A remotely controlled Panther armored mine-clearing vehicle leads a column of armored vehicles down a road near McGovern Base, in Bosnia-Herzegovina on May 16, 1996.
You might recognize this focus as the one Princess Diana made when she bravely walked into a mine field. She practiced diplomacy to the fears of all that watched. The mission continues today and people are alive that would not have been otherwise. If the USA had done it's job in Aghanistan and handled Iraq through the World Courts rather than oil invasion, the efforts here would have been finished or far better established than today. When the USA walks away from peace efforts through the deployment of Peacekeepers while stretching NATO thin, it prolongs the peace process and people die as a result.
THE fight to rid former war zones of landmines will be stepped up when a Burwell firm expands.
Special armoured tractors, produced in the village by Armtrac, are in use around the world but the business has outgrown the farm buildings it now uses.
East Cambridgeshire councillors have approved plans for a new factory on several acres of land at Reach Road, Burwell.
There will be a test area next to the factory on set-aside farmland.
Corena Barrie, who runs the business in partnership with Stephen Brown, said up to four modified tractors, fitted with armour plating and a front "flail" to detonate mines, were produced each year.
But the company, which also produces agricultural harvesting machines, is hoping to double production.
Their machines are being used to clear mines in Iraq, Jordan, Angola, Sri Lanka, Bosnia and Croatia.
It is estimated there are up to 70 million landmines in more than 90 countries, killing or injuring a civilian every 30 minutes, or 18,000 people a year.
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/newmarket/2007/04/12/805ad4a1-003b-4ccc-8c34-e65046d7516f.lpf
