De-mining program proceeds with success: Only 96 square kilometres remain

The greatest challenge faced by the Government after the three-decade long conflict ended in May 2009 has been relocation of displaced communities back to their homes.

However most areas were heavily contaminated with mines, booby traps and Unexploded Ordnance (UXOs) placed indiscriminately by the LTTE.

In June 2009, the Government together with the support of donor countries such as, Australia, Japan, China, India, EU, USA, as well as the UNDP, UNICEF, National and International mine action operators, implemented a comprehensive and rapid de-mining program to clear 2064 square kilometres of land considered Confirmed Hazardous Areas (CHA) contaminated with mines, booby traps and Unexploded Ordnance (UXOs).

Within three-year period, the Government has been able to resettle all the internally displaced persons due to the conflict, due to the massive pace of de-mining. As per information provided by the National Mine Action Centre, established by the Ministry of Economic Development, the remaining Confirmed Hazard Areas (CHA) as at end March 2013 remains at only 96 square kilometres.

Accordingly, the total cleared areas stand at over 95% of the total and most of the remaining areas are covering with shrubs.

The Mine Action program is still continued by the Government with the support of the UNDP, UNICEF, the donor community, the Engineering Bridge of the Sri Lankan Army, and National and International de-mining organisations.

Since the gravity of the problem has gradually reduced, some of the de-mining organisations such as Sarvatra, Horizon and MMIPE have already moved out after completing their tasks and the remaining organisations are still continuing their assigned tasks in un-cleared areas.

It is expected that the other respective de-mining organisations will also move away on completion of their tasks at hand.

That is the normal process in a de-mining program in any country and hence funding is also based on the availability and seriousness of the task. If the land area to be cleared is in a decline; funding also reduces accordingly.

As the Engineering Brigade of Sri Lanka Army has the biggest resources pool, comprising of manual, mechanical including Mine Detecting Dogs (MDD), in case of completion of the given tasks by the International and National organisations operating in Sri Lanka, the Engineering Brigade will continue operations until completion.