March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Of the souvenirs President Clinton might bring home from his visit with Britain’s new prime minister, Tony Blair, one of the most valuable would be a fresh approach to dealing with the little weapons that keep on killing long after the shooting stops — land mines.

There currently are two proposals on the global table to ban the devices that kill or maim an estimated 28,000 people, mostly civilians, each year: the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, which calls for a total worldwide ban; and the Ottawa Process, in which willing nations voluntarily give up the manufacture, sale and use of the weapons.

More than 110 million deadly leftovers of war are in the ground in 64 countries. In Bosnia, 255 U.N. and Nato troops have been wounded by mines and 29 killed.

Since January, the president, who has a solid record of supporting moratoriums on the export and use of mines, has stuck with the U.N. approach, despite warnings that it was doomed from the start to go nowhere. It hasn’t: six months later, the 61 nations participating in the conference have not even agreed to begin the talks.

Meanwhile, at least 66 nations already are committed to meeting in Ottawa in December to sign the voluntary treaty. Of those 66, one of the newcomers is Britain. Supporting the Ottawa agreement was one of Blair’s first acts after his election three weeks ago.

In a perfect world, a universal ban through a U.N. agreement is the perfect solution. The world is not perfect, nor, most certainly, is the U.N.. There will always be renegade nations with leaders who will place their economic self-interest and paranoia above the safety of their people. They must not be allowed to hold the world hostage.

The Ottawa Process essentially creates a moral standard to which all countries may one day rise to meet. It is the only hope for real and speedy progress. The president should change his mind and support it.

If he doesn’t, Congress may do it for him. Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, a longtime crusader against land mines and the author of past legislation to limit the export and use of mines, is preparing legislation that would halt the use of mines by US forces by the year 2000, with a narrow exception made for their deployment in South Korea, where they serve as an important barrier of defense. Leahy’s bill already has 48 co-sponsors, including Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins.

In announcing his decision early this year to work through the U.N., President Clinton said “the world’s children deserve to walk the Earth in safety.” The U.N. has failed to guarantee that safety. Ottawa, at least, is a start.


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