News – February 2026

  • Ukraine: Demining Program Clears 1340 Hectares of Agricultural Land in January 2026

    February 7, 2026

    Under the state program to compensate for demining costs, mine-action operators cleared 1,340 hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine in January; the cost of the works amounted to 76.43 million hryvnias. According to the Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture, such a volume of work confirms activity in the field of demining agricultural plots. Specifically, during ...

  • Afghanistan: Child killed, another child and their mother injured in explosion in Nangarhar

    February 6, 2026

    A child was killed andkwhen an unexploded shell detonated in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, Taliban officials said Thursday. The Taliban’s provincial police command said in a statement that the blast occurred in the Hisar Shahi village of Rodat district after several children collecting scrap metal brought home an old shell. Family members, unaware of the danger, ...

  • Angola: From scarcity to pride, how one country rebuilt its food culture after decades of war

    February 6, 2026

    For decades, Angola’s food system barely functioned. During the civil war, landmines rendered vast areas unfarmable, cutting off both agriculture and internal transport. Anything not grown on a windowsill was imported, usually from Portugal — and unaffordable for most people. The oil boom created a new elite and drove massive food imports, pushing prices even higher. ...

  • A deminer’s archive: Ancient artifacts found in the minefields of Artsakh

    February 5, 2026

    For a deminer, an object found in the ground usually represents a lethal threat. For David Simonyan, however, the soil of Artsakh kept more than the dangers left from war. Simonyan is a former HALO Trust worker, whose career in humanitarian demining began in 2003. Following the first Nagorno-Karabakh war in the 1990s, the soil was ...

  • Syria: Security teams clear mines from key road in eastern Aleppo

    February 4, 2026

    Engineering teams from Syria’s Internal Security Forces began clearing mines and improvised explosive devices on Wednesday from a key road linking the Qarah Qozak Bridge with the town of Shuyukh in eastern Aleppo province, the Interior Ministry said. The devices had been planted along the road in the Ain al-Arab region, according to the ministry, which ...

  • Afghanistan: 87 killed by unexploded ordnance last year

    February 4, 2026

    At least 87 people were killed and 333 injured in incidents involving unexploded ordnance across Afghanistan over the past year, the Taliban-run disaster management authority (ANDMA) said on Wednesday. The ANDMA said 193 incidents linked to unexploded bombs and mines were recorded nationwide during the period. Mohammad Yousof Hamad, Taliban spokesman for the ANDMA, said the ...

  • Lebanon has decided to join the Mine Ban Treaty

    February 3, 2026

    Following the signing of the accession decree, the treaty will enter into force for Lebanon six months after deposit with the UN. This progress reflects decades of work by Lebanese civil society and mine action partners, and brings hope to communities still affected by landmines. Read more… Source: Facebook – International Campaign to Ban Landmines Related:  

  • Afghanistan ranked 3rd globally for unexploded ordnance casualties

    February 3, 2026

    The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says Afghanistan ranks third in the world for casualties caused by blasts of unexploded ordnance, with remnants of past wars continuing to claim lives across the country. UNAMA called for increased financial support for non-governmental mine-clearance organisations, explaining these groups clear landmines and other unexploded munitions left behind ...