Norway to give 21 mln USD for mine clearance in Colombia

Norway is to provide 180 million Norwegian kroner (21 million U.S. dollars) over the next three years to support humanitarian mine clearance in Colombia, the Norwegian foreign affairs ministry said on Friday.

Norway announced the contribution at an event at the White House in the United Sates for launching a joint U.S.-Norwegian initiative that will raise awareness about the issue of mine clearance and the goal to make Colombia mine-free by 2021.

"Colombia is one of the countries in the world that is most contaminated by landmines. It will be essential to clear the mines and other unexploded ordnances in order to enable many of the over six million internally displaced people to return to their homes once a peace agreement is in place," Norway's foreign minister Borge Brende was quoted as saying.

"Mine clearance is therefore a crucial task for Colombia, partner countries such as Norway and the United States, and the rest of the international community," he said.

In March 2015, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) launched a pilot project to clear mines and explosives in two regions of Colombia as part of the ongoing peace process.

Norwegian People's Aid, a humanitarian organization, has been responsible for leading and coordinating the project, the first project involving cooperation between FARC and the Colombian government in the field.

"The pilot project, led by Norwegian People's Aid, has played an important part in building trust between the two parties in the peace process," Brende said.

"I hope that the U.S.-Norwegian global anti-landmine initiative will help to achieve the goal of making Colombia mine-free by 2021, and that it will also support the peace process, which is now in its final phase," he said. Endit