Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend S.Agayeva / Over $500,000 is required for de-mining the Azerbaijani territory which was mined during the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict, Nazim Ismayilov, the Director of the Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAM), said on 21 September.
The conflict between the two countries of South Caucasus began in 1988 due to territorial claims by Armenia against Azerbaijan. Armenia has occupied 20% of the Azerbaijani land including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and its seven surrounding Districts. Since 1992, these territories have been under the occupation of the Armenian Forces. In 1994, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement at which time the active hostilities ended. The Co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group ( Russia, France and USA) are currently holding peaceful negotiations.
More than 100mln sq m are still required to be de-mined in the non-occupied territory of Azerbaijan, whereas over 500mln sq m are to de-mined in the occupied territory of Azerbaijan, ANAMA Director said.
According to the calculations by the World Bank, who may be the possible donor in the implementation of the program on Great Repatriation to be carried out after the resolution of the conflict, over $500,000 is required to de-mine the areas.