US urges restrictions on anti-vehicle mines

GENEVA, Nov 16 (Reuters) The United States called today for states to voluntarily restrict the use of anti-vehicle mines, which cause civilian casualties and hamper humanitarian work.

But together with Russia, China and other military powers, it was holding out against any move at a Geneva weapons conference to open negotiations on curbing cluster bombs, which take a big civilian toll, anti-mine activists said.

As the conference prepared to close on Friday with no deal in sight on mandatory limits to anti-vehicle mines, the United States backed by Australia, Denmark and others said it would unilaterally apply restrictions and urged others to do the same.

There are no figures for civilians killed or injured by anti-vehicle mines, but humanitarian officials say they impede access to the needy in countries such as Angola or Afghanistan and hugely increase the cost of aid.

Both mines and cluster bombs were on the agenda of the five-yearly review conference of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, which came into effect in 1980 with the aim of curbing weapons that cause unnecessary suffering.

''We regret that this review conference was not in a position to adopt ... a new protocol containing legally binding commitments,'' Washington said in a statement about mines.

''However, the United States, like other states that have made this declaration, believes that this should not prevent individual governments from implementing concrete steps that can avert unnecessary civilian suffering,'' it said.

CLUSTER BOMBS The declaration committed countries to using anti-vehicle mines only in demarcated areas, unless they were easily detectable. Mines used outside a marked area must also have effective self-destruction mechanisms.

Anti-vehicle mines would not be sold to non-state groups or to countries that did not abide by the restrictions, added the statement, which will be presented to the conference on Friday.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) welcomed the move. ''It is better than ending up with a weak international treaty,'' said Peter Herby, head of the mines-arms division at the Swiss-based humanitarian agency.

Russia, China and others had opposed mandatory measures because they argued that anti-vehicle mines did not pose a significant humanitarian problem.

On cluster bombs, several countries have pressed in vain for the opening of negotiations on a new treaty to curb a weapon which has killed over 11,000 civilians over the past 30 years.

Cluster bombs are air-or ground-launched canisters holding up to 650 submunitions, which often fail to explode on impact. Designed for use against infantry and tanks, they can sink into the ground or lie on the surface and become virtual landmines.

Israel's use of them in its month-long war against Islamist Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon added to pressure for action, with United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the ICRC calling for a ban on their use near civilian areas.

But the United States and others see them as militarily important and say that their deployment is already disciplined by international humanitarian law.

REUTERS SK PM0013