A SCOTTISH charity says it has reached a significant milestone after clearing its 200,000th landmine from a former worn-torn part of Sri Lanka.
Work by the Halo Trust to make land that was once a battleground safe again has helped more than 150,000 people return home and resume their lives after years of displacement.
The area, in the north of the island country, was once the site of bitter battles between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tiger rebel group during the 26-year armed conflict, with both sides liberally littering the countryside with the deadly devices.
It is now hoped that Sri Lanka can be declared effectively land mine free by 2020 as the charity continues to play a major role in clearing mines from effected areas.
The Halo Trust, which is based in Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, has taken a lead role in the lengthy operation.
Damian O'Brien, Halo's Sri Lanka programme manager, said his teams were still clearing mines from people's back gardens.
He said: "Since 2002 we have cleared 200,000 mines working with other agencies, but the Halo Trust is the largest operating in Sri Lanka.
"Huge numbers of people have been resettled and have returned to economic activity, but we do not know how many mines are left because we do not know how many were laid in the first place.
"Reaching this point is a major landmark but there is still a lot of work to do."
The minefields cleared by the Halo Trust are found in Jaffna province, which was once part of the front line between the government and the rebels.
The charity uses armoured bulldozers to dig up the devices and make the land safe, and sends out teams equipped with metal detectors to areas where heavy machinery can't operate.
The Halo Trust employs 500 Sri Lankans, almost half of them women are women. Many were left widowed by the conflict and are now sole breadwinners for multiple dependents.
The number of mines cleared by the charity represents 14 per cent of total number it has removed worldwide since 1988, and the operation to rid Sri Lanka of the anti-personnel bombs is the third largest in world, after Afghanistan and Cambodia.
Major General James Cowan, CEO of Halo said: "I have witnessed the transformational benefits of landmine clearance in northern Sri Lanka for myself and can attest to the positive impact that removing the deadly debris of war has had on people’s lives.
"After years of conflict and uncertainty, Sri Lankans are finally able to rebuild their lives in safety."
The Halo Trust is the oldest landmine clearing charity and was supported by celebrities such as Princess Diana and Angelina Jolie, who served as a trustee
However, the actress stepped down last year amid reports she was “uncomfortable” with two trustees effectively being paid more than £120,000 to conduct a governance review.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel