INVN follow up>McCartney brings landmine campaign to Washington
Friday April 20 12:44 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his activist girlfriend, Heather Mills, say they found Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) supportive of their campaign against landmines, despite official U.S. reservations about a worldwide ban.
``We had a really good meeting and Secretary Powell was very helpful. We basically explained to him our point of view, a lot of which he agreed with,'' McCartney told reporters after meeting with Powell in Washington Tuesday.
``He was very supportive about this whole thing and there are reasons to be very hopeful for the future,'' he said.
Powell, who stood beside McCartney and Mills outside the State Department, said the United States had contributed $500 million to mine clearance programs over the last seven years, including money to Mills' Adopt-a-Landmine program.
U.S. officials say although the United States reserves the right to maintain landmines on the Korean peninsula, it is the biggest contributor to mine clearance programs.
Washington, citing the needs of its forces on the southern side of the border between the two Koreas, has refused to sign the 1997 Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines.
``We had a good meeting,'' Powell said. ``We're proud of U.S. efforts to support the Adopt-a-Minefield program. We still have concerns about the convention that Paul and Heather are so supportive of but there are many areas in which to cooperate.''
McCartney said he hoped to use the meeting with Powell to launch a campaign to increase awareness of the landmine problem around the world ``to eventually get to a mine-free future.''
Landmines, many of them left over from long-past wars, are thought to kill or maim 24,000 people a year. Anti-mine campaigners estimate that up to 100 million landmines lie buried around the world.
Hills said her campaign was trying to persuade governments with reservations about a total ban at least to shift toward smart mines, which self-destruct after some months.
Reuters/Variety REUTERS
In my estimation, the officers of INVN had better find a pr firm so they can exploit this opp, and quick..one mention in one story picked up on the wires and the stock can double overnite. |
