UN praises Sri Lanka’s de-mining progress

(Aug. 21, 2012) A United Nations spokesman has praised Sri Lanka’s progress in removing landmines from former war-torn areas. “It has achieved excellent results. Sri Lanka may complete the process soon,” said Subinay Nandy, the UN’s resident representative at a recent progress review in Colombo. Nandy attributed the achievement to the efficient coordination of efforts made by several different bodies. The country is now in its third year of peace after government forces defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers in May 2009. But the presence of landmines, buried in villages, forests and agricultural lands, remains a deadly threat. According to the Ministry of Defense, almost half a million anti-personnel mines, 1,395 anti-tank mines and nearly 400,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance had been recovered as of June 2012. Removal work is being carried out by the humanitarian unit of the Sri Lankan army alongside organizations such as the India Sarvatra Group, the Swiss Foundation for De-mining and others. Around 3,600 people have been deployed for the high risk de-mining process. Some of them are war widows who have been trained for the task. Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told a recent international seminar for military officials: “Mines had been laid over 5,000 square kilometers of land and de-mining such a vast area was a very difficult challenge.” Approximately 126 sq km of land remains to be cleared. The National Mine Action Centre expects completion by the end of this year.