Team:Edinburgh/mapxmlgermany



Germany <![CDATA[The German government announced in December 1995 that all mine-affected areas on the old East-West divide had been cleared. Mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) continue to be discovered in some areas. In September 2003, an 800kg mine found by a fisherman near Juist Island was deactivated. In April 2004, two antivehicle mines were found in the Dranser See, near Berlin, and deactivated. In May, about 50 antivehicle and antipersonnel mines were found on a former Russian training ground at Zehdenick. In July, UXO were found at Neu Ulm near Munich, in Essen, in Hamburg, at Lucherberg near Aachen, at Troisdorf near Bonn, at Grafenwohr near Nuremberg, in the Muggelsee near Berlin, and at Oranienberg near Berlin. In August, four antivehicle mines and other UXO were destroyed in a planned operation in Tuddern near Aachen, and 19 Russian antipersonnel mines were found stored at a Magdeburg youth club. Explosive ordnance disposal personnel identified the mines as “training explosive devices.” The police did not provide any information on the possible origin of the mines.

In 2003, in North Rhine Westphalia, 150 tons of UXO, including 119 mines, were destroyed, at a cost of €19 million. In 2002, more than 1,000 items of UXO were found and destroyed in North Rhine Westphalia, an increase from the previous year.

Mine accidents continue to occur occasionally. In August 2004, one person was injured during recovery and destruction of seven antivehicle mines found in a river near Munich. Casualties due to mines/UXO in Germany were also reported in 2001.

German military personnel and employees of German mine action NGOs have also suffered casualties in other countries. In Chad in November 2003, a French national working for the German NGO HELP was killed, with five other deminers, when a stock of mines awaiting destruction exploded unexpectedly. In Afghanistan in May 2003, three workers for a German NGO were killed by an antivehicle mine and, in a separate incident, one German soldier was killed and another injured by an antivehicle mine. In 2002, a German peacekeeper was killed by an antivehicle mine in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In September 1999, five German members of KFOR were injured by mines in Kosovo. ]]> <![CDATA[]]>