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Fatima Latifova

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Between October 14-20, a total of 49 anti-tank mines, 200 anti-personnel mines, and 763 unexploded ordnances (UXOs) were discovered and neutralized in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan, Azernews reports, citing the weekly update by the Azerbaijan Mine Action Agency (ANAMA) on humanitarian demining operations in these areas.

During the week, 470.2 hectares of land were cleared of mines.

The demining efforts are being carried out by ANAMA, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES), the State Border Service (SBS), and four private companies across various regions, including Tartar, Aghdara, Kalbajar, Aghdam, Khojaly, Khankendi, Shusha, Khojavand, Lachin, Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Gubadli, and Zangilan.

Note that despite attempts at formally requesting information about the location of those mines, Armenia repeatedly denied that it possessed the relevant information and refused to engage on the issue.

Finally, in February this year, Armenia has submitted 8 minefield maps of territories located in the liberated lands to Azerbaijan. These maps cover some of the areas along the former contact line. However, the maps covering part of the former contact line passing through Khojavand, Tartar, and Goranboy districts, as well as the areas mined by Armenian military units when they retreated in November 2020, has not been submitted yet.

Many have suspicions about these maps because previous minefield maps submitted by Armenia were inaccurate. Only 25 percent of these maps were correct. Especially submitting minefield maps of the height where civilians do not live increases this suspicion. It is also worth noting that more than 55% of recent landmine cases have occurred outside the areas covered by the information provided.

The behavior that Armenia displayed by relation to the landmine threat is indeed another setback to the peace and confidence-building measures taken during the post-conflict period in the region.

It is worth noting that because of Azerbaijan's liberated territories remain contaminated with mine, the new infrastructure and green energy projects remains a risky and problematic goal. These obstacles to a legal peace are part of the challenges facing the repopulation, development and integration of the liberated territories on the path to a full peace.

The Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action, known as ANAMA, has grown from a fledgling organization to one fully equipped to clear mines, provide risk education and assist survivors of accidents. Today ANAMA's efforts are aimed to continue increasing and expansion of mine action capacity to provide the clearance of all liberated areas of Azerbaijan.

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