COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
Unexploded ordnance (UXOs)
25.12 The South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) 2010 timeline 503 , undated, accessed on 1 June
2011, mentioned the demining work carried out by the Sri Lanka Army‘s de-mining Field
Engineer troops and NGOs in the northern and eastern Districts of Jaffna, Kilinochchi,
Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee and recorded (4 January
2010) that ―At present, troops are continuing their de-mining work in Vedithalattivu
(Mannar), Mankulam (Kilinochchi) and Thunukkai-Amathipuram (Mullaitivu) areas. Initial
surveys have confirmed that about 600 square kilometres area still remains to be
cleared of mines and UXOs.‖ With regards to the situation at a later stage (28
November 2010), the same source added: ―Military Spokesman Major General Ubhaya
Medawala has told the local media that the Army Field Engineers have so far cleared
over 306,000 mines in a land area of 1,863 square kilometres in the North and East.‖
25.13 A letter from the British High Commission (BHC), Colombo, dated 13 August 2010 504 ,
reported that:
―A Senior Military Official from the Sri Lankan Army based in Jaffna told us that demining
was continuing in the district and in his opinion it would be two years before all
mines were cleared. The Sri Lankan Army were working with a number of mine
clearance organisations and met regularly. He added that the army are conducting a
programme of mine education with the local population. Unfortunately there had been
two recent incidents of IDP injuries following explosions of mines/mortars.
―A Senior Military Official said that there was a lot of demining being carried out in
Kilinochchi district by the military and NGOs, which was being monitored by the
Presidential Taskforce. He stressed that this was a very slow business as there were 3
or 4 bund lines which were believed to be heavily mined.
―A Senior Government Official in Kilinochchi stated that demining was still being carried
out in the district. There were several bunds which were proving particularly difficult so
the whole process would take time. She said that fortunately there had been no recent
casualties from exploding mines, but added that all returning IDPs are educated at
transit points about identifying minefields and the different types of unexploded
ordinance.
―A senior government official for Mullaitivu told the BHC team that ―The division of
Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) was where demining had not yet commenced. She said that
she was working with the Sri Lankan Army, the demining NGOs and UNHCR on the
resettlement programme.‖
25.14 On 3 may 2011 the Sri Lanka Daily Mirror 505 reported that:
―A total of 353,784 mines have been cleared and destroyed by the Army Field
Engineers and other organisations engaged in de-mining activities in the Northern and
503 South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), 2010 timeline,
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/shrilanka/timeline/2010.htm date accessed 1 June 2011
504 British High Commission, Colombo, letter dated 13 August 2010
505 Daily Mirror, 353,784 mines cleared in North and East, 3 May 2011,
http://print.dailymirror.lk/news/news/42772.html date accessed 8 June 2011
194 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.