Kabul, 6 August 2007 - The United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA) with the mine action community stand in solidarity with the Mine Detection and Dog Center (MDC) after the sad news that three MDC employees were shot to death in the province of Kandahar.
The three MDC employees, Mr. Abdul Hasib, Mr. Mirwais and Mr. Meva Gul, had been travelling in a vehicle on Saturday, 4 August, to a demining task when they were kidnapped along the Kandahar-Panjwai Highway. Police discovered their bullet-ridden bodies on Monday, 6 August, in Panjwai district.
MDC is an Afghan NGO that is a member of the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA), an umbrella organization dedicated to reducing the threat of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Afghanistan.
MAPA deminers have come under increasing attack in 2007. In June, 17 deminers were kidnapped in Ghazni province and later released unharmed. In April, a convoy was attacked on the way to Farah Rod, leaving seven deminers dead. In March, a deminer was injured in crossfire in Kapisa, and in February three deminers were abducted close to Gardez.
"Without deminers, innocent Afghans will continue to lose life and limb and millions of square meters of land will remain unusable," said Dr. Mohammad Haider Reza, the programme director for UNMACA. "Deminers risk their lives to save others. It is vital that Afghans stand behind these deminers, protect them and support them in their efforts to reclaim our country."
UNMACA has been coordinating MAPA activities such as minefield clearance, battlefield clearance, mine risk education and victim assistance throughout the country since 1989. The MAPA has cleared more than one billion square meters of contaminated land, destroyed more than 300,000 anti personnel mines, more than 17,000 anti-tank mines, and millions of pieces of UXO since 1989. The MAPA has helped to reduce the number of Afghans falling victim to mines and UXO by more than 50 percent over the past five years to an average of 60 per month in 2006. Afghanistan became a State Party to the Ottawa Convention in March 2003 and committed to clearing all minefields in the country by 2013.
For more information about UNMACA or the MAPA, please contact:
Ahmad Jan Nawzadi
Public Information Officer
nawzadi@unmaca.org
mobile: 0700 22 74 17