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Africa: North
Libya considers Branson mine plea
2004-03-26
I dunno. I think Branson should stick with providing entertainment...
The Libyan government is considering a request from businessman Sir Richard Branson for investment in a mine clearance project. The system, which will cost up to £30 million, can pinpoint landmines by radar from a helium-filled airship. It was developed by the British Ministry of Defence with the Lightship Group, which is part-owned by Sir Richard's Virgin Group. Sir Richard himself recently returned from Tripoli after meeting Libyan Prime Minister Shukri Ghanem. Dr Ghanem told the BBC that his government is impressed by the scheme and is considering a request for a multi-million pound investment in it. Every year about 26,000 people - a third of them children - are maimed or killed by landmines. Landmine clearances have been mainly done by hand - a difficult, dangerous and slow task. However, the radar device developed by Sir Richard's company is able to scan the soil for mines from an overhead airship. The pictures it sends to a computer can quickly pinpoint the exact position and size of the mines.
Q-man have a bunch of minefields without maps in Libya?
Posted by:Steve White

#4  There is still several million WW2 era mines in both Libya and Egypt. Most battlefield sites are off limits to tourists because of this.
Posted by: scooterboy   2004-03-26 8:25:00 PM  

#3  
Hummmmmm...this is interesting if only because landmines are such a problem for civilians after the primary conflict has ended. Sir Richard has always been an fascinating character...and if he has in fact developed such a technology, he may have done some real and positive good in the world.

And the US won't be so pressured to sign the Landmine Convention as an added benifit.
Posted by: Traveller   2004-03-26 6:33:44 AM  

#2  Can they use the same technology to locate Muammar's brain? Or, more importantly, the stash he's been toking on for the past twenty years??
Posted by: Howard UK   2004-03-26 6:02:50 AM  

#1  ...Along the eastern border with Egypt. There's probably enough buried there to keep the NGOs in high dudgeon for decades.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2004-03-26 1:18:34 AM  

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