Germany contributed nearly $110mn to demining efforts in Iraq, says diplomat

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Germany has contributed about $110 million (100mn EUR) since 2016 to demining efforts in Iraq, the European country’s top diplomat said on Wednesday.

The remarks by Maximilian Rasch, Germany’s charge de affairs in Baghdad, came at the Iraq National Mine Action Strategy, during which the ongoing threats from unexploded ordnances were highlighted in the presence of government officials and diplomats.

Berlin has invested nearly 100mn EUR (about $110 million) in the demining efforts in the country, which has been plagued by decades of bloody conflict, Mr Rasch said at the conference. 

The diplomat said that Germany will not leave Iraq in its struggle with land clearance.

With landmines populating 650 million square meters of land, Iraq has the most landmines of any country in the world, according to the International Landmine Monitor. Of the 650 million square meters, nearly half (314 million) are in the Kurdistan Region.

Many of the landmines in the Kurdistan Region are located on the Iranian border. These landmines are a relic of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, as the Iraqi army specifically mined Kurdish areas to prevent Kurdish rebels from collaborating with Iran. Approximately half of those landmines remain 35 years after the end of the war.

Kurdistan Region records over 30 casualties to mine explosions in 2022 only, according to official figures.