The US says it will no longer make or seek to acquire landmines – adding for the first time that it intends to sign up to an international treaty banning them.<br /><br />A US delegation made the announcement at a review conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Mozambique, and the White House later confirmed the decision.<br /><br />“The United States took the step of declaring it will not produce or otherwise acquire any anti-personnel landmines in the future, including to replace existing stockpiles as they expire,” the White House said in a statement.<br /><br />The number of reported casualties is said to have halved since the ban was agreed 15 years ago.<br /><br />America has not produced landmines since then, but had reserved the right to resume making them. <br /><br />The Pentagon’s Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said the US had an active stockpile of just over three million anti-personnel mines, adding that they did have a shelf-life.<br /><br />“We anticipate that they will start to decline in their ability to be used about… sta
