[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 5636-5637]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   DEMINING IN NICARAGUA AND HONDURAS

 Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, last night, the Senate passed the 
Supplemental Appropriations bill, which, among other things, contains 
funding for hurricane relief for Central America. I am very pleased 
that the Supplemental also specifies that up to $2,000,000 should be 
made available for humanitarian demining activities in Nicaragua and 
Honduras. Hurricane Mitch has greatly exacerbated the problem of anti-
personnel landmines in both countries. An estimated 100,000 mines were 
placed in the Nicaraguan-Honduran border area in the 1980's by 
Sandanista and Contra soldiers. Demining activities to date have been 
diligent, but painstakingly slow, as over 70,000 mines continue to 
threaten the population.

[[Page 5637]]

  While the problem has certainly been very serious, at least the areas 
which contained these mines in both countries were reasonably well 
known. Until Hurricane Mitch, that is. Mudslides and the tremendous 
volume of water that accompanied the hurricane have carried mines into 
areas not previously contaminated. Two Nicaraguan civilians were killed 
last fall by a mine in an area never thought to hold them previously. A 
U.S. Army study confirmed the new threat in many areas of Nicaragua.
  Imagine, Mr. President, the impact on reconstruction efforts in these 
devastated countries if an American or other foreign national working 
to rebuild the infrastructure should be injured or killed by a mine.
  Other Senators may be surprised to hear that one of the most 
effective ways to demine these areas is the use of man-dog teams. The 
explosive material in mines emit a gas, which dogs can be trained to 
detect. Once a mine is detected, the dog is trained to immediately stop 
and sit, and conventional demining can begin. Conventional demining 
amounts to metal detection, a painstakingly slow process which may 
detect thousands of discarded metal items for every mine found. Most 
surface area scanned for mines never had any to begin with. But the 
fear of mines keeps native populations from utilizing the land. Dogs 
can radically speed the process, and focus the efforts of human 
deminers into areas which actually contain mines.
  The Marshall Legacy Institute, responding to a request from the 
InterAmerican Defense Board, has proposed putting additional man-dog 
teams into Central America to speed the reconstruction process. The 
proposal has the support of the Humane Society, and I hope the 
Administration will give serious consideration to supporting this 
proposal with these supplemental funds.

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