As the victorious side in the Nagorno-Karabakh (Haut-Karabakh) military conflict, known simply as Naka, Azerbaijan’s forces are now advancing at the pace of Armenia’s withdrawal, while at the same time they are engaged in mine clearance in previously fought areas.
Azerbaijan is a Transcaucasian country located on the border between Europe and Asia. Agdam is a city located east of the conflict zone. Two weeks after the end of the fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Azerbaijani military, the victor in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, is busy clearing mines so that displaced people can return home.
Our RFI correspondents Vincent S. and Jad E-K, reporting from Aghdam on Saturday (November 28, 2020), said they saw two sappers wearing see-through masks and bulky vests at the scene, remotely controlling a mechanical device driving toward the minefield under the command of the head of Azerbaijan’s National Agency for Mine Clearance (ANAMA). According to the report, Azerbaijan has now cleared the area within 7 kilometers of the road. The clearance is done in two steps. First the residential areas, then the farming areas and only after that the agricultural production can be resumed.
The task of mine clearance in Azerbaijan is difficult.
Since the end of the fighting, Azerbaijan’s State Demining Agency has cleared 7,500 explosive devices from the formerly controlled areas of Armenia. The entire demining of Aghdam will take many years. According to the head of Azerbaijan’s State Demining Agency, 80-85% of the recaptured land is estimated to be dangerous, based on what is known. Mines account for a third of the devices they recovered. But most of them are still bombs, shells and rockets that did not explode during the fighting.
Azerbaijan promises that those driven out of Aghdam by Armenia in the 1990s will likely return home soon. However, this is unbelievable. The head of Azerbaijan’s State Demining Agency admits that it will take him 10 to 15 years to unilaterally carry out this demining work.
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