Agence France Presse — English
March 23, 2006 Thursday 3:38 AM GMT

102 mined areas in east Armenia: UN

YEREVAN, March 23 2006

Some 102 mine fields dot Armenia’s eastern regions near the border
with Azerbaijan, endangering local inhabitants, UN officials said
after examining the area.

The landmine-littered areas, which had already killed over 160 people
and injured over 230 more, contaminate some 320 square kilometers and
have a negative impact on the lives of over 69,000 locals, the UN
de-mining project’s press release said.

“We are now seeking international donors for de-mining all over the
country. It is an expensive program, it takes seven dollars to
de-mine one square meter. If we get the required means, the program
may be complete in five years,” the project’s spokeswoman Anush
Arutyunyan said.

The landmines in south Armenia had been installed as part of defenses
during a military conflict over Azerbaijan’s mostly-Armenian enclave
of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The two sides fought a war in the early 1990s over the territory,
leaving some 30,000 people dead and forcing about a million people to
flee their homes.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress