The Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free World which ended Friday saw presidents, prime ministers and other high-level representatives spending several days preaching to the converted. As most of the countries present had already ratified the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, all were in agreement that the fight to rid the world of anti-personnel landmines must continue, as a review document, an action plan and a declaration showed. In a live video address from U.N. headquarters in New York at the close of the summit, Secretary General Kofi Annan called the treaty "a remarkable success story". But it was the people who had survived encounters with landmines that left a lasting impression. All through the six days the summit lasted they could be seen - in wheelchairs, on crutches, with or without prosthetic limbs. Their presence was reinforced by exhibitions throughout the summit venue showing photographs of other victims, as well as samples of prostheses, some technically advanced, some put together from Coca- Cola bottles or water pipes. One poster from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) who has long pushed for a ban of the weapon, showed a photograph of simple prosthethic limbs, accompanied by the text: "Forget London, Paris and Rome, this is what the women in Phnom Penh are wearing". --More 2020 Local Time 1720 GMT
