Tuesday, September 14, 2010 - Our Seventh and Last Day for Mine Action

We awoke early to what would prove to be a time-sensitive day.  Our first event was a brief by Anne Slack, Political-Military Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Amman.  She briefed us on the geopolitical situation in Jordan and also touched on the country’s culture, education, and economic circumstances.  Of special interest was her discussion regarding her own experiences during her tenure in country.

Anne handles the mine action portfolio for the U.S. Embassy, so her insights into the mine/UXO situation in the country were informative and helpful.

After our meeting with Ms. Slack, we visited the headquarters of the National Center for Demining and Rehabilitation for a courtesy call on its Director, Brigadier General Mohamad Breikat.  A most gracious man, BGEN Briekat provided a quick summary of the history of the landmine/UXO problem in the country and the remaining challenges faced by NCDR as the overseeing national organization for mine action.  The General is confident that Jordan will complete its northern border project on schedule.  What will remain is the need for NCDR to verify, through established quality control procedures, that the cleared areas are indeed free of landmines.

When we finished our all-too-short meeting with BGEN Breikat, 12 of our group headed for the airport for an onward trip to Istanbul.  The remaining 2 stayed in Jordan to enjoy more of the country’s wonders.

Upon arrival in Istanbul, the group traveled to our respective hotels where we began our totally tourist experiences in Turkey.

Monday, September 13, 2010 - Our Sixth Day

Monday, September 13, 2010 – Our Sixth Day

Today, the group traveled north to Jordan’s border with Syria in an area known as Jaber.  There, local staff from the Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA) briefed us on the border clearance project and also discussed the landmine/UXO threat remaining throughout the country.

The northern border project, which started in May 2008, entails removing 136,000 anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines on an area that stretches along 104 kilometers at the border with Syria. A total of 12 teams, each comprising six members, are working on the project.

Just over half of the mines have been cleared to date and the project is on schedule for completion in the spring of 2012.

The majority of this mined land is owned by citizens and it is wasted, because the owners cannot enter their farms or grow anything.  Nor can they access the 33 wells that are located in the mined area, further complicating Jordan’s already serious water problem.

After the NPA staff brief, we visited a mined area along the border and observed mine clearance techniques using mine detection dogs provided by the South East Europe Mine Detection Dog Center, which is located in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  We also received an excellent field brief from the chief medical technician, who exhibited the medical field kits and spoke about procedures for the treatment of mine/UXO injuries.

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Our stay in the north was brief, necessitated by the fact that several of the group had scheduled a visit to the Dead Sea.  Upon their return, they indicated that they had a wonderful experience.

The day closed with a visit by five members of the Amman Rotary Club at which the participants engaged in fellowship and exchange.

The Landmine Problem in Jordan

Jordan is contaminated by antipersonnel and anti-vehicle mines as well as explosive remnants of war (ERW), including grenades, artillery shells, and aircraft bombs. Contamination results from the 1948 partition of Palestine, the 1967–1969 Arab-Israeli conflict, the 1970 civil war, and the 1975 confrontation with Syria. There are also believed to be cluster munition remnants in remote areas, the result of the armed forces testing cluster munitions on firing ranges. The NCDR has no data on the extent of contamination, but believes that it is not extensive. A NATO-funded ERW survey initiated in September 2008 had recorded no cluster munition remnants as of end June 2009.

A Landmine Retrofit Survey (LRS) completed in September 2007 concluded that 10.5km² of suspected mined areas remained, concentrated in well-defined and mapped military minefields along the border between Jordan and Syria. The LRS also identified six affected communities in the Jordan Valley, which have since been cleared of mines. However, a sampling and verification project in the Jordan Valley in August 2008 has identified 108 suspected hazardous areas. These areas will need to be surveyed and, if mines are confirmed, cleared as part of Jordan’s fulfillment of its obligations under the Ottawa Land Mine Ban Treaty.

ERW contamination, mostly from the 1970 civil war, is concentrated around Ajloun and North Shunah in the Jordan Valley, particularly near former Palestine Liberation Organization bases, where munitions were hidden in caves and buried underground. ERW are said to pose a greater risk than mines, causing a higher number of incidents. The NATO-funded ERW survey found more contamination than expected and by May 2009 had identified 264 affected communities.

Jordan has also had to deal with ERW that entered from Iraq through the scrap metal trade. Under a plan drawn up by the National Center for Demining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) and various government ministries and departments, army engineers have been positioned at the border to check scrap metal entering the country for unexploded ordnance, and ex-military personnel have been contracted to work at factories inspecting the scrap metal. The Jordanian government has a plan to establish a central market for all scrap metal, which can then be regulated.

Casualties

In 2008, the NCDR recorded at least 18 new mine/ERW casualties, including six killed and 12 injured, in 11 incidents. The majority of casualties were civilians, and two were military on a routine patrol. All were Jordanian nationals. Children were the biggest casualty group (nine boys and one girl). The remaining casualties were men. ERW caused 10 casualties and landmines eight. The most common activity at the time of the incidents was collecting scrap metal.

In 2009, the NCDR recorded just one new casualty as of 21 June 2009: a 22 year-old shepherd was injured by ERW.

