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| Sunday, 10 February 2002 |
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UN agencies to assist de-mining process by FRANCES BULATHSINGHALA All three UN agencies in Sri Lanka - the UNDP, UNICEF and UNHCR - will jointly carry out the UN de-mining process in the North and East, UNDP officer-in-charge, Ms. Sarwar Sultana, told the 'Sunday Observer' yesterday. The UNDP officer-in-charge said that preliminary discussions were held with the Minister of Rehabilitation and Resettlement, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena about the basic structure of de-mining to be followed by the UN agencies. The de-mining is to be followed by the UNHCR assisting in the rehabilitation and resettlement of the displaced people in those areas, Ms. Sultana said. Meanwhile, the UNDP will meet the LTTE with regard to the location of mines laid by the Tigers and also to get an assurance that the LTTE would not re-mine. An estimated total of over 200,000 mines have been laid in the North-East parts of the country, during the past 19 years. A few hundreds of mines were removed mainly from the Jaffna Technical College area in 1998 and 1999 by the UNDP through their mine-clearing project in the residential areas of the Jaffna peninsula. According to the Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees, Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena, the UNDP had assured that the de-mining process would begin soon after the signing of the MOU with the LTTE. |
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