The Colombian President meets HALO Trust
The Colombian President meets HALO Trust
Monday 21st November 2011
The Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos, met with HALO's Director, Guy Willoughby, this week in London. Colombia is amongst Afghanistan, Cambodia and Angola in suffering the highest mine casualties in the world. Following the Presidential Decree of October 2011 for a new civilian demining initiative, President Santos and the HALO Director discussed the Colombian Government's plan for up to 1,500 new demining staff in 49 civilian demining teams, and HALO's track record of employing well over a thousand demining staff in each of the HALO programs in Cambodia, Angola, Sri Lanka, and nearly 4,000 deminers in Afghanistan. The President and the HALO Director agreed to raise the considerable funds needed to undertake large scale humanitarian mineclearance. HALO is conducting a detailed survey of many of the most mine-impacted post-conflict communities and now has a priority listing of the first 78 minefields to demine affecting 55 communities.
