Kofi Annan joining talks

Annan in Mine Ban Talks

The conference, which is being attended by more than 400 delegates from 100 countries, continued under the shadow cast by the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, the cause's best-known supporter.

Jack Lang, the French Social Culture Minister, suggested that if a treaty was signed it should be named after Diana as a memorial to her support for the campaign.

Delegates at the talks held a minute's silence in memory of Diana, and Norwegian Foreign Minister Bjoern Tore Godal urged the conference to spare no effort in reaching the goals she wanted. He said: "The tragic loss of Princess Diana, who committed herself to the welfare of millions of innocent victims of anti-personnel mines, has deeply affected us all."

Diana during her trip to Angola

Land mines kill or maim 25,000 people a year. The talks are part of the on-going campaign against them, known as the Ottawa Process. Countries are being encouraged voluntarily to renounce the production, sale, stocking, transport and use of the weapons.

The wider success of the process is said largely to hinge on the support of the United States. Although it has pledged support to the process, it is demanding to be allowed to keep its landmines in the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea.

The US also wants a nine-year delay in the implementation of a treaty. US delegate Eric Newson said the US had received a mandate from the UN to defend South Korea, and the mine fields constituted an essential element of this defence.

US Position Criticised

But delegates of thousands of non-governmental organisations represented in Oslo rejected the US position, saying the introduction of an exception would weaken the treaty.

It is estimated that more than 110 million anti-personnel mines are currently deployed in 62 countries, with a similar number stocked by producing countries.

On Sunday, the British Minister for International Development George Foulkes had called for a worldwide ban on anti-personnel mines as a lasting tribute to Princess Diana.

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