mine

Explosive charge on land or sea, or in the atmosphere, designed to be detonated by contact, vibration (for example, from an enemy engine), magnetic influence, or a timing device. Countermeasures include metal detectors (useless for plastic types), specially equipped helicopters, and (at sea) minesweepers. Mines were first used at sea in the early 19th century, during the Napoleonic Wars; landmines came into use during World War I to disable tanks.

Landmines are simple to make but very difficult to clear once an area has been mined. Once laid, they continue to pose a threat to civilians years after the conflict has ended. Mines are manufactured in over 48 countries, and an estimated 100–200 million live mines are in the ground. Most of these are anti-personnel mines (APMs), designed to maim not kill. The UN estimated in 1996 that 24,000 people, mostly children and civilians, die annually as a result of landmines abandoned in war zones. New mines are laid at a rate of 2.5 million a year.

The country with the greatest number of uncleared mines is Afghanistan, with an estimated 9–10 million. There are 3 million land mines remaining in Bosnia. Cambodia has the highest number of amputees as a result of mine injuries, a proportion of one in every 236 people. It is estimated that it would take 1,000 years to clear mines globally.

In May 1997 the British government announced a complete ban on anti-personnel landmines. The ban included the manufacture, transfer, import and export of anti-personnel landmines. British stockpiles were to be destroyed by 2005 or sooner. Until then, there would be a moratorium on their use by the Armed Forces.

In September 1997 more than 100 countries, including the UK, signed a draft treaty to ban anti-personnel mines immediately. The proposed treaty was endorsed in Oslo, Norway. The USA refused to sign the treaty after it failed to have its objections accommodated. The USA demanded a nine-year grace period before the treaty would be enforced, and an exemption of Korea where, the US military claimed, landmines were an essential part of the defence of the South and of the 37,000 US troops stationed there. The Ottawa Convention came into force on 1 March 1999, having been signed by 135 countries.

In 1998 there were about 60–70 million landmines left in 60 countries, according to the US Department of State.

The term originally meant a tunnel driven beneath an enemy position and packed with explosives which were then detonated to coincide with an attack, a tactic used in many places on the Western Front in World War I. However, toward the end of the war the term was used to describe explosive devices laid in the ground to impede the progress of tanks, and it is this meaning that has survived.