KATHMANDU, 13 August 2007 (IRIN) - Anti-landmine activists are concerned at the slowness in clearing landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the country. Many civilians, including children, continue to be at risk, said Ban Landmines Campaign Nepal (NCBL) on 13 August.

"This is a very serious humanitarian issue… because it is mainly Nepalese civilians who are suffering," prominent landmine-ban activist Purna Shova Chitrakar told IRIN.

Chitrakar said the government needs to come up with a concrete plan on de-mining, and support victims.

A decade-long armed conflict, which killed over 14,000 people, ended with the November 2006 peace agreement between former Maoist rebels and the Nepalese government.

One of the key agreements was to destroy all IEDs and landmines within 60 days of its signing, but eight months later none of the 53 minefields has been cleared, said activists.

Committees formed

Senior government officials from the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction, which is taking a lead in the de-mining, said the government is making plans to take action soon.

According to the ministry, the government has formed a National Mine Action Steering Committee and its members include senior officials from various key ministries. The Nepal Army (NA) has also established a mine action centre led by Brig-Gen Lok Bahadur Thapa.

With support from UN agencies, including the UN Mission in Nepal and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the government plans to focus on key areas like advocacy, mapping, mine clearance, victim support, mine risk education and stockpile destruction, said officials.

However, the fact that the government has not yet signed the international mine ban treaty - signed by 154 countries - is a problem. "Now that the conflict is over, the government needs to sign it so that our country is obliged to follow international norms," said Chitrakar.

Activists frustrated

Activists are frustrated over the lack of government action and concerned that too many people are living near landmines and IEDs.

"Explosions are taking place even now in civilian areas and the number of casualties is shockingly high," said Chitrakar.

According to UNICEF, which serves as Nepal's mine action focal point, there were at least 79 new victims, including 35 children, in 2007. Around 13 of them were killed, it said. The number of incidents was very high for a country in which armed conflict had ended, it added.

Mapping has been completed for landmines and UNICEF has so far provided 3,500 mine hazard signs at 53 minefields but finding all the IEDs is proving more difficult. It is these that are the main killers of civilians, according to various non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

IEDs kept in private houses

"We need maximum cooperation from civilians, otherwise the campaign will not work," UNICEF's bomb risk specialist Hugues Laurenge told IRIN. He expressed concern that a lot of IEDs were still lying around in private houses.

People are tempted to keep the IEDs to blast rock to create space for housing or road construction. Some also keep IEDs as souvenirs, activists said.

In May, nine civilians were killed in Palpa District, about 250km west of Kathmandu, after a bucket bomb hidden in a house by a local villager blew up.

Both the UN and government are now actively involved in educating civilians about landmines and IEDs but activists said more work needs to be done. The government has so far been able to train 330 police as mine-risk educators.

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