A Visit to a Demining Site in Sri Lanka

Posted by Emily Fleckner / January 29, 2012

A female deminer places a disarmed landmine in the safety area of a minefield in Kilinochchi in the northern peninsula of Sri Lanka, February 24, 2004. [AP Photo]

I admit I was slightly relieved when our armored car got stuck in a thick pool of mud about a quarter of a mile down the jungle road that led to the minefield. I had arrived in Sri Lanka just two days earlier, and everyone told me that a visit to the former conflict area of Kilinochchi was essential to understanding the Northern Sri Lankan experience. I, however, was growing increasingly nervous as our bumpy ride brought us closer to the fields where the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan military buried tens of thousands of compact but powerful mines as they advanced and retreated through the lives and lands of rural farmers during Sri Lanka's 27-year civil war. After all, our wonderful hosts at The HALO Trust had just finished recounting the alarming frequency of mine discovery in Kilinochchi: they dug more mines out of the ground in Sri Lanka during the first… more »

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