Washington -- Drawing attention to the worldwide problem of landmine contamination, President Clinton says it "is not only a pressing humanitarian problem, but it affects virtually every aspect of life in countries recovering from civil war or armed conflict."

Since calling for the global elimination of anti-personnel landmines (APL) in 1994, Clinton said the United States has been "at the forefront of efforts to rid the world of these hidden killers." Not only has the U.S. destroyed millions of its own landmines, he noted, but it has banned their export and provided "a substantial share of the global resources for humanitarian demining."

Clinton made these observations in a statement issued May 20 to delegates attending the opening ceremony of the Washington Conference on Global Humanitarian Demining at the State Department. He said the conference afforded members of the international community an opportunity to chart a future course together and move toward the shared goal of eliminating "as quickly as possible" the scourge of APL that kill and maim civilians.

In October 1997, the United States unveiled its "Demining 2010 Initiative" to eliminate landmines threatening civilian populations by the year 2010. In December, Karl Inderfurth, the U.S. Special Representative to the President and Secretary of State for Global Humanitarian Demining, announced U.S. plans to host the demining conference, which seeks to improve international coordination and to boost the resources devoted to humanitarian demining.

Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott told 100 delegates at the opening session of the three-day conference that it is necessary to accelerate and intensify the demining process "because lives are at stake." Left at its present rate of progress, he said, "the menace of landmines will be with us until another generation has suffered. And...that is too long."

It is the premise of the 2010 Initiative, Talbott explained, that "by working together across the lines that have traditionally separated governmental and non-governmental efforts, by pooling information, by coordinating humanitarian demining and assistance to victims, by cooperating in the search for new and cheaper technologies for detecting and removing landmines, and by more effectively utilizing the resources of the private sector, we may not need to wait for decades." Instead, he added, the goal of achieving "zero victims" may be reached "in a matter of years."

Talbott pointed out that the Organization of American States is pursuing plans to declare Central America mine-free by the year 2000. "Whatever success we can achieve regionally," he emphasized, "we want to use as a stimulus for succeeding globally. This will require sustained application of political will and the allocation of sufficient resources."

The United States has spent more than $153 million on humanitarian demining and expects to increase its financial commitment in the years ahead. Demining experts estimate that solving the landmine problem will require the international community to spend about $1,000 million annually for approximately the next 12 years.

Talbott said the United States plans to expand cooperation with governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), many of which were represented at the Washington Conference. Twenty nations were invited by the United States to participate: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal; South Africa; Spain, Sweden; Switzerland; and the United Kingdom.

Inderfurth told the conference delegates -- who include representatives of government, NGOs, international and regional organizations, and public-private partnerships -- that the demining goal is "zero landmines and zero casualties, in years, not decades." He expressed hope that conference deliberations "will set the stage for the work that must continue in the coming months and years."

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict H. Allen Holmes told the participants that Defense Secretary William Cohen and his department view demining "as one of the most important humanitarian missions for the United States in the post-Cold War era." U.S. military personnel, he noted, have been hard at work helping to train indigenous deminers around the world "and helping countries establish their own long-term national infrastructures capable of educating the public to protect themselves from landmines, eliminating the hazards posed by the mines, and returning the mined areas to their previous condition."

Five years ago the Defense Department did not have a demining program, Holmes said. Today, he pointed out, U.S. military personnel are providing humanitarian demining training assistance and equipment to 19 nations. "We can anticipate that our resources will become more and more stretched," Holmes added, not only in terms of funding but in the demand on trainers' time.

"We will need to continue looking for novel approaches to improve the effectiveness of our Train the Trainer Program," the official said. He also noted that the Defense Department participates in public-private partnerships with groups such as Time-Warner/DC Comics to produce and distribute special comic books to educate people in Bosnia and Central America about the dangers of landmines.

Despite the existence of a variety of other department programs, including pursuing technological demining innovations, Holmes emphasized that there is "a lot more work to do to make the challenges of the 2010 Initiative a reality."

Mrs. Sadako Ogata, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Cesar Gaviria, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, also addressed the opening ceremony. Ogata stressed that no threat is more deadly than mines, pointing out that landmines force people to flee from their communities, hinder the delivery of relief supplies, and inhibit the return of refugees after conflict has ended.

"The fight against landmines is one of the great battles of our times," Ogata emphasized. She expressed hope that the conference will help keep the international community focused on the landmine issue.

Ogata also expressed her appreciation to the United States for its humanitarian commitment, noting that without U.S. support -- and that of the American people -- the fight against landmines would not be possible.

Inderfurth, who is also assistant secretary of state for South Asian Affairs, said he hopes the conference will set the tone for the global effort to eliminate threatening landmines as well as helping landmine victims. He also told the participants, who include key military officials, that he hoped they would be able to reach "several areas of agreement" by the conclusion of the event on March 22.