MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Landmines Team in the Falklands.

A four-member team returned Tuesday to the United Kingdom after a week spent discussing with Falkland Islanders their experiences of living alongside landmines.

The team will to report back to the UK Government on the urgency ? or otherwise ? of clearing mines in the Islands.

In 1999, the UK signed the Ottawa Convention, which commits the country to clearing its own territories of landmines by 2009. The Convention puts the onus for mine clearing on Governments which control mined land rather than those who laid mines. Pressure group Landmine Action has demanded that the UK set an example for the rest of the World by clearing mines in the Falklands, whether or not they pose an immediate danger to civilians.

The organisation gives a figure of 16,600 mines remaining in the Islands after the 1982 conflict with Argentina, distributed in 101 minefields.

Peter Balmer and Lt Col Charles Holman, both from the Ministry of Defence, Alistair Craib from the Department for International Development, and Simon Conway of Landmine Action spent six days in the Islands. They visited Stanley and the West Falkland settlements of Port Howard and Fox Bay on their fact-finding mission.

First Secretary, Harriet Hall told MercoPress: "They were coming to look at the impact of the mines in the Falkland Islands, because obviously most countries that have minefields suffer a bit more than we do. They met a range of people - councillors, government officials, landowners and people who work or live or play near minefields - to find out what impact they had. "I think they really got the message that everyone was used to the minefields now. Everyone was adamant that they wouldn't want any human lives to be put at risk to clear them and most people actually said they really thought other countries should have priority, such as Angola, Cambodia, Sudan."

Although no civilians have ever been injured in a Falklands minefield, Landmine Action has been firm in its demands that the mines must be cleared in accordance with the Convention.

A statement on the organisation's website says: "Whilst the humanitarian and economic impact of the mines in the Falklands on the Falkland Islanders is, at this time, negligible, it remains the case that the UK Government is obliged to clear the mines. The current lack of progress on the issue raises the question: what signal is the UK sending to other governments with a more significant humanitarian problem?"

So could the UK duck out of its obligations under the Convention if Falkland Islanders say they are unbothered by the presence of mines?

Ms Hall said: "I think that's something that the team is going to be discussing when they go back home with colleagues. The way forward remains to be decided. What has become clear is that there is a lot of information from the 1980s - studies done on peat and attempts to try to clear the mines in the past, so they are going to compile that information and take it from there. The ball is in the UK's court."

The team's official report is not expected to be made public, although it will be seen by Falkland Island Councillors.

Sue Gyford (MP) Stanley