Sri Lanka bans landmines 7yrs after ethnic war

AFP, COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s government Thursday announced it would ban landmines and promised to destroy its stockpiles of the explosive devices, nearly seven years after its protracted civil war ended. Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said the cabinet had decided to sign the 1997 UN treaty which banned anti-personnel mines. Sri Lanka had been among a few dozen nations to resist the treaty known as the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of mines. “We decided to sign the Ottawa Convention because we have no intention of going to war again,” de Silva told reporters in Colombo.

 

Sri Lanka bans landmines 7yrs after ethnic war

AFP, COLOMBO: Sri Lankas government Thursday announced it would ban landmines and promised to destroy its stockpiles of the explosive devices, nearly seven years after its protracted civil war ended. Deputy Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva said the cabinet had decided to sign the 1997 UN treaty which banned anti-personnel mines. Sri Lanka had been among a few dozen nations to resist the treaty known as the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of mines. We decided to sign the Ottawa Convention because we have no intention of going to war again, de Silva told reporters in Colombo.