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Mine Clearance

The subject of mine clearance is one of critical importance that has recently taken center stage in the forum of pressing world issues. As regards the work of the United Nations, the process of demining is fundamental to the UN's ability to deliver programs effectively in war-torn countries or post-war environments, whether such undertakings be related to peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance or rehabilitation.

Over the past seven years, the need for mine clearance has grown significantly in a number of regions around the world. As a result, the UN is increasingly called upon to operate mine clearance programs in areas that are completely infested with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO).
Consequently, prior to any large deployment of personnel or equipment to a given area, the UN must prepare for a safe working environment by initiating preliminary mine clearance activities in localized areas. Once this has been completed, a broader operation can be accommodated to conduct mine clearance activities on a more comprehensive scale.

The clearance of areas for use by a supported nation is undertaken only when specially mandated by the Security Council. It is standard procedure for the UN to not only performs mine clearance but also to assist a supported nation in the development of its own sustainable clearance capacity. The UN program may include such topics as mine awareness, mine marking, mine survey, mine clearance as well as unexploded ordinance disposal. Additionally, the program's overall efforts may go beyond mine- specific issues to cover related areas, such as management and logistics, training and support.

The UN may vary its approach to each situation as there are currently no standardized templates or universal procedures established for mine clearance activities world-wide.

Mine Clearance in the United Nations is presently divided into two areas of responsibility :

. which plans and advises on mine clearing activities carried out under United Nations auspices as well as maintains contact with

Governments and organizations that participate in or contribute to these activities.

. which serves as the focal point for coordinating all humanitarian mine clearance and related activities.

These two units work together to ensure a seamless approach to United
Nations Mine Clearance Activities.

5.2 The Problem of Iraqi Military Arsenal

One of the last UN operations on eliminating all weapons was connected with the investigation of Iraqi arsenal, as there were some data proving that Iraq possesses very dangerous weapons that might be lethal to the mankind.

The nation of Iraq is relatively young; the country achieved independence in 1932. Since then, Iraq has been almost perpetually at war with its neighbors. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the
1991 Persian Gulf War. Iraq has been under international sanctions since the invasion and the United Nations refused to lift them until it is convinced that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction. The
United States and Britain threatened air strikes in 1998 over Iraq's refusal to allow UN weapons inspectors' free access to all sites. The
United States and its allies patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to protect Kurds from attack and in the south to protect Shiite Muslims.

Almost all countries are concerned with Iraq's unwillingness to allow
UN inspectors investigate its military arsenal. For example Swedish diplomat Rolf Ekeus - who led the UN investigations from the cease-fire through the summer of 1997 and headed to Baghdad for talks, said that they had declared everything. Iraq stated that no documents existed in Iraq because they had been destroyed. That was exploded totally, because Iraq itself admitted in writing even that it had been lying. Cheating systematically from when we started in 1991 up until this very date in
August of 1995.

5.2.1 Iraq/Kuwait conflict

To understand the essence of the conflict it is necessary to descry the reasons of the conflict. Shortly after the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq’s military dictator, Saddam Hussein, accused Kuwait of taking an unfair share of oil revenues. In August 1990 he made the claim that Kuwait was a part of
Iraq and ordered his armies to invade and occupy Kuwait.

The Iraqi invasion alarmed President Bush and other world leaders for three reasons. First, it was an act of aggression by a strong nation against a weaker nation. (Iraq in 1990 had the fourth largest military force in the world.) Second, the taking of Kuwait opened the way to an
Iraqi conquest of the world’s largest oil-producing nation, Saudi Arabia.
Third, the combination of Iraq’s military power and aggressive actions would allow it to dominate the other countries of the Middle East.

To prevent further aggression, President Bush ordered 200,000 troops to Saudi Arabia, followed later by an additional 300,000. “We have drawn a line in the sand,” said the president, as he announced a defensive effort called Operation Desert Shield. US troops were joined by other forces from a UN-supported coalition of 28 nations including Great Britain, France,
Italy, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Egypt.

Members of the UN Security Council, including both the United States and the Soviet Union, voted for a series of resolution concerning Iraq’s aggression. One UN resolution demanded Iraq’s unconditional withdrawal from
Kuwait. Other resolutions placed an international embargo on trade with
Iraq and authorized UN members to use force if Iraqi troops did not leave
Kuwait by January 15, 1991. As the January deadline neared, members of
Congress debated whether or not to authorize the president to send US troops into combat in the Persian Gulf. Both houses voted in favor of the war resolution. [ ]

The Gulf War had far greater significance to the emerging post-cold war world than simply reversing Iraqi aggression and restoring Kuwait. In international terms, we tried to establish a model for the use of force.
First and foremost was the principle that aggression cannot pay. If we dealt properly with Iraq, that should go a long way toward dissuading future would-be aggressors. We also believed that the US should not go it alone, that a multilateral approach was better. [ ]

5.2.2. UNIKOM Establishment

On 3 April 1991, the Security Council adopted resolution 687 (1991), which set detailed conditions for a cease-fire and established the machinery for ensuring implementation of those conditions. By resolution
687 (1991) the Council established a demilitarized zone along the border between Iraq and Kuwait, to be monitored by a UN observer unit.

On 9 April 1991, the Security Council adopted resolution 689 (1991) which approved the Secretary General's plan for the establishment of the
United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM). The UNIKOM advance party arrived in the area on April 1991. UNIKOM was established to monitor the Khawr 'Abd Allah and the DMZ set up along the border between Iraq and
Kuwait, and to observe any hostile or potentially hostile action mounted from the territory of one State to the other.

The mandate was expanded in February 1993 by Security Council resolution 806 (1993), with the addition of an infantry battalion, to: take physical action to prevent, or redress, small scale violations of the DMZ and of the boundary between Iraq and Kuwait; and problems arising from the presence of Iraqi installations and citizens and their assets in the DMZ on the Kuwaiti side of the border. Since the demarcation of the Iraq-Kuwait boundary in May 1993 by the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Boundary Demarcation
Commission, and the relocation of Iraqi citizens found to be on the Kuwaiti side of the border back into Iraq, the situation along the DMZ has been calm.

From the Security Council on down, nearly every UN diplomat, along with officials from many other countries, will not stop repeating their mantra: They want full and unfettered access to all sites in Iraq where the inspection team suspects weapons of mass destruction are hidden. And that is precisely what Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has refused to do, for the seven years that the inspection regime has been in force.

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