LONDON (AlertNet) - The United Nations has published a map showing the location of landmines in Myanmar, a country where unmarked mines kill or maim hundreds of civilians every year.
The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said it was an important step to highlighting the problem of landmine use in Myanmar.
"It represents a first small step by illustrating the extent of the country's landmine problem in order to be able to address it more effectively," the ICBL said in a statement.
Click here for the map
The Canada-based Landmine Monitor, a group that analyses mine use around the world, described landmine contamination in Myanmar as extensive.
It said on its Web site that Myanmar was one of a handful of countries that had not signed a treaty banning the use of landmines and its army still uses them to fight guerrillas.
"Landmines in Myanmar are concentrated on its borders with Bangladesh, India and Thailand, and in eastern parts of the country marked by decades-old struggles for autonomy by ethnic minorities," Landmine Monitor said.
In 2007, the latest figures on Landmine Monitor's Web site, landmines killed or injured over 400 people in Myanmar.
Myanmar nationals living in Thailand shout slogans against the ruling military junta during a rally to mark the 21th anniversary of the "8888" demonstration, outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok August ...
