RAIN DELAYS DE-MINING IN NORTH SRI LANKA, SAYS MILITARY

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Sept 12 (Bernama) -- The onset of the rainy season is likely to
hamper de-mining of landmines at former war zones in northern Sri Lanka, once
controlled by the now-defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sri Lanka military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the de-mining
works were underway but the monsoon could slow down works.

"De-mining is progressing speedily, we have employed more experts and
de-mining
equipment to clear the mines...but the rain could delay de-mining works. It is
not easy, de-mining is very time consuming.

"Lot of padi planting areas, such as the rice bowl areas in the north have
unexploded mines. We need to clear before farmers can move in. In Jaffna, we
have cleared about 10,000 sq km of padi land.

"Our priority is re-settlement (of Tamil refugees)," Nanayakkara told
Bernama
in a telephone interview from Colombo.

Since the quarter-century-old civil war ended when government troops
defeated
the heavily-armed LTTE last May, Sri Lankan army and foreign landmine and
de-mining specialists had been actively defusing unexploded mines in the
northern region.

The fleeing rebels had heavily mined northern districts like Mannar,
Mullaithivu and Kilinochchi during the final stages of the war, to thwart
the advancing Sri Lankan army.

Now, the unexploded landmines are posing a major setback for the government
to re-settle over 250,000 Tamils, displaced by the prolonged civil war and
currently camping in thousands of make-shift camps in Vavuniya in the north.

Though actual numbers of these explosives are not known, foreign agencies
had listed Sri Lanka as one of the most heavily land-mined countries in the
world.

-- BERNAMA