Army destroys 9,800 landmines

Tanzanian army engineers destroyed 9,837 anti-personnel landmines on Thursday, in compliance with an international landmines treaty that the country signed in 1997, news organisations reported. Field engineers of the Tanzania People's Defence Forces (TPDF) destroyed the landmines at Msata in Bagamoyo District, about 110 km northwest of Tanzania's commercial city, Dar es Salaam, according to the The Guardian, a Dar es Salaam newspaper, reported. It reported that the destruction, witnessed by members of the diplomatic corps from 12 countries, marked the first of three phases to eliminate a stockpile of 23,837 landmines. This was the first time Tanzania had destroyed the weapons since it signed and in 2002 ratified to the Ottawa Landmine Elimination Convention. The convention came into force in the country on 1 May 2001. The convention prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines. It commits signatory nations to destroy stocks within four years and clear all mines from their territories in 10 years. The other phases for the destruction of the landmines are scheduled for Arusha and Tabora, in the north and central part of Tanzania respectively, Col Muloha Nalimi, of the TPDF headquarters in Dar es Salaam, said. The Guardian quoted him as saying that the destruction should be completed by 2005. The Associated Press (AP) reported that 131 nations had signed the convention. China, Russia and the United States are among those that have not. AP reported that the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts in getting the treaty approved, estimated that there are at least 100 million land mines deployed worldwide. AP reported that at least 30 million land mines have been destroyed since the global ban on the weapons went into force four years ago.