Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 10. maj 2005 / Time Line May 10, 2005
Version 3.005/10/2005
Public Access to Information about the Humanitarian Impact of
Landmines
Office of the Spokesman, the U.S. Department of State
Washington, DC
The Survey Action Center, a non-governmental organization, today
unveiled a first-of-its kind web-based research tool, the "LIS
Explorer," funded by a $25,000 grant from the U.S. Department of
State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, that enables
decision makers and the general public to easily examine the
results of Landmine Impact Surveys (LIS) in selected countries to
better understand the scope of the problem and make more informed
decisions.
The LIS Explorer contains extensive data on landmine and unexploded
ordnance infestation and casualties in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Chad, northwestern Somalia ("Somaliland"), Thailand and Yemen. Data
on Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Lebanon and
northeastern Somalia will be added to it shortly.
Until the advent of the LIS Explorer, the locations of suspected
mined areas, their relative impact on men, women, children and
other demographic information, and degree to which the mines
infested vital natural resources and infrastructure, were not
accessible to the general public, nor readily available to
government officials. Now, anyone with access to the Internet can
use the LIS Explorer at www.sac-na.org/lisexplorer/index.html to
review the findings of comprehensive nationwide landmine impact
surveys. These surveys have already revealed that over 80 per cent
of landmines' social and economic harm is caused by less than 20
per cent of the world's minefields. With the help of the LIS
Explorer, officials in the surveyed countries and foreign donors
will be able to more effectively prioritize landmine clearance,
refine mine risk education campaigns, and better direct health care
and psycho-social assistance to landmine survivors.
The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the Bureau of
Political-Military Affairs currently manages humanitarian mine
action programs in 22 countries around the world, encourages
public-private partnerships to support mine action, and oversees
efforts to reduce illegal trafficking and increase international
safeguarding of small arms, light weapons and man-portable air
defense systems (MANPADS). To learn more, visit
www.state.gov/t/pm/wra.
To learn more about the Survey Action Center, based in Takoma Park,
Maryland, and its years of experience in conducting landmine and
unexploded ordnance surveys worldwide, visit www.sac-na.org.
05/10/2005
Luis Posada Carriles: The Declassified Record
Washington, D.C., May 10, 2005 - Declassified CIA and FBI records
posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive at George
Washington University identify Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles,
who is apparently in Florida seeking asylum, as a former CIA agent
and as one of the "engineer[s]" of the 1976 terrorist bombing of
Cubana Airlines flight 455 that killed 73 passengers.
The documents include a November 1976 FBI report on the bombing
cited in yesterday's New York Times article "Case of Cuban Exile
Could Test the U.S. Definition of Terrorist," CIA trace reports
covering the Agency's recruitment of Posada in the 1960s, as well
as the FBI intelligence reporting on the downing of the plane. The
Archive also posted a second FBI report, dated one day after the
bombing, in which a confidential source "all but admitted that
Posada and [Orlando] Bosch had engineered the bombing of the
airline." I n addition, the posting includes several documents
relating to Bosch and his suspected role in the downing of the
jetliner on October 6, 1976.
Follow the link below to read the documents and the full press
release:
http://www.nsarchive.org
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