Nepal landmine scare

Anyone heading for a trekking holiday in Nepal should take into account the shocking news that much of the country has been “studded” with landmines in an effort to destabilise Maoist rebels. The Independent today quotes a report from the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which states that some 10,000 mines – many of them actually made in Nepal – have been planted outside of the central Kathmandu Valley. It goes on to describe how, despite government assurances that all minefields are safely fenced off with barbed wire, some 500 Nepalese citizens have been killed – with 900 wounded – in the last two and a half years. The report states that a third of the casualties were civilians.