COLOMBO, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka is making steady progress towards the mine free status by 2020, the government information department, quoting Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, A.L.A. Azeez, as saying on Monday.
Speaking at the Individualized Approach Forum, Ambassador Azeez said that following the end of the country's 30 year civil conflict between government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009, Sri Lanka had engaged in de-mining activity which had its own uniqueness and complexity.
Azeez said Sri Lanka had put in tremendous efforts towards de-mining work that was done on ground, paving way for the release of lands and the resettlement of affected people.
He added that while Sri Lanka makes steady progress towards the goal of mine free status by 2020, the island country would also be able to share its knowledge and expertise with other countries engaged in de-mining program.
Following the end of the island's conflict, 2,064 acres of land in the country, mostly in the north and east, had to be cleared from landmines and explosives which had been buried by the rebels.
As of the beginning of 2017, Sri Lankan army together with de-mining agencies, had cleared 2,000 acres of land, vowing to complete the entire de-mining by 2020.
Thousands of minority Tamils who had been displaced by the war have already been re-settled back in the cleared areas with the help of de-mining agencies.
Sri Lankan government has pledged to re-settle all the families affected by the war in the coming years and has already launched a national mine action program to make the country mine free.
