Now the publication of the State Department's new edition of "Hidden Killers" conveys the hopeful message that the goal is achievable because the number of threatening landmines is far lower than previously estimated.

U.S. Special Representative for Global Humanitarian Demining Karl Inderfurth says the dimension of the anti-personnel landmine problem is less severe than it was thought to be four years ago: now in the 60 to 70 million range instead of the earlier 80 to 110 million estimate.

Secretary of State Albright says in the preface of "Hidden Killers 1998: The Global Landmine Crisis" that the provision of "lower, more realistic estimates" of the remaining number of landmines to be cleared "sends a message of hope."

The international community "has learned how to find and clear mines, warn civilians, care for victims, and restore farmlands," she says. Now it is necessary "to combine this knowledge with the awareness...commitment...resources...coordination and...leadership to design and carry out a truly global strategy," according to the secretary.

Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Eric Newsom pointed out at the September 3 briefing to publicize the release of the 126 page document that the United States has the largest national program for humanitarian demining. Since 1993, he noted, the U.S. has committed more than $236 million to global humanitarian demining. It expects to spend another $82 million in 1998 and the government will seek additional funding in 1999, he said. "The U.S. is a world leader in strong support for humanitarian demining action," he concluded.

Already, the United States is providing assistance to 23 nations; 14 of these countries are currently removing mines from the ground. By next year, Newsom said the number of countries receiving assistance will likely grow. The purpose of the program is to develop an indigenous demining capability that will alleviate human suffering in mine-infested countries.

Through the U.S. "Train the Trainer" program, American military personnel have already trained 1,600 deminers in the past two years who are now working in Africa and Latin America as well as in Bosnia. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance James Schear told reporters at the State Department briefing that humanitarian demining "is not an abstraction" for the Defense Department.

U.S. Special Operations Forces provide training, expertise and equipment. The focus is on mine awareness, techniques for mine removal, emergency medical care, and establishing national mine action centers. Defense Secretary Cohen is very proud of the contribution his department is making to the challenge posed by humanitarian demining, Schear said.

While the Defense Department is pursuing a mine action plan that includes locating and marking mines, mine removal, medical and rehabilitative assistance to victims, and support for research and development, Schear stressed that mine awareness has the biggest payoff in terms of reducing casualties.

Newsom pointed to Namibia as a success story, noting that the country is now virtually mine free. Rwanda has also been successful in removing nearly a fourth of its mines, he said. He also noted that both Afghanistan and Cambodia have reduced their mine casualty rates by two-thirds "largely through U.S. efforts."

Where U.S. military involvement is impractical, the United States is still able to provide humanitarian demining assistance through programs administered by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Meanwhile, Schear says that current research and development efforts supported by the Defense Department are focused on promising concepts such as fielding better body armor for deminers, finding ways to clear vegetation rapidly, and creating airborne vehicles that can pin-point mines over a wide ground area.

Previous editions of "Hidden Killers" were published in 1993 and 1994. Asked why the estimate of the number of landmines has improved so much in recent years, Newsom explained that earlier judgments were made in the absence of hard data.

"People were making best guesses based on very little hands-on knowledge and experience," he said. The newer, more reliable "best estimates" draw on information gathered by national mine action programs in concert with data provided by international and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), Newsom said, which allows "a more accurate picture of the scope of the problem."

Now that the dimensions of the humanitarian demining problem appear less overwhelming, Newsom said, nations, organizations, and NGOs are willing to invest time and money in what is now perceived as a solvable problem.

The officials from State and Defense were also asked if the landmine situation has deteriorated anywhere. Newsom said that Angola had been making progress, but the internal situation now is such that U.S. personnel cannot be sent in to help train, requiring the U.S. to work through third parties on demining activities.

"Angola clearly is an instance where a country is going in the wrong direction with respect to landmines," Inderfurth noted, adding, "We hope that that will not get worse."

Asked why the U.S. 2010 Global Humanitarian Demining Initiative seems achievable, Inderfurth said confidence levels have been boosted by the recent commitment to the problem within the international community as well as better surveys, and further bolstered by advances in demining technology. Schear noted, for example, that research is currently underway to design a synthetic dog's nose which could be used successfully in the field to "sniff" out mines. Newsom also said that the "hands-on experience" which has been gained in mine-afflicted countries like Bosnia makes the year 2010 target seem reasonable.

The 2010 goal "gives us another decade" to achieve mine-free states and eliminate casualties, Inderfurth said. The best measure of the landmine problem is not the number of embedded mines, he said, "but rather the number of innocent victims and the area of productive land rendered unusable" by them.

The focus should be on those victims and the economic impact of landmines, Inderfurth stressed, and not on "the aggregate number of mines pulled from the ground."

The new "Hidden Killers" provides case study data and analysis for Angola, Eritrea, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Nicaragua, and Iraq (Kurdistan).