Cyprus Declared Mine-Free: Buffer Zone Cleared of Mines

The government of the Republic of Cyprus has announced that there are no longer any mines in the Buffer Zone on the island. Sources within the Cypriot government informed the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) that the Greek Cypriot side believes the demining of the Buffer Zone is complete, and the only known minefields are located within the Republic itself.

According to government representatives, these minefields "are an integral part of our defense organization."

"They are located in areas where they do not pose a danger, and their presence is necessary. When we agreed to demining, the agreement was that minefields would be removed from within the Buffer Zone," the sources explained.

They added that the remaining mines in the Republic are anti-tank mines, left in place "so that no one can simply pass through."

However, all anti-personnel mines have now been removed.

"We have destroyed them all, both those that were in the minefields and those stored in depots, as this is our obligation under the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines," the sources assured.

According to estimates by the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), at the beginning of the year, a total of 7,000 mines remained on the island, spread over an area of two million square meters, laid in 1963, 1964, and 1974.

The United Nations has played a significant role in demining the Buffer Zone in Cyprus. From 2004 to 2011, the UN Mine Action Centre cleared 27,000 mines (18,000 of which were anti-personnel mines) from the Buffer Zone and made 11 square kilometers of land safe.