UN slams landmine threat after US announces Ukraine supply
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned Monday the “renewed threat” of anti-personnel landmines, coming just days after the United States announced it would provide such weapons to Ukraine during the war.
In a statement delivered to a conference in Cambodia focused on the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, Guterres praised global efforts to clear and eliminate landmines, Lebanese Al Mayadeen reported.
“But the threat remains. This includes the renewed use of anti-personnel mines by some of the Parties to the Convention, as well as some Parties falling behind in their commitments to destroy these weapons,” he said in the statement.
He urged the 164 signatories—Ukraine included, but not Russia or the United States—to “meet their obligations and ensure compliance with the Convention.”
UN Under-Secretary General Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana delivered Guterres’ remarks.
The Ukrainian delegation at the conference did not respond to AFP’s questions regarding the US landmine supplies.
The Biden administration has authorized providing Ukraine with anti-personnel landmines for domestic use, reversing previous efforts to reinstate President Obama’s ban on the use, production, transfer, and storage of indiscriminate weapons beyond the Korean Peninsula.
MNA
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