US decision to stop procuring antipersonnel mines hailed, but bolder steps urged

Arms-control groups welcomed the United States' decision to stop making and buying anti-personnel landmines, describing it as a small yet significant step forward.

The United States announced its decision on Friday at a conference in Maputo, Mozambique, to review the Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention. Human Rights Watch said Washington was moving in the right direction but that it had not gone far enough.

"It makes little sense to acknowledge that the weapons must be banned due to the humanitarian harm they cause, and yet to insist on being able to use them," said Steve Goose, of HRW.

Though the US has not been known to use antipersonnel landmines in combat for more than two decades, the "vague position" may do little to spur other major powers like China and Russia to sign the treaty, said Elizabeth MacNairn, executive director of Handicap International, an aid organisation that works with landmine victims.

"By not setting a firm date to complete this task, the US runs the risk of allowing its landmine policy review to drift beyond President Obama's term in office as president," MacNairn said.

Besides the United States, 35 countries have not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. They include Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Myanmar and North and South Korea. The administration of Barack Obama's predecessor George W. Bush in 2004 said it would not sign the ban.

Obama's decision comes just months after US Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a congressional panel that he believed landmines were "an important tool in the arsenal of the armed forces".