“Jordan, over the last decade has done a lot to deal with its own internal mine issue. In a way, they are more advanced than other countries dealing with similar issues,” Per Breivik, country director for Norwegian People’s Aid Mine Action Program (NPA MAP) told The Media Line.
With the progress that it has made, Jordan is working on becoming an example for its neighbors in the region. For the second time in two years, Jordan, in cooperation with Norwegian People’s Aid and other organizations, is hosting an intensive training course for national mine action authorities from countries around the world.
The Jordanian government instituted a national de-mining plan in 1993. In 1999 Jordan became a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, also known as the Ottawa Convention.
Article 5 of the convention requires that signatory countries set clear deadlines for the complete eradication of land mines. After applying for an extension in 2008, Jordan’s deadline was set for 2012.
Kerie Ruru, director of the Gaza office of the UN Mine Action Team, applauded the progress that the Hashemite kingdom has made toward reaching its 2012 deadline.
“For the region, it’s a great achievement,” Ruru told The Media Line.
If it does meet the deadline, Jordan would be the first country in the region to have eradicated all of its land mines, a remarkable feat considering the decades of wars and conflict that have plagued the Middle East.
Originally, all mine clearing activities in the country were carried out by the Royal Engineering Corps. However in 2006, the Jordanian National Committee for De-mining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) co-opted with the NPA MAP in order to accelerate the process.
By 2008, sappers cleared off 50,000 mines from across the country. The NPA MAP declared the Wadi Araba valley along the border with Israel between the Dead Sea and Aqaba to be mine free.
Breivik said that they are currently working on clearing the last minefield in the country -- a 104-kilometer continuous minefield located at the border with Syria. He added that the work should be completed within two years.
At the beginning of October, national mine action officials from affected countries throughout the world converged on Amman to take part in what is called the Explosive Remnants of War International Senior Managers Training Course.
The five-week course was originally implemented in 2005 by the James Madison University Center for International Stabilization and Recovery and took place on the university campus in Virginia.
However, last year NCDR received a grant from the US Department of State Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement to hold part of the program in Jordan.
Mohammed Breikt, national director of NCDR, told The Media Line that the reasoning behind hosting the course in Jordan was to answer a need to introduce the practical side into the program. He also said Jordan felt a sense of obligation to the matter.
“We thought if Jordan doesn’t hold the course outside the United States, who will?” Breikt said.
He said that they also wanted to support the other states in the region which faced similar situations of uncleared minefields and unexploded ordnances left over from the many wars.
“We are in an area where the neighboring countries around us are also affected. So we want to help and support our neighbors,” Breikt said.
The program is administered through collaboration between the NCDR and numerous international and nongovernmental organizations, including James Madison University, The International Committee of the Red Cross, The Geneva International Center for Humanitarian De-mining, Norwegian Peoples Aid Mine Action Program, and UNDP.
Participating were representatives from Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Lao PDR, Montenegro, Nepal, Ecuador, Peru, Sudan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Uganda, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
Breikt said an added advantage of holding the course in Jordan was the ability to show participants the practical application of the theories taught in the course.
“It’s good to have the course in a mine inflicted country. We take (the participants) to the minefields. So here we show them the practical side as well,” Breikt said.
One of the beneficiaries of the course was Jordan’s eastern neighbor Iraq.
“There is a huge potential for training Iraqi de-miners in Jordan,” Zahim Jihad, general manager of the Iraqi Mine and UXO Clearance Organization said in an interview with The Jordan Times. “We can benefit a lot from Jordan’s expertise. Jordan is capable of assisting Iraqis in this regard and putting them on the right track.”
