Sri Lanka: U.S. Demining Group Completes Operations

A U.S.-sponsored Quick Reaction Demining Force (QRDF) completed its work in Sri Lanka on October 25, 2002.

Invited by the Government of Sri Lanka and funded by the U.S. Department of State, the QRDF team had been in Sri Lanka since last April. On October 24-25 the team released nearly 123,000 square meters of land, located in the Sarasalai area of Jaffna, to Sri Lankan authorities.

This land has been cleared in compliance with exacting international humanitarian demining standards, and cleared of 980 anti-personnel mines and 42 pieces of unexploded ordnance. Additionally, the team collected and destroyed numerous other pieces of unexploded ordnance from elsewhere in the region, which had been brought to its attention by local residents.

Mr. Murphey McCloy, Jr., the U.S. State Department’s Senior Demining Advisor, described the QRDF project as "slow, time-consuming work." Now that it has been completed, however, "people can have confidence that the areas in which we have worked have been demined to international standards."

The U.S. remains fully committed to supporting humanitarian mine clearance in Sri Lanka.  In early 2003 – following the conclusion of the northeast monsoon – the U.S. will support the next step in the demining effort:  establishing a humanitarian mine clearance training program for Sri Lankan civilian and military personnel so that Sri Lankans can continue the work in their own country.

Said U.S. Ambassador E. Ashley Wills of the demining effort:  "The American Embassy is proud to assist the people and Government of Sri Lanka in this important step of rehabilitation and reconstruction, which, in turn, will reinforce the peace process."  Ambassador Wills emphasized that demining, as well as the removal of unexploded ordnance, is "for the benefit of all Sri Lankans:  Tamil, Sinhalese, and Muslim."