| U.S.
Campaign to Ban Landmines In this edition. . .
USCBL Calls on Congressional Appropriators to Support Increased Funding for Demining, Fulfill President's Demining Commitment In a letter sent to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations Subcommittee (the committee that funds U.S. foreign assistance programs), the USCBL asked House appropriators to increase funding for U.S. humanitarian demining assistance. The Bush administration's FY 2007 budget request asks for $64.3 million for humanitarian demining. When announcing its new landmine policy in 2004, the administration pledged to increase humanitarian demining assistance by 50% over 2003 levels. The $64.3 million administration request falls short of this commitment. House and Senate appropriators need to show support for demining by meeting the president's commitment and restore funding for humanitarian demining at least back to previous levels. Click here to read the letter the USCBL sent to House appropriators. Mines, the Biggest Challenge for Returnees April 20, 2006 The Monitor (Kampala) By Agnes Asiimwe It may not just be a few rebel remnants believed to be scattered in Acholi land that are in the way of the Internally Displaced People's return to their villages, but deadly explosives. In March, a man was digging in his garden, in Jenggani village, in Pabbo Sub- County, when he saw a metal, which he discarded and went on with his digging. A child later picked up the attractive object and played with it. He was in a moment joined by six others. Minutes later, the landmine exploded, severely injuring all the seven children. In January, in Paicho, Acwa sub-country, three children were injured by a landmine. Fear of landmines Besides the fear of rebels, there is also the fear of explosives, bombs and landmines that are still lying in the countryside. According to the Mine Risk Coordinator at the Canadian Physician for Aid and Relief, (CPAR), Mr Douglas Kilama, the LRA mainly set these on pathways to forests and wells, targeting people looking for firewood and water. Sometimes, the rebels plant the landmines along their routes as they retreat to stop the government forces from following them. CPAR, educates communities on mine risks through music and drama. "It is still unsafe and people must be cautious especially in the counties of Aromo, Okwang and Ogur in Lira district," Kilama said. Ms Monica Piloya, 31, the chairperson of Gulu Landmine Survivors Association is certain there are many explosives scattered in the north, because people are still being hit. "Before people are resettled, the government should ensure that landmines are picked, there are many out there, people will die and there will be many victims," she told Daily Monitor in her office last week. "This should be a priority". A landmine hit Piloya in 1996 on her way to the market in Unyama village. Her baby, whom she was carrying on her back when she got hit never made it. She was amputated and walks with an artificial limb. The association has over 400 members (from Gulu district), all of whom are survivors of landmines. Kilama said the dead outnumber the survivors. To read the full story, go to: http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200604190581.html Massaro: Teacher, students war against minefields AURORA - Christine Sundberg and her Hinkley High School students will have to shoot for the moon to get accolades next. Sundberg has already been singled out for local, national and international recognition - all for working with her students to make people aware of the hazards of minefields, and for fundraising efforts to pay to have them cleared. Sundberg and her crew have been credited with the clearing of three minefields in Mozambique. Unfortunately, it's a work in progress as the more wars there are, the more minefields that are planted and then left behind to reap a deadly harvest. The project started as a project for Hinkley's International Baccalaureate students. But it has grown to be schoolwide. Students chose the land mine project. Sundberg met with them on their own time. She guided them through research. She kept the discussion going as to how they could use the information to share with other students and in turn raise money for clearing the fields. "Since we started three years ago, we've raised $20,000," Sundberg said. Sundberg's students sponsor Landmine Awareness Day, asking classmates for pocket change. "Three years ago, we raised $900. This year, it was $600," Sundberg said. "These kids are poor, but so incredibly generous." She took a group of students on a tour of Mozambique. They made a DVD of their experience that was used in a public service message by former Beatle Paul McCartney. To read the full story, go to: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/cda/article_print/0,1983,DRMN_86_4635573_ARTICLE-DETAIL-PRINT,00.html UN demining official warns of budget gap if no new donors come forward 24 April 2006 – After benefiting from a surge in funding following the fall of the Taliban at the end of 2001 and consequently clearing over half the minefields in Afghanistan, the United Nations Mine Action Programme for the country (MAPA) is currently projecting a funding shortfall in 2006, one of its officials said today. “If no new donor commitments are made, we will be forced to reduce the number of demining teams employed in the field,” John Flanagan, Deputy Director of the United Nations Mine Action service, said at a press conference in Kabul. Mr. Flanagan said that the shortfall would come at a critical time for demining in the country, since responsibility for the programme is being shifted to a mine action agency being created within the national Government. MAPA has already cleared more than 1 billion square metres of land since 1990. Around a further 716 million square metres of land remain to be cleared, according to estimates. Almost 329,000 anti-personnel mines, more than 18,000 anti-tank mines and nearly 7 million items of unexploded ordnance have been destroyed, Mr. Flanagan said. In addition, a nationwide survey of contaminated land in Afghanistan has been completed, and the number of highly-impacted communities has been cut by almost half since the initial data was collected through a combination of clearance, marking and mine risk education. “We hope that our donors will allow us to hand over a mine action programme that has enough sufficient financial resources to meet its many important targets in the future and one of those is an Afghanistan free of the threat of mines by 2013,” Mr. Flanagan concluded. Land Mines, Unexploded Ordnance Called Growing Problem in Colombia Washington – Land mines and unexploded ordnance represent a "grave and growing problem" in Colombia, warns the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF). In an April 25 statement, UNICEF said that in recent years, local production and use of anti-personnel land mines by illegal armed groups in Colombia has increased, placing children and women at highest risk. The U.N. agency said land mines are found in 31 of Colombia's 32 provinces. The land mines are not only in combat zones where the country's ongoing civil war is being fought, but with growing frequency in school yards, at local water sources and on rural access roads. As the United Nations’ lead agency for coordinating action against mines, UNICEF works with the Colombian government and more than 14 civil organizations in the Andean nation to raise awareness about the dangers of landmines and ordnances, to work towards prevention of accidents, and to support victims within the country's national anti-landmine plan. The U.S. State Department has called on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a left-wing group engaged in the long-running armed conflict against the Colombian government, to destroy its accumulated persistent land mines, booby traps and improvised explosive devices (IED). IEDs are explosive devices constructed in an improvised manner and designed to kill and maim people, or to destroy property. The State Department defines persistent land mines as munitions that remain lethal indefinitely, affecting civilians long after the cessation of military conflict. The United States supports mine-risk education and mine survivors' assistance coordination in Colombia through a $75,000 donation to the Organization of American States. Since 1993, the United States has provided about $1 billion for reducing, throughout the world, threats to innocent civilians posed by land mines left in the ground after conflicts end. That figure represents between one-third and one-half of all the money invested worldwide on mine action by donor nations, according to the State Department. To read the full story, go to: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2006&m=April&x=20060425141046AEneerG0.2172357&t=livefeeds/wf-latest.html Landmines Remain a Threat The landmine crisis is one of the most urgent and critical crises facing South Asia today. Landmines continue to jeopardise the security of the people in the region because it has paralyzed the countries. And the most disturbing fact is that majority of landmine victims are civilians and women. For individual and community alike many of whom are already living in poverty and insecurity, the impact of landmines is not simply physical, it is also psychological, social and economic. Every districts in Afaganistan, Pakistan, Shre Lanka, Bangaladesh, India, Kashmir or in Nepal, have had people killed or injured by landmines. The region, previously not significantly affected, now has more than hundred mines in area, and there are fears that the ongoing conflict in the region may lead to much wider use of landmines. As a consequence, the delivery of electricity and water becomes more sporadic in heavily mined areas. Irrigation systems become unusable. Transportation of goods and services is halted on mined roads and the roads themselves begin to deteriorate. Local businesses, unable to obtain supplies. Unemployment in those areas increases and the prices for scarce goods rise up. In those areas dependent upon outside aid for sustenance, the mining of roads can mean a sentence to death by starvation. To read the full story, go to: http://www.losangeleschronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=904 Claymore mines: 'Awful' weapon of Sri Lanka's rebels Sweat glistens on the faces of Sri Lankan army soldiers in the early-morning heat as they search the edges of a red-dirt road for the weapon that is increasingly killing them. Since December, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels have exploded dozens of Claymore mines, Scandinavian truce monitors say, in attacks that often cause multiple casualties not just among the military but also among civilians. "It's very effective and it can be handled by one person," said a member of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) overseeing a 2002 truce that is tenuously holding despite the escalating Claymore bombings and other violence. "It's an awful one, a nasty one," said the monitor in this northeastern port district which is home to a key naval base. On May 1 four civilians and a naval patrolman died when a Claymore rigged to a bicycle exploded to target a navy foot patrol in Trincomalee town, the military said. Eight other people, half of them naval troops, were wounded. The rebels and government reached a ceasefire in 2002 but violence began to worsen last December, partly because of the emergence of Claymores. Last month was the deadliest since the truce was signed, with mine blasts and other violence causing 191 deaths, mostly civilian, the SLMM said. Since late last year between 50 and 70 of the mines have exploded around the country, said Helen Olafsdottir, the SLMM spokeswoman. "It was only in December that we started seeing the use of Claymores. Before that it was more hand-grenade attacks and shooting incidents." Unlike a crude landmine usually buried in dirt, a Claymore is normally mounted above ground. Using hundreds of small steel balls, some models can cause casualties within a radius of 100 metres (110 yards). "They are very effective," defence ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said. Military vehicles are common targets. In Sri Lanka's northern Vavuniya district on April 15 a mine exploded when a bus full of troops passed, killing five soldiers and wounding 11, the military said. To read the full story, go to: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060508/wl_asia_afp/srilankaunrestclaymore_060508060209 For more information on the US Campaign to Ban Landmines, go to www.banminesusa.org U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines To make a donation to the US Campaign to Ban Landmines go to: www.banminesusa.org/support/body.html and click on Donate. |
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