Govt aims to create landmine free Lanka

Rajmi Manatunga

COLOMBO: The Government is willing to become a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty of 1997 which requires State parties to refrain from using landmines, Nation Building and Development Secretary M.S. Jayasinghe said.

Addressing a ceremony organised by the Landmine Ban Advocacy Forum (LBAF) to launch the Landmine Monitor Report 2006, Jayasinghe who is also the Chairman of the National Steering Committee for Mine Action (NSCMA) said the Government is ready to sign the treaty and will do so in time to come.

Sri Lanka is among the 40 countries which are yet to sign the treaty which is formally known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personal Mines and on their Destruction. More than 150 States have so far ratified the treaty.

Jayasinghe said the Government's aim was to create a Sri Lanka free from landmine effects by 2008.

The Government has implemented a Mine Action Plan to achieve this goal.

"Around 150 million square metres of mine contaminated land have been cleared so far. The Sri Lanka Army has carried out nearly half of these clearance operations. Eight international non governmental organisations, local NGOs, the UNDP and UNICEF are also assisting the programme," he said.