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View Full Version : Rwanda - first landmine-free country

beckysoup61
12-02-2009, 03:20 AM
Rwanda is to be declared free of landmines - the first country to achieve this status.

The announcement is to be made at the Cartagena Summit on a Mine-Free World in Columbia.

Hundreds of people have been killed and horrifically injured by landmines in Rwanda.

Landmines were laid between 1990 and 1994 in Rwanda and over the past three years more than over 9,000 have been destroyed by Rwandan soldiers.

Ben Remfrey of the Mines Awareness Trust, which supervised the clearance, says although other countries have had far more mines laid, this is a significant step.

"Rwanda has made history by becoming the first country in the world to be officially declared free from landmines," he told the BBC World Service.

"Rwanda had a problem, it wasn't huge but it was still significant... and had a big social and economic impact."

Link here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8388822.stm)
wh44
12-02-2009, 03:17 PM
Hmmm. I'm a little skeptical. How do they know it is really mine free? We're still occasionally finding stuff from WWII here in Germany.
Zayl
12-02-2009, 03:21 PM
Hmmm. I'm a little skeptical. How do they know it is really mine free? We're still occasionally finding stuff from WWII here in Germany.
And they're still finding stuff from WWI in France.

I'm skeptical too, this may actually cause a false sense of security, people may not be as careful now as they were in the pas- BOOM

yeah, like that.
Slatka
12-02-2009, 05:03 PM
How could they have accomplished this so quickly? We have the world's best experts working around the clock here and we still have more landmines than people.
Futuwwa
12-02-2009, 05:41 PM
How is it actually possible for minefields to last for so long? Don't wild animals eventually trigger the mines?
wh44
12-02-2009, 05:44 PM
How is it actually possible for minefields to last for so long? Don't wild animals eventually trigger the mines?
They generally require enough force that small animals don't trigger them.
Zayl
12-02-2009, 05:57 PM
How is it actually possible for minefields to last for so long? Don't wild animals eventually trigger the mines?
They generally require enough force that small animals don't trigger them.
Yeah, last I checked most anti-personnel mines take over 100lbs before they detonate.
Futuwwa
12-02-2009, 06:15 PM
What about larger animals, like wolves and elks?
James
12-03-2009, 06:42 PM
How could they have accomplished this so quickly? We have the world's best experts working around the clock here and we still have more landmines than people.It might have to do with what methods they use. I believe I remember reading an article about using rats as bomb detectors; they don't set them off, they're easy to train, and they're fast at finding them. That could potentially be faster and more effective than machines, which can break down, miss things, etc.
Zayl
12-04-2009, 07:19 AM
What about larger animals, like wolves and elks?
You're having a bit of fun with me aren't you? ;)

I'll just assume you're talking about any large game. I am positive that they do occasionally set them off, the sad thing is landmines are usually placed in areas that get high traffic of people, not animals. And there were probably such a massive amount of them, that the daily splodin' of a hapless woodland creature was probably not enough to put a significant dent in the amount of active landmines out there.