More troops for de-mining and development

by Shanika SRIYANANDA

The Sri Lanka Army has now directed more troops to double its contribution to expedite de-mining and development of the war ravaged North.

The SLA has deployed more of its engineering troops and trained more soldiers in de-mining activities to speed up the resettling of nearly 300,000 IDPs now sheltered in welfare centres in Vavuniya.

Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya said the Government's priority is to resettle the IDPs as soon as possible and the only hindrance is the clearing of mines laden lands in the North.

Addressing the local and foreign media when he visited his Regimental Headquarters, the Armoured Corps at the Rock House Camp after resuming duties as the new Army Chief, Lt. Gen. Jayasuriya said that four NGOs were engaged in clearing mines with the Army engineering troops.

" We do not want to take a risk as the government is responsible for ensuring the safety of the IDPs", he said adding that the humanitarian de-mining is completely different and a difficult task. " The de-miners have to dig nine inches to ensure that the each patch of land is mined to get the UNDP certificate", he said.

Declining to give a exact time frame to complete the de-mining process, the Army Chief said re-settling IDPs could only be done after the areas were fully de-mined. He said that the soldiers are, de-mining the areas of the Rice Bowl in Mannar.

Appreciating the contribution made by the INGOs in clearing mines in the North he thanked the US, UK and other states for being supportive to carry out the difficult task.

"The INGO workers engaged in de-mining Jaffna would move to North when they have completed the task there", he said.

The Army Chief stressed the need for taking up the challenge of expediting de-mining process to resettle the IDPs soon in their own lands. Explaining the idea of expanding the strength he said that there was a need for recruiting between 25,000 to 50,000 men as the Army had to maintain high alert though the LTTE was defeated.

"In this new era of reconciliation, rehabilitation and reconstruction, the Army needs to support the government fully in its efforts in development", he said.