Published on - 8/12/2004
The Sri Lanka Army received high praise for its dedicated role in humanitarian de-mining in the north of the country when a high -ranking U.S. delegation after visiting de-mining areas recently met the Commander, Security Forces Headquarters, Jaffna Major General M. D. S Chandrapala to present him with a token of their appreciation.
Mr. Richard Kidd, Director of Weapons Removal and Abatement, U.S. Department of State and Colonel Stuart C. Harris, Deputy Director of the same U.S. office in the company of Ms. Cody Taylor of the U.S. Embassy, Sri Lanka visited de-mining areas in the Jaffna peninsula and met with a variety of government officials and NGO community engaged in humanitarian de-mining activities.
After the U.S. government signed an agreement for supply of humanitarian de-mining assistance with her Sri Lankan counterpart in August 2003, the Sri Lanka Army has been receiving U. S. sponsored cooperation by way of technical training and equipment, valued at several million U. S. dollars.
The U.S. based RONCO Consulting Corporation, the official undertaker of the challenge in Sri Lanka has then been in the forefront of giving this technical assistance to the Sri Lanka Army Engineers who by now, have cleared several hundred thousand square meters of land in the north and elsewhere.
The donation of specially-trained six mine detecting dogs in June, this year has added additional capacity to this ongoing programme of the Sri Lanka Army. To-date the Army Engineers to their credit have removed and destroyed several hundreds of mines and pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from the north and elsewhere.
The presentation of a special memento of U. S. appreciation to the Army during their visit to Jaffna last week serves a clear endorsement of their approval of the Army's role in this sphere.
The visiting delegates during their stay in Jaffna paid a visit to Army Mine Action Office at Myliddy and de-mining sites at Puttur, Ariyalai and Thanankilappu.
