As the Government of Sri Lanka feel that an end to the war is in sight, areas of land are now being released for mine clearance.

The Government has stated its intention to return 80 per cent of the displaced people by December 2009, while publicly acknowledging that Humanitarian Mine Action will be an important requirement in the process. [1]

In response to the expected return of the internally displaced population, MAG has moved additional assets from Batticaloa, in the East of the country, to the district of Mannar in the north west. MAG now has three teams conducting Community Liaison (CL) surveys. One Mechanical Team and one team of deminers are deployed to conduct technical surveys.

MAG focuses on defining safe areas that can be used immediately by the civilian population and to identify high risk areas for further potential clearance activities. MAG's survey teams collect data from various sources to establish the level, location and impact that mines and unexploded ordnance have on the communities and their plans for return.

The first source of information in the task area has been the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), who have provided guides and information so that the teams have been able to enter the contentious areas. In addition, the teams have located and met with the local people and then physically mapped the areas on foot. All information is cross-referenced, categorised and geo-referenced to give an overall picture on the ground. This information is used to support the risk assessment of the areas and ultimately the documentation required by the District Mine Action Office necessary to issue low risk certificates.

Following the Community Liaison survey teams is the technical survey team. This team uses a Bozena, a mechanical demining machine, and are deployed to areas where there is a probability of mines in order to verify the presence or absence of mines.

Findings on the ground indicate the use of 'nuisance mining'. A tactic of laying mines which makes finding the location, identification and removal of the mines extremely difficult. Nuisance mining tends to focus on causing casualties in areas where people feel safest, therefore demoralising troops and creating fear of movement amongst soldiers causing delays. Target areas tend to be gathering points such as road junctions, shaded areas, water sources and shelter, such as houses. This tactic is particularly hazardous to people returning to their homes as there is no marking of these areas as being mined.

Of MAGs allocated task area of 10 square kilometres around the villages of Killikaddaikadu, Nilachenai and Palaikuli, MAG expect to release 6 square kilometres in the coming days through non technical survey only. The remaining consists of both barrier and nuisance mining augmented with booby-trapping and will require considerable effort to further define the extent of contamination and the threat posed to returning communities.

Note:

[1] Basil Rajapaksa, during the IDP return ceremony in Musali 30/04/09

For more information about MAG's work in Sri Lanka please visit www.maginternational.org/srilanka.