wfn.org | NCCCUSA Anti-Landmines Efforts Set for Mid-May

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: Mel Lehman, NCC, 212-870-3004; Roy Lloyd,
NCC, 212-870-2312,
  Betty Thompson (before May 1) or Randy Naylor
(May 5+), NCC, 212-870-2048

NCC4/18/97

DEMINING IN CAMBODIA, MID-MAY DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE
U.S.
ARE ANGLES FOR COVERAGE OF MAY 16 FIRST ANNIVERSARY
OF CLINTON'S YET-UNFULFILLED PROMISE TO SEEK
LANDMINES BAN

BACKGROUND

 May 16, 1997, will mark the first anniversary
of President Clinton's announced decision to seek an
international ban on the production, transfer,
stockpiling and use of anti-personnel landmines,
which kill or maim 26,000 people every year.  To
date, the U.S. has signed no ban.  The U.S. anti-
personnel landmines activist community asserts that
President Clinton is moving too slowly on this
issue.  He has chosen to seek negotiation of a ban
treaty in the U.N. Conference on Disarmament - a
process promising in theory but certain to move
slowly.  Anti-mines activists are urging the
President and his Administration - set to reevaluate
its landmine policy soon -- to support a Canadian
initiative (the "Ottawa Initiative") to complete and
sign a comprehensive ban treaty at a ceremony in
Ottawa in December 1997.

MEDIA STORY ANGLES

l GET ADVANCE FOOTAGE OF DEMINING WORK IN CAMBODIA.
Interviewees could include Tun Channereth, a
Cambodian landmine explosion survivor (he lost both
legs) an prominent anti-landmines activist who will
come to the U.S. May 8 for about 10 days of speaking
engagements, under the auspices of Church World
Service, the humanitarian response arm of the
National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
U.S.A. (often simply called "National Council of
Churches").  Contact: Linda Hartke, Church World
Service/Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Phone 855-23-23438;
Fax 855-23-427786; E-Mail cws@pactok.peg.apc.org.
Ms. Hartke, a Lutheran from the U.S.,, also can
offer interviews.

l COVER EVENTS IN THE U.S.  Tun Channereth's
itinerary will include Chicago, New York, and
Washington, D.C.  Events in the nation's capital
will include a May 15 news conference (9:30 a.m.,
Dirksen Auditorium, Dirksen Senate Office Building)
and a May 16 rally (noon to 2 p.m., Lafayette Park),
where American landmine survivors also will speak.
Participants will bring shoes to the rally to
represent lost limbs and lives, along with more than
70,000 signatures from Americans on petitions
demanding a landmines ban now.  Church World Service
and the U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines are co-
sponsors.  See contacts, above.
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