The NCDR identified at least 779 mine/ERW casualties (125 killed and 654 injured) between 1949 and 22 June 2009. Of these, 673 verified mine/ERW casualties (19 killed and 654 injured) had been entered in the National Victim Database. The remaining 106 fatalities occurring prior to 2005 were not entered, as verification was not possible. The large majority of verified casualties occurred before 2000. Of all verified casualties entered in the database, 294 were civilians, 279 military, 21 deminers, and the status of 79 was unknown. Only 45 casualties were women, 18 were boys, one was a girl, and the rest were men.

From 2000 to December 2008, 88 verified mine/ERW casualties were recorded by the NCDR (13 killed and 75 injured); 60 were civilians, 23 military, three deminers, and two of unknown status. Most casualties were men, and only 18 boys, five women, and one girl became casualties.

Socio-economic impact

Mine clearance in the Jordan Valley and around Aqaba has opened up land to development of infrastructure, including dams, pipelines, airfield expansion, and housing, as well as for commercial farming and large-scale tourist developments. The LRS found that 34 communities with a total population of 69,000 claimed to be affected by mines, 17 of them in northern Mafraq governorate. Mined areas exacerbate already acute shortages of land and deny access to agricultural land and pasture and to scarce supplies of water, particularly in the northeast. Northern border clearance was expected to open access to at least 33 wells, assisting 7,000 people, and interviews with local residents found they expected household incomes to rise by a quarter as a result of the clearance.

Program Management and Coordination

Mine Action

Jordan established the NCDR under Law No. 34, passed in 2000, and an April 2002 royal decree, which appointed its board of directors. It includes representatives of the Jordanian Armed Forces, the government, NGOs, landmine survivors, and the media. It became fully operational in 2004 when Prince Mired Raad Zeid Al-Hussein, a cousin of King Abdullah, became the NCDR’s chair.

The NCDR was established as “the primary national mine action authority” responsible for preparing and overseeing implementation of a national mine action plan, including mine clearance, mine/ERW risk education (RE), and victim assistance (VA), and ensuring that mine action is integrated into the country’s wider development strategies. It is also responsible for coordinating, accrediting, and regulating all organizations involved in mine action as well as for fundraising.

The NCDR also conducts quality management of demining operations and in 2007 increased its staff to 18 to cope with the increased level of clearance.

Risk education

The NCDR is responsible for coordination and monitoring of RE activities. In November 2008, an RE steering committee and working group were established among RE operators, and they meet at least quarterly.

Victim assistance

The NCDR has a VA steering committee, including governmental and non-governmental stakeholders, to ensure mainstreaming of victim assistance into other relevant strategies. However, in November 2008 it delegated actual coordination of VA and appointed the Higher Council on the Affairs of Persons with Disabilities (HCAPD) as Jordan’s VA focal point. The HCAPD was established in 2007 and monitors the implementation of the National Strategy on Disabilities, ensures quality standards for services, provides training, advocacy, and networking services, and supports the cost of rehabilitation and education services for poor persons with disabilities as well as the development of disability programs in rural areas.

Sunday, September 12, 2010 - Our Fifth Day and a Wonder of the World

We spent today again as tourists.  After a drive made longer because of engine troubles, we arrived in Petra, one of the new seven wonders of the world – and it is just that. 

The city was carved into rock more than 2,000 years ago by the Nabataeans, an ancient Arab people.  Petra was an important junction for the silk, spice and other trade routes that linked East and West.

We entered the city through a narrow gorge, flanked on both sides by cliffs that are more than 260 feet high.  This gorge, called the Siq, is a wonder in and of itself, with rocks of varying colors and formations.  At the end of the gorge, a length of approximately 1 kilometer, we came upon the the Al-Khazneh, the Treasury building made famous in an Indiana Jones movie and carved in the early first century A.D. as the tomb of an important Nabataean ruler.  The building is an awe inspiring example of the engineering capabilities of Nabataean engineers.

After the Al-Khazneh, we saw tombs, homes, the remains of an impressive water distribution system and other amazing sites.  Petra clearly deserves its place as one of the new seven wonders of the world.

After Petra and equipped with a new bus, we drove further south to Wadi Rum, one of the world’s outstanding desert landscapes.  We encountered breathless scenery created by huge mountains of sandstone and granite.  Narrow canyons and fissures cut deep into the mountains and many conceal ancient rock drawings etched by the peoples of the desert over millennia.  Bedouin tribes still live within Wadi Rum and we saw a number of their large tents.  At one point during our two-hour “Safari,” several of us took advantage of an opportunity to ride a camel, some for the first time.

After Wadi Rum, we returned to our hotel in Amman, more than four hours away.  Understandably, most of us slept along the way.

Another terrific day in the Middle East for our Citizen Diplomacy Group.

Riding camels in Wadi Rum

Al-Khazneh, the Treasury building in Petra.

Heading for Jordan

Today is a travel day.  The group left our hotel in Beirut at 11:00 this morning.  Our tour guide, Cedra, who has been terrific, took us for one last stop -- the Pigeon Grotto.  Two massive rocks just off the shoreline on Beirut's beach form the grotto.  One of the rocks has a cave through which small boats can maneuver.  A beautiful sight on our last day in Lebanon.

Our flight to Amman has been delayed, so we are camping out in the airport until departure.  Hopefully, we will arrive in Amman to spend a bit of time touring the city.  Tomorrow (Sunday) will be another tourist day, with trips to Petra and Wadi Rum.