*EPF304 10/20/2004
Text: U.S. Marks 10 Years of Progress in Eradicating Landmines
(Fifth annual report released: "To Walk the Earth in Safety") (370)

The Department of State has released its fifth annual report on humanitarian mine action programs, marking 10 continuous years of work to eradicate landmines, a press statement said.

The report reflects "a comprehensive summary of United States support for landmine clearance, mine risk education and mine survivors assistance in 40 countries during 2003," the statement said.

The annual report was released October 19 in Washington.

Following is the text of the statement:

(begin text)

[U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
October 19, 2004]

Department of State Releases Fifth Annual Report on the Accomplishments of the U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program

The U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs has released "To Walk the Earth in Safety," a comprehensive summary of United States support for landmine clearance, mine risk education and mine survivors assistance in 40 countries during 2003.

"Throughout this past decade, the United States has been by far the largest humanitarian mine action donor, having contributed between one-third and one-half of all the money invested worldwide on this cause. The evidence of America's commitment is richly documented in this fifth report," noted Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr., the Special Representative of the President and Secretary of State for Mine Action, in the report's introduction. Special Representative Bloomfield also serves as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.

The fifth edition of this annual report profiles each of the 40 countries' landmine problems, [the] nature of assistance rendered by the inter-agency U.S. Humanitarian Mine Action Program, and the program's accomplishments in the respective countries.

The report also describes the work of the Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, the U.S. Department of Defense's Humanitarian Demining Training Center, the Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program of the U.S. Army's Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, the Mine Action Information Center at James Madison University, and the Mine Detection Dog Center for South East Europe.

The report is available on the Internet at:
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/37174.pdf

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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