Nobel Boost for Land-Mine Ban

OSLO: It’s what Diana would have wanted. The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday and if measured by the growth of their movement alone, the award is well-deserved. The ICBL began five years ago as a loose alliance of less than five anti-land-mine groups. Today it comprises over a thousand. And despite the boost given by Diana’s support and her tragic death, credit belonged Friday to another woman: American coordinator Jody Williams.

Williams, who admitted to being “a little stunned,” will split the $1 million prize money with the rest of the organization. Even better, her much publicized call for the U.S., Russia and China to sign up to the international land-mine accord seems to be working already: Boris Yeltsin announced Friday that Russia would sign on to the ban.