Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts - Washington has decided to join the so-called "Ottawa process" talks in order to achieve, by December, an international treaty banning landmines, the White House said yesterday. It said, however, that the United States would continue parallel efforts to achieve such a ban through disarmament talks in Geneva.
"The United States will participate in the Ottawa process negotiations on a treaty banning anti-personnel landmines," the White House said in a statement released on Martha's Vineyard, the New England island where Mr Clinton is spending his vacation. Until now, the US refused to join the process launched by Ottawa, arguing that it had little scope. - (AFP)