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11 January 2007
U.S. Supports Southeast Asian, Balkan Mine Removal Projects
Matching grants sought for Africa, the Middle East and the Americas
Washington – As part of its ongoing support for clearing deadly mines around the world, the United States is sending new money to Southeast Asia and the Balkans to eliminate these threats at sea and on land.
Vietnam was the most recent beneficiary of U.S. financial aid, receiving $1 million worth of advanced equipment to remove land mines and unexploded ordnance that have plagued the countryside there. Vietnam has been part of the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program for six years.
During that time, the United States has provided $37 million to Vietnam to fund mine-risk education programs, assistance for mine victims, the purchase of mine removal equipment, as well as a survey of land areas with munitions left over from long past conflicts.
The equipment being channeled to the Vietnamese Army Engineer Command’s Technology Center for Bomb and Mine Disposal includes mine detectors, protective gear for mine removal personnel and medical trauma kits that would be used in treating any injuries occurring during mine clearance operations.
The State Department’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement said January 9 some of the U.S.-funded equipment also will be used by Vietnamese explosive ordnance disposal teams that are supporting an ongoing land mine impact survey in central Vietnam. The nongovernmental organization Veterans for America and the Vietnamese government are managing the multimillion dollar survey funded by the U.S. State Department.
The State Department also made a $92,000 donation in 2006 to renovate and equip a 22-meter patrol vessel for underwater humanitarian mine removal and training operations in the eastern Adriatic Sea. The money is designed to enhance the capabilities of the Regional Center for Underwater Demining, located in Bijela, Montenegro.
The donation was channeled through the International Trust Fund for Demining and Victims Assistance, located in Slovenia. The center has been receiving around $10 million annually from the United States to support broader mine removal efforts throughout the Balkans. (See related article.)
The patrol boat originally was donated by the former State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and subsequent overhaul work generated jobs for shipyard workers in Tivat, Montenegro. The vessel will be used for sea mine removal and clearing unexploded munitions found during its patrols, but it also could be used by divers to approach land areas that may have mine problems along the coasts of Albania, Croatia and Montenegro.
U.S. financial and equipment support in these regions and others is making a difference in solving problems posed by land mines left over from previous conflicts. State Department official Richard Kidd said in 2006, land mine casualties have been dropping significantly, from 26,000 in 2002 to 10,000 in 2005. “There has been a marked improvement in terms of the severity of the impacts around the world,” he said. (See related article.)
The United States also has been working diligently with the Organization of American States (OAS) for land mine removal in Central America. Central and South American nations have received more than $30 million in U.S. assistance channeled through the OAS for programs including mine-removal research and development, survivor assistance and education about the danger of picking up unexploded munitions. (See related article.)
Meanwhile, the State Department is seeking federal grant applications for projects that will reduce the humanitarian damage of land mines and find ways to halt illicit trade in small arms and light weapons, especially shoulder-launched air missiles, known as MANPADS. A range of mine-removal projects is being funded through matching grants in Afghanistan, Angola, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Colombia, Georgia, Guinea-Bissau, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Vietnam and Yemen.
Another grant project seeks to find ways to retrain individuals whose services are no longer needed for mine-removal operations following the successful conclusion of clearance operations.
Still another grant project will look for ways to generate alternate sources of income for decommissioned former combatants living in unstable regions who might otherwise be attracted to private militias seeking to stir up new conflicts on continents that have known strife for too long.
The full texts of State Department announcements on grant applications for mine removal programs and mine removal in Vietnam are available on the department’s Web site.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
