Team:Edinburgh/mapxmkuwait



Kuwait <![CDATA[Contamination by landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), mostly unexploded ordnance (UXO), affected wide desert and coastal areas of Kuwait as a result of the 1990–1991 Gulf War. Despite massive demining operations following the war that employed foreign contractors, mines remain in some areas, particularly along the natural sand corridors, although the precise extent of residual contamination is not known. In its initial Article 7 report, submitted in May 2008, Kuwait declared no known or suspected mined areas, noting that there are “no mined areas left in Kuwait recently and formally [sic].”

Nonetheless, in the west, southeast and north of the country, it is believed that mines (and UXO) can still be found under oil lakes as a consequence of the destruction of Kuwaiti oil wells by Iraqi forces in 1991. There are also said to be mines in parts of the desert and Bubiyan Island off the northeast coast of Kuwait, which have been used for military exercises. On 13 June 2007, a member of the public contacted the Ministry of Interior regarding a minefield in Al Salmi, close to the border with Saudi Arabia. The ministry’s demining unit surveyed the area, locating 19 mines, of which they destroyed nine and fenced the remainder for later destruction. Previously, on 18 April 2007, an antipersonnel mine was destroyed by Ministry of Interior demining personnel on the Al Fontaz coast, south of Kuwait City. Kuwait has also had a problem with underwater mines that were deployed in the Persian Gulf to cut access to ports in Iraq and Kuwait.

In 2007, 20 new mine/ERW casualties were reported in 10 incidents, including seven people killed and 13 injured. One injured casualty was Kuwaiti military personnel. All the other casualties were foreign nationals mostly from Bangladesh, and one from Sudan. Although the gender of only two casualties was confirmed (both male), it is presumed that most of the others were male, too. Foreigner workers, usually men or boys, carry out activities that bring them in contact with landmines, such as shepherding. Three casualties were caused by scrap metal collection.

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