"Beecroft Initiative" Supports Demining Efforts in Caucasus

Extraordinary events are taking place in Tbilisi, Georgia. Armenia and Azerbaijan, neighboring states with a history of mutual distrust, have joined under the U.S.-led "Beecroft Initiative" in a confidence- and security-building measure aimed at preventing injuries and deaths from landmines. Early last year, while I was serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, my colleagues and I developed this initiative, with strong support from the most senior levels of the Department of State. Through it, we have succeeded in bringing together Armenian and Azerbaijani military professionals to train them, along with their Georgian hosts, in removing the landmines that affect populations throughout the region.

A legacy of violent conflict has left an estimated 50,000-80,000 landmines along the border that divides the warring sides. These mines hinder the planting of crops and the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, and have caused injury and death to scores of civilians, soldiers and farm animals. Now, Armenian and Azerbaijani soldiers have come together in Georgia to learn state-of-the-art techniques for removing these "hidden killers." On the first day of the training, one side would not enter the mess hall until the other side had left. By evening, both teams of deminers had come together to play soccer.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region located in the southern Caucasus. Both Armenians and Azerbaijanis claim a historic right to it and have battled over it periodically for generations. The United States, together with Russia and France, is one of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, which continues to work hard to promote a settlement of the conflict. Our demining assistance is an important part of a broad effort to promote confidence-building measures that contribute to a positive atmosphere conducive to negotiations on a peaceful solution to the conflict.

I made this proposal to Presidents Kocharian of Armenia and Aliyev of Azerbaijan while on a working visit to the region early last year. Both accepted. President Shevardnadze of Georgia generously offered to host contingents of humanitarian deminer trainees, and to provide a Georgian contingent as well in the name of regional cooperation. Each contingent consists of fifteen deminers and five auxiliary personnel (such as translators). The high standards of the U.S. Military humanitarian demining program will enable the sixty participants to pass along the lessons they learn to others in their respective armies.

All three countries have received demining equipment essential for mine clearance operations from the State Department's Office of Humanitarian Demining Programs. (Assistance to Azerbaijan is provided through a humanitarian exemption to Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, which imposes some restrictions on U.S. assistance.) This support underscores the U.S. commitment to peace and stability in the Southern Caucasus.

The United States had led the world in humanitarian demining assistance since 1988, when it supported clearance of the vast numbers of landmines laid in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation. Fully one quarter of the world's humanitarian deminers have received training through the U.S. Department of Defense's "Train the Trainer" program. Since 1993, the U.S. has committed more than $400 million toward humanitarian mine action initiatives in 37 mine-affected countries. The assistance is provided by a number of federal agencies under the U.S. Humanitarian Demining Program, led by the Department of State.

Under the "Beecroft Initiative," Armenian and Azerbaijani troops have successfully cooperated in joint training for the first time since the two nations declared their independence in the post-Soviet era. We hope this historic step can be a precedent for other peaceful, collaborative efforts between them, as well as a model for cooperative activities among states throughout the region.

Robert M. Beecroft is Deputy Special Advisor to the President and the Secretary of State for Dayton Implementation, and former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)