SRI LANKA: Opposes Landmine Ban, But Turns to U.N for Help

By Feizal Samath Reprint | | Print |

Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Nov 21 1997 (IPS) - Landmines littering Sri Lanka’s north have slowed down the government’s efforts to resettle civilians in the Jaffna peninsula.

Hundreds of thousands of people fled the area two years ago during a successful military offensive to retake Jaffna town, the stronghold of the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The retreating rebels though left a chilling legacy of land mines that are strewn across the peninsula, hampering the army’s advance. Rebel ambushes and raids also forced the military to reinforce defence lines with landmines.

Some areas close to Jaffna, however, have been cleared of mines and residents are being urged to return. But vast stretches of farm land and villages in the peninsula remain mined. Those who remained in the war zone now live with the fear of being caught in the cross-fire or losing lives and limbs to landmines.

Children are particularly vulnerable. In the list of victims last month were two teenagers: a girl returning from school had her foot blown off by an anti-personnel mine, while a 15-year-old boy lost his left leg as he was herding cattle.

There are no official figures of casualties, but non- governmental groups say at least 196 people were killed between May and December 1996. The Jaffna peninsula until 1994 was home to some 700,000 people, most of them Tamils, the minority community that the Tiger rebels claim to represent.

‘Udayan’, a top-selling Tamil language weekly published from Jaffna, said 84 people died and 145 were injured between January and August last year.

The U.N, which has been helping other war-torn countries to clear mines, has offered to help Sri Lanka following a request from Colombo that it needed to speed up the process of resettlement in the Jaffna peninsula.

“A U.N team visited Jaffna recently and assessed the extent of the problem. We are discussing further with the government on this issue,” said Arve Ofstad, the UNDP representative in Colombo. He told IPS that, according to his information, landmines maim or kill between 15 and 20 people in the Jaffna peninsula every month.

With the rebels and the army losing and gaining territory to each other all the time in the Jaffna peninsula, the military has lost track of the mined areas. Maps or other records are non- existent.

Ofstad said the U.N is awaiting government approval following preliminary discussions on a proposal to fly in a team of surveyors into Sri Lanka.

In a note on Oct. 15, the United Nations office in Colombo said the “government is keen to bring normalcy in the peninsula, but the chances are limited until the residential areas and the agricultural lands are cleared.”

The UNDP is offering to finance the de-mining operations in areas declared safe for civilians, and has submitted the recommendations made by an international expert to the Chandrika Kumaratunga government.

Included in the programme is the training of local volunteers and “people on how to avoid landmines plus a mine-awareness campaign”.

Civilian casualties have risen since the Sri Lankan army wrested back Jaffna from rebel hands. Before 1994, “civilian casualties were only occasionally reported,” says the U.N.

A spokesman at the Colombo office of the U.N children’s agency, UNICEF, said they have already begun a training programme on landmine awareness for 540 people including senior government officials and midwives.

UNICEF has also printed 5,000 awareness posters and an equal number of brochures for distribution among those returning to their homes. The spokesman said 500 sign boards were being dispatched to the forward defence lines and in areas where mines have exploded or are believed to be planted.

The mines are anti-personnel — pressure mines, claymore and anti-tank mines. There is also the ‘jony’ mine, devised by the Tamil rebels with deadly effect. There are no estimates of the number of mines in Sri Lanka, but according to U.N figures, there are an estimated 110 million live anti-personnel mines strewn around the world and another 100 million in stock.

The U.N has been trying to win worldwide approval for a campaign to ban landmines, which is being opposed by the United States and some other U.N member countries including Iran, South

Korea, India and Pakistan.

Sri Lanka too is not prepared to be a signatory to the Oslo treaty that is to be ratified next month by some 100 countries at a meeting.

Government officials say that Sri Lanka is opposing the ban for internal security reasons. “Sri Lanka welcomes, in principle, a verifiable ban on APLMs (anti-personnel landmines) but is not in a position to accede to such a treaty in the near future due to legitimate national security requirements arising out of the current situation,” a foreign ministry spokesman is quoted saying in the ‘Midweek Mirror’ newspaper.