operate mine clearance programs in areas that are completely infested with landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). Consequently, prior to any large deployment of personnel or equipment to a given area, the UN must prepare for a safe working environment by initiating preliminary mine clearance activities in localized areas. Once this has been completed, a broader operation can be accommodated to conduct mine clearance activities on a more comprehensive scale.
The clearance of areas for use by a supported nation is undertaken only when specially mandated by the Security Council. It is standard procedure for the UN to not only performs mine clearance but also to assist a supported nation in the development of its own sustainable clearance capacity. The UN program may include such topics as mine awareness, mine marking, mine survey, mine clearance as well as unexploded ordinance disposal. Additionally, the program's overall efforts may go beyond mine-specific issues to cover related areas, such as management and logistics, training and support.
The UN may vary its approach to each situation as there are currently no standardized templates or universal procedures established for mine clearance activities world-wide.
Mine Clearance in the United Nations is presently divided into two areas of responsibility :
which plans and advises on mine clearing activities carried out under United Nations auspices as well as maintains contact with Governments and organizations that participate in or contribute to these activities.
which serves as the focal point for coordinating all humanitarian mine clearance and related activities.
These two units work together to ensure a seamless approach to United Nations Mine Clearance Activities.
5.2 The Problem of Iraqi Military Arsenal
One of the last UN operations on eliminating all weapons was connected with the investigation of Iraqi arsenal, as there were some data proving that Iraq possesses very dangerous weapons that might be lethal to the mankind.
The nation of Iraq is relatively young; the country achieved independence in 1932. Since then, Iraq has been almost perpetually at war with its neighbors. Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Iraq has been under international sanctions since the invasion and the United Nations refused to lift them until it is convinced that Iraq has eliminated its weapons of mass destruction. The United States and Britain threatened air strikes in 1998 over Iraq's refusal to allow UN weapons inspectors' free access to all sites. The United States and its allies patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq to protect Kurds from attack and in the south to protect Shiite Muslims.
Almost all countries are concerned with Iraq's unwillingness to allow UN inspectors investigate its military arsenal. For example Swedish diplomat Rolf Ekeus - who led the UN investigations from the cease-fire through the summer of 1997 and headed to Baghdad for talks, said that they had declared everything. Iraq stated that no documents existed in Iraq because they had been destroyed. That was exploded totally, because Iraq itself admitted in writing even that it had been lying. Cheating systematically from when we started in 1991 up until this very date in August of 1995.
5.2.1 Iraq/Kuwait conflict
To understand the essence of the conflict it is necessary to descry the reasons of the conflict. Shortly after the Iran-Iraq War, Iraq’s military dictator, Saddam Hussein, accused Kuwait of taking an unfair share of oil revenues. In August 1990 he made the claim that Kuwait was a part of Iraq and ordered his armies to invade and occupy Kuwait.
The Iraqi invasion alarmed President Bush and other world leaders for three reasons. First, it was an act of aggression by a strong nation against a weaker nation. (Iraq in 1990 had the fourth largest military force in the world.) Second, the taking of Kuwait opened the way to an Iraqi conquest of the world’s largest oil-producing nation, Saudi Arabia. Third, the combination of Iraq’s military power and aggressive actions would allow it to dominate the other countries of the Middle East.
To prevent further aggression, President Bush ordered 200,000 troops to Saudi Arabia, followed later by an additional 300,000. “We have drawn a line in the sand,” said the president, as he announced a defensive effort called Operation Desert Shield. US troops were joined by other forces from a UN-supported coalition of 28 nations including Great Britain, France, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Egypt.
Members of the UN Security Council, including both the United States and the Soviet Union, voted for a series of resolution concerning Iraq’s aggression. One UN resolution demanded Iraq’s unconditional withdrawal from Kuwait. Other resolutions placed an international embargo on trade with Iraq and authorized UN members to use force if Iraqi troops did not leave Kuwait by January 15, 1991. As the January deadline neared, members of Congress debated whether or not to authorize the president to send US troops into combat in the Persian Gulf. Both houses voted in favor of the war resolution. [