The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has signed a grant agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for $C1.2 million to help Jordan clear its northern border minefields. The project will be executed on behalf of UNDP by the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) who are presently working in the Wadi Araba region. The funding will assist Jordan in fulfilling its commitments to the Ottawa Treaty and become mine free by 2009.  As a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty, Jordan seeks to be the first Arab country to be declared free of mines by 2009.  

 

The CIDA support will cover the establishment and running of an NPA -- National Committee for Demining and Rehabilitation (NCDR) joint Mafraq field office and manual demining operations for a period of 1 year.  Both NPA and NCDR have been working closely with the Royal Engineer Corps (REC) in combating Jordan’s mine problem and jointly have made tremendous progress over the past several years. 

 

The Canadian contribution will support two manual demining teams (25 persons each), their equipping, and operational costs. The CIDA grant will support manual mine clearance operations which are expected to remove approximately 1000 mines per month and clear approximately 63,000 m² of land. 

 

In the context of supporting Jordan’s Millennium Development Goals, the primary objective of the project is to eliminate the impact of landmines from the lives of Jordanians and safeguard their future livelihoods along the border area which is heavily dependent on agriculture and herding.  The poverty reduction impacts for a population of approximately 25,000 people is expected to be significant as the threat of accident, access to scare natural resources, and the fear of accidents will be dramatically reduced.