Team:Edinburgh/mapxmlecuador



Ecuador <![CDATA[Five provinces in southern Ecuador are contaminated with antipersonnel mines and, to a much smaller extent, antivehicle mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO), resulting from the Cenapa war with Peru over an area of disputed border in the 1990s. The most heavily mined section of the border is the area known as the Condor Mountain Range (Cordillera del Condor), which was at the center of the conflict.

Ecuador reported that the original number of suspected hazardous areas (SHAs) was 128, covering 621,034m2, and that as of 31 December 2007 they had cleared 66 mined areas totaling 118,707m2, equivalent to an average of roughly eight SHAs and 15,000m2 per year. Of the remaining 62 SHAs, covering 502,327m2, ongoing surveys may determine that some of the suspected areas are in fact free of landmines. Ecuador reported no SHAs along the border with Colombia.

According to Ecuador, although the socio-economic impact of mines on a national basis impacts less than 5% of the population, mine/ERW contamination restricts and endangers subsistence livelihoods and access to water. Particularly affected are the indigenous Shuar and Achuar tribes, who are prevented from accessing large tracts of their traditional farming and hunting land.

No new mine/ERW casualties were recorded in 2007 and in the first quarter of 2008 in Ecuador, and there were no demining accidents. The last recorded mine incident was reported in 2004 when one incident caused seven casualties.

OAS AICMA maintains a registry of casualties and the services received by survivors. The registry contained information on 19 civilian casualties occurring between 1981 and 2004 (four people killed and 15 injured); there were also three military survivors. In 2008, CENDESMI reported that one of the survivors had died due to psychological trauma.

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