06-30-2004, 08:11 AM
<span style='font-size:25pt;line-height:100%'>Local-Foreigner Tussles Plague De-mining in Sri Lanka</span>
Champika Liyanaarachchi
OneWorld South Asia
29 June 2004
COLOMBO, June 29 (OneWorld) - The latest attack on a foreign de-mining organization in Sri Lanka has brought to the fore the resentment against such groups, which are accused of ill-treating local employees and overpricing their services.
Last week's attack on a British nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in the North, the Halo Trust, came at a time when it was facing criticism for laying off dozens of locals and not compensating employees adequately for work related accidents.
Disgruntled locals are believed to have engineered the attack with the help of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The trust has been under pressure from the LTTE to shift its office to the eastern district of Trincomalee. This is reportedly partly because the Tamil Tigers fear that foreign spies may enter the region under the guise of working for the NGO.
The trust is funded by several governments, including those of Japan, Germany, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.
Last week, a group of armed men barged into the office of the Halo Trust in the northern capital city of Jaffna and assaulted three employees and set fire to some vehicles.
A spokesman for the Halo Trust maintains, "We are investigating the attack are not in a position to reveal anything." He says 90 locals trained by the trust are working for it.
Interestingly, the assault occurred during the Unicef-coordinated Mine Risk Education (MRE) week – June 21-27 --, in which exhibitions and lectures were conducted in the region on avoiding mine explosions, especially among school children.
Since 1995, about 660 mine explosions in the war torn northern and eastern provinces have killed and maimed thousands. De-mining is key to the safe rehabilitation of around 800,000 people who have been displaced by two decades of conflict.
Last month, the Jaffna District Mine Action Operational Headquarters announced 2006 as the deadline for clearing all the mines in the district of Jaffna, where 60 percent of the mines are believed to be buried.
But authorities specified that the deadline was viable only if the present truce with the LTTE lasted and adequate funds continued coming in.
Says the spokesman for Halo Trust "We think the teams here can reach the deadline of 2006 if work is not hampered."
Disagrees Nanda Godage, the chairman of the de-mining unit of the local NGO Milinda Moragoda Institute of People Empowerment. "Setting deadlines for de-mining is unrealistic. Especially since we don't know how many mines are there," he avers.
But foreign teams say they aim to destroy all the one million mines that are reportedly buried in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, no one knows where this figure came from and local NGOs feel foreign groups are exaggerating the number to gain more donor funds.
Advocates Godage, "A more scientific method of ascertaining the number of mines is necessary. According to our calculations, the number of mines buried in Sri Lanka is less than half a million."
The project run by Godage's organization charges US $3 per square meter for de-mining, in contrast to foreign teams, some of which extract between $25 and $30 for a square meter.
Asserts the head of a leading NGO in Jaffna, "Everybody should condemn the attack on the Halo Trust. But authorities should probe what these (foreign) mine action teams are doing here because de-mining appears to have become a lucrative business."
He charges that several foreign teams are making big money and "have fleets of vehicles" but seem to be doing little work.
Among the foreign groups actively engaged in de-mining is a Danish team that has cleared about 8,000 square kilometers in North of Jaffna in the last four months, and the residents of these areas are now allowed to resettle.
Sri Lanka Army personnel trained by the American organization RONCO are also engaged in de-mining in the North. The army is believed to have buried mines in 3,000 sites and had provided details of these to local authorities following the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the government and rebels in February 2002.
The largest NGO operating in the North and East, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, recently charged that there was a move to resettle civilians in un-cleared areas in a bid to make it appear like the resettlement process was on track.
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/88962/1/
Champika Liyanaarachchi
OneWorld South Asia
29 June 2004
COLOMBO, June 29 (OneWorld) - The latest attack on a foreign de-mining organization in Sri Lanka has brought to the fore the resentment against such groups, which are accused of ill-treating local employees and overpricing their services.
Last week's attack on a British nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in the North, the Halo Trust, came at a time when it was facing criticism for laying off dozens of locals and not compensating employees adequately for work related accidents.
Disgruntled locals are believed to have engineered the attack with the help of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The trust has been under pressure from the LTTE to shift its office to the eastern district of Trincomalee. This is reportedly partly because the Tamil Tigers fear that foreign spies may enter the region under the guise of working for the NGO.
The trust is funded by several governments, including those of Japan, Germany, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands.
Last week, a group of armed men barged into the office of the Halo Trust in the northern capital city of Jaffna and assaulted three employees and set fire to some vehicles.
A spokesman for the Halo Trust maintains, "We are investigating the attack are not in a position to reveal anything." He says 90 locals trained by the trust are working for it.
Interestingly, the assault occurred during the Unicef-coordinated Mine Risk Education (MRE) week – June 21-27 --, in which exhibitions and lectures were conducted in the region on avoiding mine explosions, especially among school children.
Since 1995, about 660 mine explosions in the war torn northern and eastern provinces have killed and maimed thousands. De-mining is key to the safe rehabilitation of around 800,000 people who have been displaced by two decades of conflict.
Last month, the Jaffna District Mine Action Operational Headquarters announced 2006 as the deadline for clearing all the mines in the district of Jaffna, where 60 percent of the mines are believed to be buried.
But authorities specified that the deadline was viable only if the present truce with the LTTE lasted and adequate funds continued coming in.
Says the spokesman for Halo Trust "We think the teams here can reach the deadline of 2006 if work is not hampered."
Disagrees Nanda Godage, the chairman of the de-mining unit of the local NGO Milinda Moragoda Institute of People Empowerment. "Setting deadlines for de-mining is unrealistic. Especially since we don't know how many mines are there," he avers.
But foreign teams say they aim to destroy all the one million mines that are reportedly buried in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, no one knows where this figure came from and local NGOs feel foreign groups are exaggerating the number to gain more donor funds.
Advocates Godage, "A more scientific method of ascertaining the number of mines is necessary. According to our calculations, the number of mines buried in Sri Lanka is less than half a million."
The project run by Godage's organization charges US $3 per square meter for de-mining, in contrast to foreign teams, some of which extract between $25 and $30 for a square meter.
Asserts the head of a leading NGO in Jaffna, "Everybody should condemn the attack on the Halo Trust. But authorities should probe what these (foreign) mine action teams are doing here because de-mining appears to have become a lucrative business."
He charges that several foreign teams are making big money and "have fleets of vehicles" but seem to be doing little work.
Among the foreign groups actively engaged in de-mining is a Danish team that has cleared about 8,000 square kilometers in North of Jaffna in the last four months, and the residents of these areas are now allowed to resettle.
Sri Lanka Army personnel trained by the American organization RONCO are also engaged in de-mining in the North. The army is believed to have buried mines in 3,000 sites and had provided details of these to local authorities following the signing of a ceasefire agreement between the government and rebels in February 2002.
The largest NGO operating in the North and East, the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization, recently charged that there was a move to resettle civilians in un-cleared areas in a bid to make it appear like the resettlement process was on track.
http://southasia.oneworld.net/article/view/88962/1/
Truth 'll prevail