UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Land mines and other unexploded ordnance threaten one in every five Iraqi communities and will have to be cleaned up before the country can get back on its feet, a U.S.-based group said on Friday.
A survey of 10,049 Iraqi communities conducted by the Washington-based Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation found that 2,029 were contaminated by mines and other explosive munitions, the group reported.
"It comes as a surprise to no one that after decades of internal and international conflict, Iraq is littered with land mines and bombs," said Joe Donahue, the foundation's vice president.
"The present conflict notwithstanding, Iraq has no hope of healing and recovering its economic footing without prompt attention to this problem by the rest of the world," he said in a statement.
Iraq is among the most mine-infested countries in the world following the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, the 1991 Gulf War, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and decades of internal conflict, said the foundation, an international humanitarian organization that aims to address the causes, conduct and consequences of war.
The survey, conducted through visits to each community by foundation teams, was financed mainly by the U.S. State Department with support from the U.N. Development Program.
During the visits, which began last May and are continuing, foundation staff hold town meetings to help community residents map unexploded mine locations and steer clear of those areas.
The foundation said it has done similar survey work in Afghanistan, Armenia, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo, Lebanon, Thailand, Vietnam and Yemen.