Clearing the path: ANAMA demines liberated village

Ateam of ANAMA continues work in Jojug Marjanli in order to clear the village of mines and other explosive devices left behind by Armenian militaries, after the village was taken back by the Azerbaijani armed forces in April 2016.

Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan are under the control of the Armenian military and separatists since a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in 1994. Negotiations lasting for about 30 years have brought little progress in resolving the conflict, though a fragile truce has been in place.

The conflict once again aggravated on April 2 2016 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijan’s positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Leletepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region.

Following the April battles, the Azerbaijani side established a full control over the village and Azerbaijani deminers began to demine the village as civilians will return to their homes.

Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action (ANAMA) has first carried out a cleaning operation on 4,578 square meters of the Jojug Marjanli village, and explored and demined the entrance roads in the village, houses and their surroundings.

Currently, ANAMA holds demining operations in a territory of 280 hectares in the village. The operations involve 90 miners, 10 sapper dogs, and three vehicles for mechanical demining.

Since the start of operations in the liberated village, ANAMA has cleared a territory of 62,066 square meters, 11 houses and found and defused five units of unexploded ordnance.

The deminers also started demining operations in pasture areas of the village. The Agency informs about many mines found in the land plots intended for agricultural use.

In late January, President Ilham Aliyev ordered to restore Jojug Marjanli village in Jabrayil region of Azerbaijan. Under the order, 4 million manats were allocated from the President`s 2017 Contingency Fund to the State Committee on Deals of Refugees and IDPs for the construction of 50 private houses, a school building and relevant infrastructure at the first stage.

Moreover, President Aliyev signed an order on additional measures to construct the road leading to the liberated Jojug Marjanli village and allocated 4.3 million manats from the state budget for the construction of 9 km long highway in the village.

Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov announced on February 13 that the construction work will soon be launched.