After two decades of armed conflict, landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) pose a serious impediment to resettling families and rebuilding their shattered villages. Thousands of people have been killed or injured by the mines which are planted on jungle tracks and around plantations, wells, highways and villages in the north and east. Government officials estimate both sides laid 1.5 million mines. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) puts the figure at 1 million. Around 75,180 had been cleared by the start of 2006. "Most of the anti-tank mines have been cleared, but there are hundreds of thousands of anti-personnel mines. We are trying to clear areas where people want to live and work," said Charles Frisby, head of the largest mine-clearing team. Sri Lanka has not joined the Mine Ban Treaty. The government has repeatedly indicated this depends on the success of the peace process. The New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch says the rebels have continued to train child soldiers how to use mines. One girl recruited at 17 told them: "Sometime a landmine would explode and children would be injured. Their fingers, hands, face ...I was scared to handle them." The UNDP has records of 1,269 civilian mine/UXO casualties from 1995 to July 2005 - 188 killed and 1,081 injured - but it believes the actual number is higher. However, it says there has been a significant drop in casualties in recent years. Some mines are homemade devices fashioned by the Tigers, but most are commercially purchased mines made in Pakistan, China or Italy.The Tigers have been blamed for a spate of claymore mine attacks on troops since late 2005, but deny responsibility. Claymores are blocks of plastic explosive which send ball bearings and shrapnel flying out when set off. Another type of device is the bounding fragmentation mine, which springs out of the ground when stepped on before exploding mid-air. Frisby heads the Norwegian People's Aid demining project which clears about 500 mines a month. His team of around 550 deminers, mainly local farmers or ex-fighters, earn about 11,000 rupees ($110) a month, a relatively high salary for the region. After the tsunami some land previously classified as low priority, especially on the Jaffna peninsula, was reclassified as high priority due to the urgent need to rehouse survivors. Civilian landmine casualties:
Source: UNDP Further reading:
Reuters photo: A landmine victim at a rehabilitation center in Kilinochchi. By Anuruddha Lokuhapuarachchi. |
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