3.8 Million Euros for mine action in Afghanistan

Islamabad (Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan), 23 February 2001 -- The United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan today signed an agreement with the European Union for 3.8 million euros (US$3.44 million) for the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan. The funds have been channelled through the United Nations Development Programme.
Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC), an NGO working under MAPA's umbrella, will receive 2.1 million euros. The organisation will use the funds to clear high priority mined and former battlefield areas in the provinces of Ghazni, Kabul, Kandahar, and Logar. The project will fund one ATC site office, nine manual, and two mechanical mine clearance teams. The team will clear 6,400,000 square metres of mined land.

Eblagh Kefayatullah, the director of ATC, acknowledged the significance of the contribution to ATC's operations and noted that the funds would support 450 of ATC's staff of 1,200 for all twelve months of 2001.

The 1.2 million euros provided to Halo Trust will fund the clearance of almost 18,000,000 square metres of mine and battlefield areas in the provinces of Balkh, Baghlan, Kunduz, and Kabul. Halo Trust will carry out both surveys as well as clearance.

Half a million euros have also been allocated to UNDP/UNOCHA. This will support prioritisation of mine action activities and provide quality assurance, auditing, and reporting,

ATC and Halo Trust are two of the fourteen NGOs working under the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan.

Dan Kelly, manager of the MAPA, noted that these funds are a significant initial contribution to MAPA's USD 20 million budget for 2001. He said that he was "cautiously optimistic" about MAPA's funding prospects for this year.

In the last quarter of 2000, the MAPA was forced to scale back operations due to lack of funds, warning as they did so that reduction in mine action automatically has severe repercussions for communities.

The Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan is the oldest and the largest mine action programme in the world. The programme has cleared over 1.4 million explosives from former battlefields, agricultural land, roads, and residential areas. Last year, mine awareness training reached over one million Afghans.

For more information, please contact:

Stephanie Bunker, Public Information Officer and Spokesperson, Office of the United Nations Co-ordinator for Afghanistan, 92 51 2211451 x415; mobile 0320 261325