Land Mine Heroine Targets Holdout Nations

A day before accepting their Nobel Peace Prize, Jody Williams and key members of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines grappled Tuesday with what to do next to advance their cause.

Although the group has racked up stunning success as a driving force behind the treaty signed by 122 countries to ban land mines, it still has high hurdles to clear - including persuading the United States, China, Russia and India to sign.

Williams, of Putney, Vt., is coordinator of the campaign, which has 1,000 member organizations in 60 countries.

She said the campaign’s goals are clear: pressuring holdout nations to sign the treaty and persuading at least 40 countries to take the next step and ratify it, which the treaty needs to become binding.

Bobby Muller, the Vietnam veteran who started the campaign, said the group should be reorganized.

“Jody is now a Nobel laureate. That’s very different from being staff to a campaign,” Muller said.

Muller hired Williams to coordinate the ICBL in 1991.

The Oslo newspaper Aftenposten reported there were internal disputes over how to handle the U.S. refusal to sign the treaty and over the attention paid to Williams over others, such as Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy. He started the ban talks 14 months ago.

“Whether or not there are strong personalities that do not always agree is quite irrelevant in face of the achievement of this campaign,” Williams said Tuesday. “If I worried about (such) issues I would probably still be off in Vermont milking cows.”