Group: Work half done to clear world of land mines Nov 13, 2009
2 square miles (3 square kilometers) a year, despite large resources for demining ... Demining activity was strongest last year in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Croatia, the study said. (MSNBC -- International)
Undoing the past in Cambodia Nov 6, 2009
Years later, when the United Nations came in to help restore peace to Cambodia, Aki Ra decided he needed to undo the damage he and others had done, so he began demining on his own after spending a year training with U.N. deminers ... Heng Ratana, director general of the government's demining agency --- the Cambodian Mine Action Centre --- said the major period of landmine use in the country was from 1970 to 1998, a period that covered civil war, take over by the , invasion and occupation by the... (CNN -- International)
Mozambique: Demining - the Devil is in the Detail Nov 6, 2009
com: Mozambique: Demining - the Devil is in the Detail (Page 1 of 2). Demining - the Devil is in the Detail ... Tirebuck visited the site many times in preparation for demining. (allAfrica.com)
Mozambique: How to Demine - the Devil is in the Detail Nov 4, 2009
Tirebuck visited the site many times in preparation for demining ... A report detailing the position of a destroyed mine or UXO, as well as the ground cleared is sent to the Mozambique National Demining Institute every month ... If communications are not working, neither do the deminers; if an accident occurs, all HALO's demining operations throughout Mozambique stop to keep the airwaves clear. (allAfrica.com)
First Mine-Free Farms in Guinea Bissau Since 35 Years Oct 10, 2009
Since July, HUMAID, an international NGO, has cleared three-quarters of the 98,000 sqm of contaminated land in the two demining sites ... HUMAID collaborates with the National Coordination Centre for Mine Action (CAMI), the government body in charge of coordinating all demining activities. (allAfrica.com)
Sri Lanka under fire for lack of Tamil reconciliation Sep 22, 2009
Last Friday, President Mahinda Rajapaksa announced he would ensure the return of all refugees by January, after demining operations were completed in the areas around their homes. The government has also said it wants to ensure that it identifies any Tamil militants among the displaced before allowing them to go home. (Christian Science Monitor -- World)
* Sri Lanka vows to send Tamils home Sep 20, 2009
DOUBTS: Demining experts and a lawmaker said the feat could be unrealistic, while rights groups and aid workers hope refugees can be moved before the monsoon AP, COLOMBO Sunday, Sep 20, 2009, Page 5 ... Rajapaksa told Pascoe he expects that new demining equipment will allow all the ethnic Tamil civilians in the camps to be resettled by the end of January, a statement from the presidents office said ... An opposition ethnic Tamil lawmaker also welcomed the governments decision on resettlement... (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World Business)
Colombia's rebels step up a brutal tactic Sep 8, 2009
Today, government demining teams are advancing inch by inch along the trail, clearing the area of land mines and booby traps left behind by rebels ... Just a few hundred feet from the school in Boquern, the demining team found three homemade land mines glass bottles filled with explosives and with syringes serving as pressure triggers ... "It's exhausting and very stressful, checking an area millimeter by millimeter," says Lt. Juan Carlos Betancourt, commander of the demining platoon. (Christian Science Monitor -- USA)
Sudan: Malakal Minefields Still a Challenge Jul 28, 2009
Two demining teams are working in the town and expect to complete the job by June 2010 ... Demining in Upper Nile is done for eight months, and then temporarily suspended during rainy season ... While the rains restrict demining activity, they soften the soil and make it easy for the mines to be triggered. (allAfrica.com)
• Sri Lanka keeps refugees in camp that aid built Jul 19, 2009
Demining experts say Rajapaksa is grossly exaggerating the problem, with one estimating that only 2 to 3 percent of the region might be mined ... But deminers have been barred from all but a tiny corner of the former war zone, said three people involved in the demining process. (Burley South Idaho Press, ID)
* FEATURE : Female demining teams tackle Sudans legacy of war Jul 13, 2009
FEATURE : Female demining teams tackle Sudans legacy of war ... Annet is part of an all-female demining team, working to make safe the dangerous former battlefields of southern Sudan and open up land so people can return home ... But it is important work: I became a demining lady because I saw my friends injured, even some died, the 27-year-old added. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- World)
* Attack kills two at NATO base Jul 7, 2009
Wardak criticized the demining team X part of the UNs effort to rid the country of decades of planted land mines X for going into the area without informing the police. Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and the increase in violence amid a thriving Taliban insurgency has slowed clearance work. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Business)
Gunmen kidnap 16 Afghan U.N. demining workers Jul 5, 2009
GARDEZ, Afghanistan (Reuters) Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped 16 Afghans working for a United Nations-sponsored demining agency in eastern Afghanistan, U.N. officials and police said on Sunday. The Afghan deminers work for the Mine Detection and Dog Center (MDDC), part of the overall U.N. mine clearing agency in Afghanistan known as UNMACA. They were seized while traveling between Khost and Paktia provinces late on Saturday, Paktia's police chief said. (Yahoo News -- Politics)
Sudan: Demining Not Just a Man's Job Jun 24, 2009
com: Sudan: Demining Not Just a Man's Job (Page 1 of 1). Sudan: Demining Not Just a Man's Job ... Besta's all-female demining team is a first for Sudan, although successful examples are found in Kosovo and Cambodia. (allAfrica.com)
'LTTE using suicide bombs to prevent civilians from leaving' Apr 2, 2009
This demining can be done only under certain norms laid down by the UN, said Jayasinghe, adding that these were not concentration camps but short term dwelling places until the original homes are restored. The Sri Lankan government has declared a no fire zone within the pockets held by LTTE from Puttumattalam to Karaiyamudlivaikai and has urged civilians to move there. (India Times, India -- Community News)
Fields of fear Mar 11, 2009
"It's more and more difficult for us to get the funds," says Claus Nelson, the head of the Lebanon operations for Danish Church Aid - one of the many demining organisations that work in Lebanon. Danish Church Aid is one of the groups still clearing mines. (BBC News -- Africa)
* Project to clear up Kinmen landmines to start next month Feb 19, 2009
In December, the Kinmen Defense Command ordered that de-mining operations over a 20 hectare area in Kuningtou Village (jY) be suspended pending consultations with the islands residents, who complained that the demining destroyed nearly 1,000 of their ancestors graves. Kuningtou was the site of a 1949 battle in which Republic of China forces defeated two invading regiments of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army. (Taipei Times, Taiwan -- Taiwan)
Mozambique: Country Given More Time for Mine Clearance Feb 14, 2009
According to the director of the Mozambican National Demining Institute, Julio Braga, during this period, 8. 5 million US dollars will be spent on demining ... Since the signing of the peace agreement between the government and the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels in October 1992, demining has been under way, but Mozambique has not yet met its targets, partly because of difficult access mined areas. (allAfrica.com)
