Falkland Islanders can expect a total of 46 minefields cleared over the next two years in the Mount Longdon and Stanley area confirmed a Foreign and Commonwealth Office delegation in the Falklands this week. Mines are the long lasting and unwanted legacy of the 1982 war.
Minefield clearance in the Falklands is going well on the current phase which will run until June 2017, Dynasafe Bactec Ltd. Program manager Guy Marot confirmed this week to Penguin News. Work to date has involved technical survey and clearance work in the Eliza Cove area (south east Stanley) and Goose Green, and is scheduled to continue after Christmas in the Mount Longdon and Hearndon Waters (Murrell) minefields, and Port Howard on West Falklands.
The current phase of demining in the Falkland Islands, which began in January 2015, is nearing completion and MercoPress recently caught up with the Head of the Falkland Islands Demining Programme Office (FIDPO), Guy Marot, to discuss the ongoing progress of demining in the Falklands.
Falkland Islands demining and ground clearance operations which this season took off in September are advancing rapidly and controlled explosions of ordnance has been announced for later this week. Thousands of antipersonnel and anti tank mines in marked perimeters remain the Falklands, a legacy of the retreating Argentine forces which invaded the Islands 33 years ago in 1982.
Falkland Islands de-mining and ground clearance work has got off to a flying start despite the cold and snowy weather of late, Program Manager Guy Marot confirmed on Thursday to the Penguin News.
A popular recreation area that has been out of bounds for over thirty three years for the people of the Falkland Islands, Yorke Bay, only a few miles away from the capital Stanley, because of the mines laid by the invading Argentine forces in 1982, could in a near future be cleared and again open to the public.
Falkland Islands former minefields that have been cleared by BACTEC International’s (*) deminers are, “cleared to a higher quality than the areas that are outside the fences,” assured Project Manager Julius Unsing, speaking to Penguin News this week.
The Falkland Islands program to clear mines planted by the invading Argentine forces in 1982, is scheduled to take a break at the end of April, following a very successful task all along summer according to Guy Marot, Program Manager for the Falkland Islands Demining Program Office, as reported in the FIG's edition of February.
Two companies have been awarded contracts by the UK Foreign Office for the clearance of minefields in the Falkland Islands, dating back to the 1982 conflict when retreating Argentine forces laid antipersonnel and other explosives particularly in a ring surrounding the capital Stanley.