U.S. Weighs Canadian Proposal for Global Ban on Land Mines

The international argument over the best way to rid the world of antipersonnel land mines, indiscriminate weapons that each year kill or maim an estimated 26,000 people--mainly civilians--has reached a critical juncture as the Clinton administration decides whether to join a Canadian-sponsored treaty to ban the explosives.

Ninety-nine countries, including all but three North Atlantic Treaty Organization members, have tentatively agreed to sign such an agreement in December in the Canadian capital, Ottawa. But the United States is not among them.

Amid a debate that has proponents on each side accusing the other of jeopardizing the lives of American soldiers, the White House is preparing to make a decision as early as next week. If the U.S. is to join the agreement, the State Department needs time to prepare for a September meeting in Oslo, where the final treaty is to be drafted.

“They really are at kind of a crunch time on this thing,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), Congress’ foremost advocate of a land mine ban. Leahy said he has spoken twice in recent days with Vice President Al Gore on the subject, urging the administration to endorse the treaty.

“As the most powerful nation on Earth, we really need to set the example,” he added. “If we won’t give up our land mines, with all our military power, how can we expect smaller, weaker countries to give up theirs?”

It is estimated that mines are scattered below ground in 68 nations. Besides killing or maiming victims, the underground explosives can take farmland out of production, block access to villages and airports, drive up medical costs and divert funds to mine clearance that otherwise could be spent on food, housing or economic development.

The United States no longer sells mines to other countries and has begun destroying a stockpile of 3 million mines that are old and outmoded.

Although President Clinton has endorsed the concept of a worldwide ban on the weapons, he so far has rejected the Canadian initiative. Instead, the U.S. has favored negotiation of a gradual, universal ban through the U.N. conference on disarmament in Geneva, on the grounds that any effective treaty must include such military powers as China and Russia, neither of which has indicated interest in the Canadian proposal.

But while the U.N. disarmament conference has yet to even place land mines on its agenda, the Canadian plan has won increasing momentum among key U.S. allies. Britain and France, which had supported the U.S. approach, endorsed the Ottawa treaty this spring when new governments were elected in each country.

A team of Canadian arms control experts has lobbied key leaders around the world. The team has also worked with an international coalition of humanitarian agencies, veterans groups and human rights activists that long has pressed for a ban on land mines.

Canada has presented the ban as a humanitarian issue rather than a military one, but land mines remain an important part of Pentagon defense planning, particularly on the border that separates North and South Korea. In a July 10 letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), the Joint Chiefs of Staff and 10 other top U.S. military commanders said a moratorium on land mines would “unnecessarily endanger U.S. military forces and significantly restrict the ability to conduct combat operations successfully.”