. Delayed by the need to map out locations, the charity finally started the work of clearing mines in late 2001 after international donor organizations such as USAID provided financial support.

The number of civilian personnel jumped from 28 to 133--including three Battle Area Clearance [BAC] teams, two survey teams, and three teams of mine-clearers--and the Trust bought dozens of new vehicles, including ambulances, trucks, and a large armoured tractor that can literally roll over mines that can't be cleared manually.

But even though winter slowed down their work, the organization managed to destroy over 250 mines during the first few months of 2002, says Shane Pritchard, program manager for the HALO Trust in Karabakh. "There aren't mines everywhere but it's obvious that there are likely to be many in areas where fighting took place," he explains.

"There are also mines in a number of 'green areas' that were formerly Azeri villages in between Karabakh and the frontline which are now being resettled [by Armenians]. We can remove the threat before people hurt themselves."

No Man's Land

Beyond the threat they pose to human life, landmines and UXO damage people's livelihood. Between the towns of Askeran and Aghdam, the discovery of a minefield has frustrated plans to construct a water pipeline to the nearby village of Khrmort and the HALO Trust has been called in to clear the area. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 50 million square meters of arable land and more than 80,000 square meters of vineyards are unusable.

Much of this land used to be among the most fertile acreage in the republic--now, much of it has turned fallow. In all, 150 million square meters of land, roads, and forests need to be surveyed for mine clearance operations in Karabakh. Mels Hakobjanian, head of the Mine Awareness Working Group (MAWG), which coordinates mine and UXO activities for the Nagorno-Karabakh government, agrees that the problem is serious.

The map on his desk identifies regional centres such as Askeran, Mardakert, Martuni, and Hadrout as most at risk, but these are only the areas authorities know about. "There are over 15,000 hectares of minefields in Karabakh," Hakobjanian says from his dilapidated government office overlooking the central square in the capital, Stepanakert. "Only 500 hectares have been cleared."

"It's very difficult to figure out where the rest of the mines are," he continues. "Even around Shushi, which is supposed to be clear, a car was recently blown up by an anti-tank mine."

Mine Awareness

In November, two Soviet-made cluster bombs were discovered in Stepanakert and quickly disposed of. Hundreds of these fragmentation devices have been found in the capital since 1994 and the HALO Trust estimates that least 10,000 mines laid by both sides require urgent attention if accidents are to be prevented in the future.

Largely due to the clearance work of the HALO Trust--as well as information campaigns run by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)--casualties from incidents involving landmines and UXO have been steadily decreasing. In 1995, soon after the cease-fire agreement, there were 64 landmine casualties; in 1999, 30 people--over half of them children--were injured or killed. Last year, casualties declined further: 14 injured and four deaths--none of them children.

"Our educational program targets 228 schools and an estimated 22,000 children in Karabakh, as well as Lachin and Kelbajar," says Christopher Mehley, head of the ICRC office in Stepanakert. "In conjunction with the Ministry of Education, mine awareness is now integrated into the school curriculum and the effectiveness of this program has been clearly demonstrated."

Still, those engaged in mine clearance are clearly running a race against time. The relatively low number of casualties is as much tied to the area's small size, but with plans to increase the population of Karabagh to 300,000 by 2010 that may all change.

"A peace deal will be signed one day," adds Simon Porter, former program manager for the HALO Trust in Nagorno Karabakh, "and we are in the perfect situation to tackle the problem sooner rather than later. Otherwise, there will be significant problems when villagers attempt to farm their land, or when refugees and Internally Displaced People [IDPs] return to their homes."

First published by Transitions Online, 2002. This article was also extensively referenced in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) Landmine Monitor Report 2002 section on Nagorno Karabagh.