Afghanistan

Lipscomb and handler Elnur Mirzaliyev

At the request of the US Government, MLI supplied Azerbaijan with six mine detection dogs in April 2005 to integrate into their humanitarian demining operations. The dogs arrived healthy and happy at their kennels in Horadiz.

MLI raised the funds from a variety of private sources. Lipscomb was sponsored by the Students for International Peace and Justice at Lipscomb University and the Laura J. Niles Foundation. The Foundation also sponsored three other dogs Duco, Tessa and Danik. Fowler was a gift of Dr. Beall and Linny Fowler and Alliant Techsystems, Inc. provided the sixth dogs named Oscar. The dogs have begun the basic handler course with their Azeri handlers.

MLI President Perry Baltimore traveled to Azerbaijan as part of the scheduled Donor Recognition Trip from 13-17 June. During the visit, the group attended briefings with ANAMA (Azerbaijan National Agency for Mine Action) and the US Embassy, traveled to Fuzuli to observe manual clearance operations and mine detection dogs that are working there as well as meeting mine victims in Terter, viewing clearance operations there and viewing mine risk education programs. The delegation also visited Khanlar to observe mine risk education and mine victims assistance programs.

Nearly all of the mines in Azerbaijan were laid during the country's conflict with neighboring Armenia from 1988-1994 over the disputed region of Nagorno Karabakh. Approximately one fifth of the Azeri population is composed of internally displaced persons who cannot return home for fear of landmines. As part of ANAMA's scheduled expansion, the Azeri Government has requested MLI's assistance to provide an additional 12 dogs to accelerate the pace of humanitarian demining.