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Mine
Action Office Macedonia
Agenda:
UNMAO update Three new dangerous areas have been identified by TFF with the assistance of ARM. Namely, the road along Tanusevci on the northern borderline, the road to Luka Mala and the one leading to Dumanovci. In this context, a field in Debar is suspected to contain cluster munition due to animal accidents that occurred in the past period. However, this case is by no means linked to the recent conflict in Macedonia, it is however, supposed that the munition was dropped during the Kosovo conflict. There was an accident that happened recently in Aracinovo, where one man was killed by a booby trap in his house and the other severely injured. There have been other incidents along wooded paths as well. Regarding the return of the ITF in Macedonia, they are now bringing in only three teams as opposed to the four teams agreed upon initially for a minimum period i.e. until the national teams are trained. As the weather conditions
are improving, the farmers are slowly going back to their fields and as
expected they are moving UXO on the verge of the roads. Individuals
travelling frequently are strongly encouraged to avoid the verges of the
roads. TFF’s EOD mandate does not include the clearance of fields,
however, if there is danger on the roads TFF would take responsibility for
the clearance. Mine Awareness update From mid-January until the present moment ICRC have held 74 presentations and covered 1200 people through their network of instructors targeting the resident population in conflict affected areas as well as the IDPs. ICRC also distributed 16 000 calendars with messages aimed to raise the awareness in the target groups. The ICRC team from Croatia came as as a support to the mine awareness campaign in Macedonia due to start in spring. An anonymous diplomat from the French Defence Ministry stated on Saturday that Italy is a candidate for taking over the TFF mission in March and also KFOR in autumn. The Mine Action Office in Skopje may serve as a technical support to the Italian teams.
The next Mine Action co-ordination meeting will be held on 4 March 2002, in the UNMAO premises, Skopje. For further detail please contact Mr. Sandy Powell, Mine Action Officer, tel 070 252 157; 02 467 866.
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UNMAO update