Can Iraq overcome its land mine infestation?
Efforts to rid Iraqi Kurdistan of millions of land mines are being hampered by financial problems, corruption and the Islamic State's tenacity in planting more mines.
ERBIL, Iraq — Iraq is one of the worst-off countries in the world in terms of minefield and projectile pollution, with 25 million land mines and other unexploded ordnances scattered across the country. The concentration is especially dense in Iraqi Kurdistan, and efforts to clear the land are meeting with a number of obstacles.
“At the current pace, the estimated time required for the de-mining action in Kurdistan is 100 years," estimated a series of reports by Shamal Adel Slim, a researcher who specializes in crimes against the Kurds.
Some 1.5 billion square meters (about 580 square miles) of land in Iraq contain mines, according to a 2015 US State Department report on surveys conducted in 2006 and 2011.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) estimates 314 million square meters (121 square miles) of land are contaminated across that region. Most of these unexploded mines are the result of the Iran-Iraq War, according to the US State Department, but more accumulated during the 1990-1991 armed conflict and the 2003 invasion into Iraq by the US-led coalition. The Islamic State (IS) and other parties continue to add to the mine count today.
