Letter: Seeking a solution to land mines

Letter: Seeking a solution to land mines

Sir: Tony Barber's report "Britain backs US plan for global ban on landmines" (21 January) makes me question the true intentions of Britain, the United States and France, all of whom possess nuclear weapons.

Whilst a worldwide ban on landmines is urgently required, using the Conference on Disarmament (CD) in Geneva as the forum seems to us a cynical attempt to gum up its already full agenda.

The nuclear weapons states are under increasing pressure at the CD to fulfil their obligations under Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to disarm. Introducing the landmines issue could cause division at the CD so that no progress is made on any issue.

If the British, American and French governments are serious about banning landmines worldwide a special conference could be convened or they could take their support to the next International Conference on Landmines, to be held in Mozambique next month.

DAVE KNIGHT

Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

London N7