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DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL - DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, MR ABDUL MINTY, GENERAL DU PREEZ, ESTEEMED MILITARY ATTACHES, DISTINGUISHED GUESTS AND DIGNITARIES FROM NGO's, ARMSCOR AND THE MEDIA.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I extend a very warm welcome to everyone present on this unique occasion.

I would have loved our Deputy Minister of Defence to have been with us today, but he has had to remain in Cape Town to attend to other business on my behalf.

Although certain Government initiatives and accession to international treaties took place in 1994 and 1996, it was on 19 February this year that a most dramatic decision was made.

On that date, on the Ministry of Defence's recommendation, the Cabinet decided to ban the use, development , production and stock-piling of anti- personnel mines.

We fully endorsed the conviction expressed by the International Committee of the Red Cross which stated:

"The limited military utility of anti-personnel mines is far outweighed by the
appalling humanitarian consequences of their use in actual conflicts.

On this basis, their prohibition and elimination should be pursued as a matter of utmost urgency by governments and the entire international community.

We agreed with these words and we resolved to give real and practical effect to their implementation.

On the 21st May 1997, we conducted the first controlled detonation and destruction of our stockpile of 261 423 anti-personnel mines at this site-and many amongst you were present on that occasion.

Over the intervening period, a series of detonations has progressively reduced the stockpile, and today you will witness the destruction of the last batch of 1000 mines.

It is an achievement of which we have a right to be proud, and marks South Africa as a responsible world leader in this campaign.

As stated at the outset six months ago, we are retaining a limited and verifiable number, of 5000 active and 13000 practice mines, to ensure that our military personnel can be trained in de-mining techniques and equipped for further research.

This is essential for two reasons.

Firstly, many parts of the world are still infested with this menace, which threatens the lives and limbs of the innocent.

We must be able to continue our research into de-mining techniques and to offer our assistance and expertise to the affected nations, especially those in South Africa.

Secondly, by no means all countries have followed our lead and agreed to eliminate anti-personnel mines from their military arsenals.

As a result, our military forces must be ready to deal with any such threat used against us in operational situations including peacekeeping commitments.

The Department of Defence has spent over R1 million in fulfilling the pledge to destroy our stockpile, but who can place a value on the lives that might have been saved or the human suffering averted by our initiative?

This has been a tremendous achievement, but we can not rest on our laurels.
We will provide our full support to the Department of Foreign Affairs in its efforts to universalise the Convention on the Prohibition of Anti-Personnel Mines adopted on September 18th this year in Oslo.

With this final phase of destruction, South Africa has, therefore, fulfilled its obligation in terms of this Convention even before the Convention was opened for signature.

And we want to ensure that our continent is cleared of these mines.

This aim was reinforced when South Africa hosted the OAU conference on land mines in May this year.

As stated at the time, the outright ban has to be integrated with the alleviation of human suffering by ensuring adequate medical and rehabilitation facilities for the victims.

And the emplaced mines in various countries must be removed as speedily as possible.

Mine clearance is a hazardous and difficult task, because in many cases the mines have been laid indiscriminately and without clear and mapped markings of the extent of the minefield.

It is vital, therefore, for mine clearance operations to be conducted in a phase programme.

Top priority must be given to those areas where a high casualty rate is still being experienced.

Secondly, target areas must be tackled which are currently inhibiting reconstruction and development programmes especially in the form of subsistence agriculture.

We are proud that South Africa possesses a special degree of experience and expertise in de-mining techniques, which we have made available to our neighbours and, on request, to international community.

We made this pledge of assistance at a United Nations mine clearance meeting held in Geneva in 1995.

Regionally, we have been actively assisting the Governments of Mozambique and Angola in de-mining efforts and in training personnel for this purpose.

I would now like to express my appreciation for the hard work, tremendous effort and dedication of the military engineers, who not only have prepared the demolition today, but have also prepared all the demolition that have taken place since May.

They have, in fact, organised 211 controlled detonations since then, in a most cost-effective manner.

The total number destroyed is 243 423 mines.

I am sure everyone here will join me in saying to them - Thank you for your professionalism and well done!

Today is a significant day for South Africa as we participate in making the world a safer place for all its inhabitants.

I am proud that our country played such a leading role in successfully chairing the Oslo Diplomatic Conference on an International Total Ban on Anti - Personnel Landmines.

We look forward to the Ottowa Signing Ceremony in December, and I wish to take this opportunity to call on those few countries who are not yet committed to the total ban on anti-personnel land mines, to join the overwhelming majority of nations in pledging to eradicate this scourge from the face of the earth.

We draw inspiration from the shining example of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Jody Williams, of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, and the late Princess Diana, who so bravely and graciously championed this noble cause.

I dedicate this event to her memory and to all those innocent victims of land mines.

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