Unit to help Azerbaijan clear mines

Unit to help Azerbaijan clear mines

Navy Times, VA
Aug 17 2005

Times staff

About 70 members from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit Eight and
other supporting units will help train de-mining teams in Azerbaijan
over the next 15 months, according to a Sixth Fleet press release.
The Humanitarian Mine Action training is focused on improving the
capabilities of multiple Azerbaijan National Agency Mine Action
teams, with a six-phase training process devoted to the detection,
identification and disposal of munitions, the release stated.

Along with training, the effort will further military-to-military
cooperation between the two countries.

The U.S. has been assisting Azerbaijan clear ordnance since the early
1990s, most recently clearing mines hampering the construction of a
national oil pipeline, which began production earlier this year.

The current training, which started Aug. 8, will focus on returning
arable land to the people of Azerbaijan, with the goal of helping
them increase their standard of living, the release said.

Many of the mines are leftover from the conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, which broke
out in 1988, killing more than 30,000 people before a 1994 cease-fire.