The European Commission has approved a major project to support the second phase of a nationwide landmine impact survey for Somalia. In a statement on Wednesday, the EC said it had allocated US $1.73 million to the project. An EC official told IRIN that this second phase - to be implemented by the UN Development Programme and the UN Office for Project Services - will be carried out in the self-declared autonomous region of Puntland and southern Somalia, particularly in the Baidoa area, "security and access permitting".

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