Bodyblow?
OF ALL the rhilitary weapons used, landmines have caused maximum devastation, more to unsuspecting civilians than to the actual targets. Realising this, the United Nations undertook a series of steps to persuade governments to avoid using landmines.
At the final review session on the landmine protocol of the Conventional Weapons Convention which began at Geneva, Switzerland, on April 22, 57 countries met to revise the convention and to limit the use of these diabolical tools of war. Landmines have been used mainly in civil wars in Cambodia, Angola and Bosnia.
They have decided that exports of 'non -detectable' or plastic mines should be restricted only to governments. They also insist that landmines should be self- destructing' or 'self- neutralising' - blow up automatically, or stop working after a set time.
The only hitch lies in the fa6t that so far the nations have yet to agree on when the revised Convention should come into effect. Also, the call of some nations to effect a complete ban on the production and use of land mines has not been approved.