UN Secretary-General Speaks at " Roots Of Peace" Luncheon on Importance of Elimination of Landmines

Media Contact:
Richard Kollodge
UN Mine Action Service, New York
212-963-5677 or kollodge@un.org

Kofi Annan Meets With Los Angeles Civic Leaders at Walt Disney Concert Hall

LOS ANGELES-December 3, 2003-His Excellency Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, speaks today about the global landmine problem during a Roots of Peace luncheon at the newly opened Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Roots of Peace is a humanitarian non-profit organization founded by Heidi Kuhn in April 1998 with the vision of converting swords to plowshares -replacing the terror of landmines with bountiful fields. Today, Roots of Peace operates in four countries actively demining some of the most heavily mined areas of the world and returning former minefields into productive agricultural use: rice in Cambodia, grapes in Afghanistan, orchards in Croatia, and wheat in Iraq.

"You have turned mines to vines by replacing seeds of destruction with seeds of life...and you have shown the world that even with modest beginnings, a partnership backed up by persistence can make a real difference," said UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

In partnership with the UN Mine Action Service, the Mines to Vines initiative replaced the scourge of landmines with grapes and raisins by removing over 100,000 landmines and other remnants of war in Afghanistan's Shomali Plains north of Kabul.

The event coincides with the sixth anniversary of the day the antipersonnel Mine Ban Treaty (the "Ottawa Convention") opened for signature, the International Day of Disabled Persons and the launch of the Portfolio of Mine Action Projects 2004, an annual overview of efforts in 36 countries to protect people from the threat of landmines and to assist people already harmed by them. The Portfolio is published jointly by the UN Mine Action Service, UNICEF, and the UN Development Programme with participation by more than 100 nongovernmental organizations.

The UN Mine Action Service, which is located in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, is responsible for the overall coordination of mine action in the United Nations system.

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