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Afghanistan

De-mining agency sweeps out 17 percent of mine-fisted lands in Afghanistan

KABUL, Jan 9, 2007 (Xinhua via COMTEX) - A leading de-mining agency, the Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA), had cleared 17 percent of contaminated lands throughout the war-ravaged Afghanistan last year, a report released by the agency said Tuesday.

"The current data shows that the MAPA cleared more than 126 million square meters of contaminated land from January through November 2006. This represents more than 17 percent of all the contaminated land thought to exist in Afghanistan," the report added.

The aim of the project, the report said, is to see an Afghanistan free from the threat of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).

With having 8,000 employees across the post-Taliban nation, the MAPA had destroyed 12,877 anti-personnel mines, 476 anti-tank mines and more than 700,000 pieces of UXO in 2006.

MAPA's clearance and mine risk education efforts have resulted in a 55 percent decrease in the number of Afghans killed or injured by mines or UXO to about 60 per month during 2006 from an average of 138 Afghans just five years ago.

Clearing mines and UXO is important for Afghanistan which needs reconstruction to revive its national institutions.

The MAPA has also been sweeping out mines and UXO from a corridor stretching from Kabul to Uzbekistan that will be the site of a major power line which will bring electricity to the Kabul city and neighboring areas, the report said.

Millions of mines had been planted by the troops of former Soviet Union and Afghan factions over the past three decades of war and civil strife and their clearance according to experts would take several years to come.