Norway boosts support for clearance of mines in Iraq, Syria

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Norway increased its contribution from just over $13.5 million in 2017 to nearly $19 million in 2018 for the clearance of mines and explosives in Iraq and Syria.

“Mine clearance is crucial to prevent the loss of civilian lives, to ensure access for emergency aid, and to enable hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people to return safely to their homes," the Norwegian Foreign Minister, Ine Eriksen Soreide, said in a press release by the government on Thursday.

"This is why we are now increasing our support for mine clearance in Iraq and Syria," she added.

The most heavily affected areas are Mosul city in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria, two ISIS strongholds since the terror group rose to power in 2014.

Mosul city was liberated from ISIS a year ago in July 2017. Three years of ISIS control over Mosul and military operations to liberate the city left key infrastructure in ruins, posing the largest rebuilding and stabilization challenges in recent history.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the "total liberation" of Raqqa on October 20 of last year. ISIS had referred to the city as its capital.

According to UN figures, a high number of mines and other unexploded devices remain in the two cities, with some 50 to 70 civilians being killed in Raqqa alone each week.

"The human suffering caused by these explosives must be brought to an end. The situation in Raqqa and Mosul is particularly serious," Soreide said. "A substantial share of Norway's support for mine clearance is being channeled to these two cities."

At its height, about 10 million people were living under ISIS rule, according to the US-led Coalition, when the group controlled Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul, Syria's Raqqa, and many other areas.

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