Oman Wires It's all about Oman
“The sultanate is honoured to declare that we have completed the destruction of anti-personnel mines according to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention well ahead of our 2019 deadline,” mentioned Col Yahya Adbulla Sulaiman al Amri who presented the statement prior to the Seventeenth Meeting of States Parties which took location at the United Nations workplace in Geneva lately.
Oman, 1 of the newest States Parties, mentioned that finalising its destruction obligation shows that it is ‘is fully committed in implementing the obligations under the Convention within our deadlines’.
In 2015 the year that Oman joined the Convention, it reported more than 15,000 stockpiled anti-personnel mines beneath its ownership or possession. “Operations carried out by the sultanate’s armed forces began on September 13, 2015 and concluded on September 25 this year. “All stockpiled anti-personnel mines have been destroyed, opting to keep a small number permitted for training purposes under the Convention,” according to a statement from the APMBC.
The Convention President, Ambassador of Afghanistan to Switzerland and the UN in Geneva, Suraya Dalil congratulated Oman for its steady resolve. “Destruction of stockpile is one of the successes of the Convention. Oman’s destruction efforts guarantee that those landmines will never be used. Oman should be very proud for its contribution towards a world free of these weapons,” mentioned Ambassador Dalil.
During the destruction phase, Oman ‘took every effort to carry out the destruction in an environment-friendly manner and at internationally-approved facilities through controlled explosions in Wadi al Ma’awel and Wadi Adawnab exactly where neither water nor air qualities or wildlife have been impacted thanks to tiny controlled explosions,’ added the Omani delegation. While Oman has declared completion of its stockpile destruction obligation, it nevertheless has a mine clearance obligation beneath the Convention.
Together, the 164 States Parties have destroyed much more than 51mn landmines and 158 States Parties have fulfilled their stockpile destruction obligation.
Information Source: Muscat Daily
