Britain to urge complete landmine ban at UN

The Government will push for a complete ban on landmines, David Davis, a Foreign Office minister said yesterday. A proposal has been put before the United Nations Conference on Disarmament to negotiate an end to the weapons, starting with an export ban. The Government was embarrassed earlier this month when a minister appeared to question support for a ban from Diana, Princess of Wales, who was visiting Angola.

The Labour Party and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament both said the move was cynical. CND said the choice of the UN forum would only hamper parallel efforts to remove nuclear weapons. David Clark MP, Labour's Defence spokesman, said that the Government's actions did not square with plans to buy more land mines.

Andrew Marshall