DANGER IN THE FIELDS |
Mines are perhaps the most terrible weapons of modern wars because they kill soldiers during wartime and because they can kill or injure innocent civilians in peacetime. When the war in Bosnia ended in 1996, people were happy but they knew that they were still in danger since there were about six million mines hidden in ex-Yugoslavia. A lot of these mines have now been found and removed; but doing this is very dangerous. A person may be walking along a path through the fields, and suddenly, the ground explodes under his feet. Sometimes mines are found by chance by young children, who start playing with them as if they were toys. The consequences can be fatal. Mine clearing is one of the jobs that the British soldiers of the U.N. are doing in Bosnia. The soldiers also visit schools to show mines to children and warn them about the dangers, which will continue for years. An international convention took place in autumn 1997, but some countries, like the U.S.A. and China refused to sign it\u2026 Every day, every minute, a person gets killed or injured by a mine in Europe, Africa or Asia. |