US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO441

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 COLOMBO 000441 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR SA/INS, PM, PM/WRA 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE ALSO PASS TOPEC 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PTER, PGOV, EAID, KHDP, CE, LTTE - Peace Process 
SUBJECT:  Humanitarian demining:  USG program continues 
to build indigenous capacity in Sri Lanka 
 
Refs:  (A) 03 Colombo 1878; (B) Colombo 1488 
 
1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- 
Please handle accordingly. 
 
2.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  A major State Department-sponsored 
humanitarian demining training initiative has been 
making major strides in Sri Lanka.  Run by the RONCO 
Corporation, the program has trained over two hundred 
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) deminers and paramedics, and 
provides technical oversight to humanitarian demining 
tasks in Sri Lanka's war-torn north and east.  The 
program is currently also training handlers for six Mine 
Detecting Dogs (MDD).  This program, which has 
consistently garnered kudos from the SLA and the general 
public, is successfully building Sri Lanka's indigenous 
capacity for humanitarian demining.  END SUMMARY. 
 
3.  (SBU) MAJOR USG DEMINING INITIATIVE:  A State 
Department-sponsored program providing humanitarian 
demining training assistance to the SLA is making 
excellent progress.  The program, which began in August 
2003, is one of the largest ever in Sri Lanka.  Since 
its inception, the program, which is valued at USD 2.2 
million, has trained a total of 276 deminers, divided 
into two classes.  Training is conducted at a SLA 
training school located in Embilipitya in Hambantota 
District in the south of the country.  A third course of 
approximately 120 students began on March 8 and is 
slated to finish in early April. 
 
4.  (U) Running parallel to this third training course 
for deminers is a 12-week course of training for 
handlers of MDDs.  Six MDDs, valued at USD 120,000, were 
donated through the Marshall Legacy Institute in early 
March and will be integrated into the SLA's humanitarian 
demining strategy. 
 
5.  (SBU) OUTSTANDING RESULTS:  Since the U.S.-trained 
SLA personnel began their clearance tasks in late 2003, 
the results have been impressive:  working on seven 
specific clearance tasks in three areas of the country, 
the RONCO-trained demining regiments have cleared 
311,304 square meters, and removed and destroyed 637 
mines and 30 pieces of unexploded ordnance (UXO). 
(Note:  This program builds on previous U.S. demining 
programs in Sri Lanka -- two Quick Reaction Demining 
Forces, or "QRDFs" were deployed to northern Sri Lanka, 
one in 2002 and one in 2003, clearing over 100,000 
square meters of land and destroying approximately 400 
mines and UXO.) 
 
6.  (SBU) In addition to the State Department efforts, a 
Department of Defense-sponsored Blast Rehabilitation and 
Victim Assistance (BRAVA) advance team recently 
completed an advance trip to the northern city of 
Jaffna, in preparation for a two-week visit in late 
April, during which Army surgeons will treat landmine 
victims. 
 
7.  (SBU) BUILDING INDIGENOUS CAPACITY:  The USG's 
humanitarian demining training program includes a large 
"train-the-trainer" element, so that the SLA can develop 
its own indigenous humanitarian demining training 
capacity (with RONCO-certified instructors conducting 
future courses as soon as late 2004).  Another key 
element of the program is the donation of equipment used 
in demining:  mine detectors, body armor, communication 
devices and several vehicles have been contributed to 
the demining initiative, which Brigadier A.M.A 
Chandrasiri, the commander of the SLA Engineer Brigade, 
told poloff on March 11 "extends the capability of our 
units immeasurably." 
 
8.  (SBU) In the field, RONCO personnel provide 
technical oversight and guidance to the SLA deminers, 
who are working in three areas:  Jaffna and Vavuniya 
Districts in the north, and Trincomalee District in the 
east.  Typically, sites that are selected for clearance 
are areas where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are 
attempting to return, or areas of high pedestrian 
traffic, such as around schools or wells.  After 
performing technical survey operations, the teams then 
select sites for mine clearance based on maximum 
humanitarian impact, in cooperation with the local 
Government Agent and the UNDP.  The UNDP maintains a 
large database of minefield maps for Sri Lanka. 
 
9.  (SBU) TOP-NOTCH COOPERATION WITH SLA:  Cooperation 
between RONCO and the SLA in the field continues to be 
excellent.  RONCO Chief of Party Fredrik Palsson told 
poloff on March 11 that the students' performance in the 
field was among the best he had seen in his career, and 
that he continued to be highly impressed with both the 
professionalism and responsiveness of the Sri Lankan 
military. 
 
10.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Current UNDP estimates are that 
there are roughly one million landmines present in the 
north/east, along with thousands of tons of UXOs.  In 
the past, casualties have been as high as twenty a 
month, but this number is decreasing, due in part to the 
efforts of humanitarian demining programs such as this 
one.  Through the success of this program, as well as 
the results of the two earlier QRDF teams, the U.S. is 
seen as a major provider of much-needed assistance and a 
key contributor to Sri Lanka's peace process and 
reconciliation efforts.  END COMMENT. 
 
11.  (U) Minimize considered. 
 
LUNSTEAD