The Jakarta Post Thu, 04/05/2012
Yogyakarta: While having destroyed thousands of land mines in its armory, the Indonesian Military (TNI) still keeps some for military purpose, says a top foreign ministry official.
The Foreign Ministry’s international security and disarmament director Febrian Ruddyard said on Wednesday the TNI had destroyed more than 16,500 land mines and kept nearly 2,400 land mines for training purposes.
“Some 45 million land mines have been destroyed in 159 countries including Indonesia since the Ottawa Convention was signed,” he told a discussion at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta.
He said Singapore and Myanmar are ASEAN member countries that had not signed the Ottawa Convention. Both are producers and users of land mines.
“There are 73 countries in the world that have not joined the convention. The big countries that have not joined are Russia, China, India and South Korea,” he said as quoted by Antara news agency.
(the US of A is not a signatory either)
vr 6 apr 2012 - 3:50