MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mine clearance operations in Tierra del Fuego

The Chilean Army announced it will begin mine clearance operations in Tierra del Fuego in the second half of November.

Most mine fields in the area date back thirty years when the peak of conflict with Argentina and the dispute over some extreme south islands in the area which almost ended in an armed conflict.

According to La Prensa Austral from Punta Arenas the Chilean Army Fifth Division will be in charge of the elimination of the antipersonnel mines, beginning in an area identified as Bahia Azul which is bordering one of the narrowest passages of the Magellan strait.

The "Humanitarian De-mining" unit from the Punta Arenas Engineers Battalion is currently finishing establishing a camp near Bahia Azul and is scheduled to begin sweeping operations in "the landing area" by mid November, says the official release.

The Chilean Army has staff specially trained for de-mining tasks and the necessary logistics so "as to end the assignment for those involved with "zero risk".

The mission is in compliance with the Ottawa Treaty signed by Chile in 1997 and passed by Congress in 2002.

Chilean Army units have been specially trained, some of them overseas, for this kind of operations and have already been clearing minefields in the north of the country in areas close to the Bolivian and Peruvian borders.