CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS STATEMENTS ON SMALL ARMS AND LANDMINES FROM SOUTH AFRICA AND UKRAINE
Press Release
DCF/362
CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT HEARS STATEMENTS ON SMALL ARMS AND LANDMINES FROM SOUTH AFRICA AND UKRAINE
19990304 President of Conference Considers Issuing Proposal on Nuclear Disarmament(Reissued as received.)
GENEVA, 4 March (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament this morning heard a statement from South Africa on small arms and an address from Ukraine on anti-personnel landmines.
The representative of South Africa told the conference that in accordance with the Government's policy on non-proliferation and arms control, it had been decided that all redundant small arms in the possession of the South African Government be destroyed rather than sold on a tender basis as had been done previously.
On the issue of anti-personnel landmines, the representative of Ukraine said his country had signed the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Landmines and their Destruction on 24 February, thus becoming its 132nd State signatory. This was evidence of Ukraine's devotion to the high ideals of peace and humanity and its concrete contribution to the strengthening of international security and disarmament.
The representative of France said his country wanted an effective start of the beginning of negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty and hoped everyone would make an effort to overcome the present impasse. France also attached importance to moving forward on other issues like biological weapons and conventional disarmament, including landmines and small arms.
The President of the Conference and Permanent Representative of Venezuela, Victor Rodriguez Cedeno, said the Presidency had been holding intensive consultations in order to achieve acceptable solutions for everyone concerning the agenda items which were still awaiting agreement. He had concentrated efforts to come up with an agreement on how the Conference should deal with the issue of nuclear disarmament. He had concluded that all Member
States wanted to find a solution and that it was possible to find a middle ground solution.
Mr. Rodriguez Cedeno said the Presidency was thinking of presenting a proposal to the Conference members to serve as a basis for discussion on the issue of nuclear disarmament. It would be distributed as soon as it was ready. He asked Member States to be flexible.
The next plenary of the Conference on Disarmament will be held on Thursday, 11 March, at 10 a.m.
Statements
GEORGE NENE (South Africa) informed the Conference of a decision announced by the Chairman of the South African National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC), Minister Kader Asmal, on 25 February. The NCACC had said that in accordance with the Government's policy on non-proliferation and arms control, it had decided that all redundant small arms in the possession of the South African Government be destroyed rather than sold on a tender basis as had been done previously.
He said that prior to this decision, more than 50 tons of firearms and 20 tons of ammunition that had been confiscated or deemed surplus had been destroyed by the South African Police Service since 1997. The decision to destroy all redundant small arms in the future formed part of the South African Government's strategy to curtail the excessive and destabilizing accumulation of small arms. It was his Government's view that this issue was of such magnitude that it could only be addressed through appropriate national, regional and international action.
Mr. Nene's statement included a copy of the statement by Minister Asmal concerning this decision.
MYKOLA MAIMESKOUL (Ukraine) noted that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction (Ottawa Convention), which had entered into force in the first week of March, had become part of international law faster than any major treaty in history. Ukraine had signed the Ottawa Convention on 24 February, thus becoming its 132nd State signatory. This was evidence of Ukraine's devotion to the high ideals of peace and humanity and its concrete contribution to the strengthening of international security and disarmament.
Mr. Maimeskoul said that Ukraine had always supported and shared the aspirations of the international community to achieve a worldwide ban on anti-personnel landmines. He noted that in September 1995, Ukraine had introduced a moratorium on the export of all types of anti-personnel landmines. Ukraine's joining of the Ottawa process was a logical step in the
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continuation of its policy on landmines, which was, in particular, confirmed by the destruction of more than 100,000 landmines last May.
Ukraine had not been among the first signatories because it had a large amount of stockpiled landmines which required a lot of resources for their destruction. Mr. Maimeskoul said that last January, a memorandum between Ukraine and Canada was signed, according to which Canada had expressed readiness to provide to Ukraine relevant financial, material and technical assistance on this issue. The Conference on Disarmament also had to play its role in resolving the problem of landmines and Ukraine fully supported the common position of 22 States, as presented by the Ambassador of Bulgaria at the last plenary.
HUBERT FORQUEROT DE LA FORTELLE (France) thanked the President of the Conference and his colleagues for their warm welcome to him. France considered that the Conference had major tasks to accomplish concerning nuclear disarmament. It wanted an effective start of the beginning of negotiations on a fissile material cut-off treaty and hoped everyone would make an effort to overcome the present impasse. France also attached importance to moving forward on other issues like biological weapons and conventional disarmament, including landmines and small arms. The key words to get the Conference to move forward were realism, pragmatism and also imagination.
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