Environment

$100,000 donated to demine Peru northern border

South Korea has donated $100,000 to remove land mines from Cordillera del Cóndor on Peru’s northern border. The area was the center of the 1995 Cenepa war between Peru and Ecuador over 48-miles of unmarked territory in the Andean foothills. The International Campaign to Ban Landmines estimates some 30,000 mines were laid during the conflict.

According to Peru’s Foreign Relations Ministry, the donation is a result of a campaign by Peru and Ecuador to secure financial support from the international community to demine the border.

The ministry says the donation will “permit the development of civil infrastructure that will benefit people in both countries, as well as the reintegration of extensive areas for productive activity.”

According to the Comprehensive Action against Antipersonnel Mines the remaining land mines are in sparsely populated areas, ¨but pose a significant threat to a number of indigenous communities in remote border zones.¨

A 1998 peace agreement signed in Brasilia ended the territorial dispute, one of the oldest in the western hemisphere.

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