GENEVA, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Britain was granted a 10-year extension to demine the Falkland Islands, where it fought a war with Argentina in 1982, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said on Friday. The Nobel-winning group, which monitors adherence to a 1999 treaty known as the Ottawa Convention, said Chad, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, Jordan, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Peru, Senegal, Thailand, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe had also won more time to clear their territories of the weapons. In a statement issued after a five-day meeting of the treaty's states parties in Geneva, the group said it was disappointed Britain and Venezuela were granted the extensions, given neither country has cleared a single mined area as required by the pact. Venezuela has mines near its border with Colombia intended to keep guerrillas from that country off its territory. "We felt that Venezuela got off rather easily given the fact that it, like (Britain), has not begun any demining operations in the past nine years," said ICBL delegation head Steve Goose. In its Landmine Monitor Report released last week, the group said more than 5,400 people were killed or maimed last year by anti-personnel mines, cluster munitions and similar ordnance that can lie dormant for decades before exploding. (For more information on humanitarian crises and issues visit www.alertnet.org) (Reporting by Laura MacInnis)
Children play with stagnant raw sewage at the Machipisa suburb in Harare November 28, 2008. Fast-spreading cholera is "the tip of the iceberg" of what stands to be a major health ...
Landmines and explosives
