Mine action base operated by UK-based non-profit organisation found in Karabakh Azerbaijani side reports deliberate destruction of demining equipment

The Mine Action Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ANAMA) has discovered a base once operated by the UK-based “Halo Trust” non-profit humanitarian organisation in the Khankendi city of Azerbaijan.

The base was found on October 30 during humanitarian mine action conducted by ANAMA employees in the city located in the Karabakh region.

According to ANAMA, dozens of mine detectors belonging to “Halo Trust” were found inside the base which were rendered useless.

“This equipment could be used in humanitarian demining operations and serve to eliminate the mine threat. However, material and technical means intended for use in order to create a safe environment were deliberately destroyed,” ANAMA said in a statement.

ANAMA deminers team in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan

“Halo Trust” has been one of few organisations involved in the mine action in the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan for nearly two decades. There were no reports of its application for the Azerbaijani government’s permission to conduct demining operations in the region.

The organisation’s work in Azerbaijani territory, once controlled by an Armenian separatist entity, was carried out in two directions, including in the Soviet-era borders of the former “Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast”, and in the seven districts of Azerbaijan surrounding Karabakh proper that the Armenian military controlled as a security buffer.

In an annual report about its activities in Karabakh in 2018, the “Halo Trust” claimed that the complete elimination of the mine threat in the region could be achieved by 2020. In the same year, three “Halo Trust” deminers were killed and two others wounded in a mine blast in Karabakh.

The organisation’s unconsented work within Azerbaijan’s borders was halted following the anti-terror operation by the Azerbaijani army in September of this year to disable the formations of the Armenian military and separatist troops in Karabakh.

A "Halo Trust" employee in Karabakh

On October 19, 2023, “Halo Trust” reported about the arrival of its staff and their family members from Karabakh to Armenia.

The Karabakh (Garabagh) and East Zangazur regions of Azerbaijan have been heavily mined by Armenia’s forces since the 1990s. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia launched a full-scale military assault against Azerbaijan. The devastating war persisted until a ceasefire was signed in 1994 and led to Armenia’s occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognized territories. During the conflict, over 30,000 Azerbaijanis lost their lives, and one million were forcibly displaced from their homes in a brutal ethnic cleansing campaign perpetrated by Armenia.

On September 27, 2020, the long-standing conflict between the two countries rekindled after Armenia’s forces, illegally deployed in the occupied Azerbaijani territories, shelled both military positions and civilian settlements in Azerbaijan. Over the course of a 44-day counter-attack, Azerbaijani forces liberated more than 300 settlements, including the cities of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, and Shusha, from Armenian occupation. The war ended with the signing of a tripartite statement on November 10, 2020, by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia. Under the statement, Armenia also returned the occupied Aghdam, Kalbajar, and Lachin districts to Azerbaijan.

Since the cessation of hostilities, the Azerbaijani government has been actively engaged in demining operations in the liberated territories to facilitate the return of internally displaced Azerbaijanis to their homes. However, these efforts face significant challenges due to Armenia’s refusal to provide maps detailing the locations of landmines.

Hikmet Hajiyev, the Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan and the Head of the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration, has recently expressed his concern over the “terrifying” number of Azerbaijanis who have lost their lives due to Armenia’s systematic and deliberate use of landmines as a terror tactic.

Debris of a truck destroyed in a mine explosion killing 4 police officers on September 19, 2023

According to the data published by Hajiyev on X (formerly Twitter), between November 10, 2020, and October 26, 2023, a total of 334 Azerbaijanis fell victim to landmine explosions, resulting in 65 fatalities and 269 injuries. Of these casualties, 50 were civilians who lost their lives in mine accidents, while 105 suffered injuries of varying degrees. Among the military personnel, 15 lost their lives, and 164 sustained injuries.

Hajiyev also pointed out the staggering toll over the years, stating that since 1991, a total of 3,413 Azerbaijanis have become victims of landmines planted by Armenia, with 357 of them being young individuals and 38 being females.