EU Monitors Warn of Unexploded Ordnances

EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia (EUMM) warned on October 17, that although displaced persons’ “quick return is a desirable goal” it posed several challenges with “one very important is the question of unexploded ordnances.”

Head of EUMM, Hansjörg Haber, met with Georgian Interior Minister, Vano Merabishvili, to discuss, among other things, this matter.

EUMM said in a statement that although serious de-mining efforts had been undertaken, “the clearing of the affected areas will still take some time.”

UN refugee agency said on October 17, that more than 20,000 people returned back to their homes in the areas adjacent to South Ossetia from where the Russian troops withdrew on 8 October. The agency also warned all of those going back “to watch out for mines and unexploded ordnance.” “Some casualties have already been registered,” UNHCR said.

MP Koba Subeliani of the ruling party, who is in charge of the issues related with the internally displaced persons, announced while speaking to the Tbilisi-based FM radio station, Ucnobi, on October 9 that with the Georgian police taking over the control in the de-occupied areas, it was now safe for the displaced persons to return.

“Ambassador Haber expressed his concern that IDPs might be encouraged to return too quickly to areas that have not yet been de-mined according to international standards,” EUMM said in a statement released after the head of mission met with Interior Minister Merabishvili. “The population might thus be exposed to a serious risk. Accurate information of the population on the risks deriving from unexploded mines in order to raise public awareness is imperative.”

It also said that after the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia, “EUMM’s main focus had shifted to the stabilisation and normalisation of the situation in these areas.”

It also noted “the constructive cooperation between EUMM and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.”

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)