MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina eliminates all antipersonnel mines.

In a symbolic ceremony Argentina this week destroyed the last twenty antipersonnel mines of its inventory, thus complying with the terms of the 1997 Ottawa Convention for the elimination of all of these deadly explosives by January 2004.

However the Argentine press points out that the antipersonnel mines planted by the Argentine Armed Forces and dating back to the 1982 South Atlantic conflict still remain in the Falklands/Malvinas and must be removed.

The Ottawa Treaty for the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines was approved in 1997 and Argentina was among the first signatory countries with Congressional ratification in 1999. So far 141 countries worldwide have signed the treaty, 32 in the American continent; among the notorious absentees, United States, Russia, China and Israel.

The ceremony was celebrated in Argentina's main Army compound, Campo de Mayo in the outskirts of Buenos Aires with the participation of Defence Minister José Pampuro, Armed Forces commanders, Ambassadors, United Nations delegates and the Commanders in Chief of the Chilean and Brazilian Armies.

"We must feel proud that with this elimination we're breaking a deadly circle, and Argentina actively joins in the construction of a better world", said Minister Pampuro.

Argentina began the systematic destruction of its inventory of antipersonnel mines last September in Córdoba with the elimination of 38.189 of these explosives. This was followed by successive eliminations in different military compounds including Neuquen and Comodoro Rivadavia in Patagonia totalling over 90,000 mines.

"It is well known that in many conflicts antipersonnel mines are planted without signalling, and their deadly capacity remains active for fifty years. It costs a hundred times more to destroy them than to build them. The chances of killing or maiming someone in peace time are ten times higher than for soldiers in combat", stressed Minister Pampuro.

The final elimination in Argentina of antipersonnel mines, with the exception of a few left for instruction purposes, was done with local funds and 70,000 US dollars from the Canadian government.

However, mine clearance in the Falklands "still has to be solved in the ongoing negotiations between Argentina and the United Kingdom".

British Forces stationed in the Falklands estimate that over 20,000 antipersonnel mines, planted by Argentine forces, remain in clearly marked fields.