Njeri, Sarah

SOAS Research Online

Academic rigour, journalistic flairSarah NjeriLecturer Humanitarianism and Development, SOAS, University of LondonBy the time the shooting stops the UN predicts that Ukraine will be one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world. Deaths caused by landmines and other unexploded ordnanceare now common. According to Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, in March alone, “724 people have been blown up on Russian mines, 226 of them killed”.The use of landmines is illegal under international law. The Anti-personnel Landmine Conventionbans the stockpiling, transfer and use of anti-personnel landmines, requires countries to clear themon their territory and calls for international cooperation in mine clearance from affected countries.The extensive and fast-moving battlelines in Ukraine (including large areas in the east of the countryoccupied by Russian troops and their allies since 2014) means that landmines have been planted in 11 out of the country’s 27 regions. This is a situation that changes significantly with any shift in thelocation of frontlines.Landmine contamination is a problem which has blighted many countries for decades after the conflict has ended.Stringer/Sipa USA/AlamyUkraine war: after the shooting stops landmines will keepkilling – as we’ve seen in too many countriesPublished: August 30, 2023 4.07pm BST4/22/24, 12:00 PM Ukraine war: after the shooting stops landmines will keep killing – as we’ve seen in too many countrieshttps://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-the-shooting-stops-landmines-will-keep-killing-as-weve-seen-in-too-many-countries-211559 1/4The result for the conflict itself is that the heavily mined areas along Russian defensive lines havesignificantly slowed the Ukrainian counteroffensive as sappers have to clear what one Ukrainiancommander described as “five mines for every square metre” in some places.Landmines also make it very difficult for humanitarian organisations to move relief supplies in areasthat may or may not have been cleared. Sometimes the status of mine clearance in an area is hard totell – for example, the destruction of the Nova Karkhova and Mokri Yaly dams significantly affectedthe landscape over a large region and huge areas had to be resurveyed.Case study: AngolaThe really insidious thing about landmines is they persist, even after a conflict formally ends. This is ahumanitarian tragedy that adds to the complexity of post-war development and presents hugeenvironmental problems. For example, during a research trip to Angola in 2019, in Cuito Cuanavale, atown and municipality in Cuando Cubango province, my group of researchers encountered roads thatare still inaccessible nearly 40 years after the conflict due to the presence of mines.The mines have cut off whole municipalities, with implications for access to some of the regions andto Angola’s efforts in diversification of its economy. During our visit, our safest option was flying, anoption that is out of reach for most Angolans.It’s a similar situation in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, where the conflicts ended in the 1970s.Millions of tonnes of ordnance that was dropped by the US remain unexploded in the landscape,leaving many thousands of civilians killed or seriously injured over the years. It’s especially a problemin countries whose economies are predominantly agricultural. Farmers take their lives in their handswhen they plough their fields or prepare their paddy fields.A land contaminatedUkraine’s reconstruction can’t begin until roads, fields and areas around strategic infrastructure arecleared.A Soviet-era anti-tank landmine (TM-57) in Cuito Cuanavale that was laid during the Angolan civil war.This picture was taken in 2022. Ronan Shenhav/Shutterstock4/22/24, 12:00 PM Ukraine war: after the shooting stops landmines will keep killing – as we’ve seen in too many countrieshttps://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-the-shooting-stops-landmines-will-keep-killing-as-weve-seen-in-too-many-countries-211559 2/4After the war, getting humanitarian aid to civilians will be critical but also difficult. Many of theroughly 14 million people who are displaced and about 8 million who have fled to neighbouringcountries will want to return. This will be impossible without surveying the land, getting rid of minesand declaring it safe.Once that is done, the public will need to be educated about the risks of unexploded ordnance. Thiswill continue as long as there are mines and unexploded bombs in the ground – which could be decades, as we have seen elsewhere.Landmine contamination will seriously impede Ukraine’s economic recovery. In a country that wasknown as the “breadbasket of Europe” for its fertile soil which produced 41% of the country’s exports,about five million hectares (50,000km²) of agricultural land is currently unsuitable for use due tomines, contamination with explosive ordnance or armed hostilities. A report on de-mining frominternational thinktank Globsec has predicted a 45% reduction of arable grain land after two years ofwar.De-mining will involve the removal of vegetation and the use and deployment of heavy machinery.This will include the detonation or disposal of large quantities of explosives and the generation of agreat deal of waste – – some of it toxic – but even so an arduous task to clear. Inevitability, this willcause cause soil to degrade. Much of the soil will lose its capacity to store water, nutrients and carbon,which will weaken its ability to grow crops or support the wider ecosystem.To give you an idea of the scale of this problem, a study found that before the invasion of Ukraine in2022, an estimated 16,000km² of eastern Ukraine was contaminated by landmines and unexploded bombs after the incursions in Donetsk and Luhansk in 2014.Now the problem is much greater, potentially involving 174,000km² (about the size of England andWales combined) and vastly more costly. The same report said 414,56km² had been cleared between2015 and 2021, which gives you an idea of how demanding and painstaking this work is.Costly legacyAs of July 8, the World Bank estimated that mine clearance and mitigation once the war was overwould cost more than US$37 billion (£28.5 billion). This is huge – especially when you consider thecost of the continuing humanitarian crises and conflicts in other regions.To compound the problem, there have been reports that Russia has been using several new types oflandmines developed since 2021, the properties and capabilities of which will not be fully understooduntil the work starts in earnest.4/22/24, 12:00 PM Ukraine war: after the shooting stops landmines will keep killing – as we’ve seen in too many countrieshttps://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-the-shooting-stops-landmines-will-keep-killing-as-weve-seen-in-too-many-countries-211559 3/4So while the world prays for an end to the fighting, peace will bring its own dangers and stresses aspeople return to their lives in places that may hold hidden dangers that threaten their daily routine.Living in these mine-contaminated communities will add to the emotional and psychological stressfor those people who are having to pick up the pieces of livelihoods destroyed and their communitiesseverely disrupted.Recovery will not be complete until these people’s streets and farms are cleared, their livelihoodsrestored and their children can go to school or play outside without fear of explosions. This could takedecades.4/22/24, 12:00 PM Ukraine war: after the shooting stops landmines will keep killing – as we’ve seen in too many countrieshttps://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-after-the-shooting-stops-landmines-will-keep-killing-as-weve-seen-in-too-many-countries-211559 4/4

Ukraine war: after the shooting stops landmines will keep killing – as we’ve seen in too many countries

https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/41252/1/Ukraine%20war_%20after%20the%20shooting%20stops%20landmines%20will%20keep%20killing%20%E2%80%93%20as%20we%E2%80%99ve%20seen%20in%20too%20many%20countries.pdf

Ukraine war: after the shooting stops landmines will keep killing – as we’ve seen in too many countries

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