UNITED NATIONS WELCOMES FRANCE"S ANNOUNCEMENT THAT DESTRUCTION OF ANTI-PERSONNEL MINE STOCKPILES HAS BEEN COMPLETED

Press Release
SG/SM/7267

UNITED NATIONS WELCOMES FRANCE’S ANNOUNCEMENT THAT DESTRUCTION OF ANTI-PERSONNEL MINE STOCKPILES HAS BEEN COMPLETED

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary- General Kofi Annan:

The United Nations welcomes the announcement by the Government of France that it has completed the destruction of its stockpiles of anti-personnel mines, in compliance with the Ottawa Convention.

The Secretary-General, who is the depositary of signatures and ratifications to the Convention (formal name: Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, and on Their Destruction), urges the other States parties to the treaty to do the same.

France joins several other countries that have already destroyed their landmine stocks, among them Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Mali and South Africa. For complete information on compliance with the Convention, you can consult the Department of Disarmament Affairs’ page on the United Nations Web site (.

* *** *