A/RES/53/26 Page 3 Taking note of the Plan of Action on Landmines adopted at the First Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines, held at Kempton Park, South Africa, and the adoption at Harare by the Council of Ministers of the Organization of African Unity of a resolution on the report of the SecretaryGeneral of the Organization of African Unity on the issue of anti-personnel mines and international efforts to reach a total ban,7 Taking note also of the Agenda for Mine Action developed at the Mine Action Forum at Ottawa in December 1997, and of the outcome of the Workshop on Mine-Action Coordination held at Ottawa in March 1998, Taking note further of the outcome of the Conference on Global Humanitarian Demining, held in Washington, D.C., in May 1998, Noting the international conferences held recently on modern demining technology at Karlsruhe, Germany, and the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy; on landmine injury and rehabilitation at Amman; on the implementation of treaty obligations in the armed forces at Vienna; and other relevant international meetings, Noting also the International Forum on Demining and Victim Assistance, held at Phnom Penh in October 1998, which underlined the importance of ownership by mine-affected countries and their partnership with the international community in conducting mine-action activities in a suitable way towards the "zero victim goal", Emphasizing the importance of recording the location of mines, of retaining all such records and making them available to concerned parties upon cessation of hostilities, and welcoming the strengthening of the relevant provisions in international law, Stressing the need to convince mine-affected countries to halt new deployments of anti-personnel mines in order to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of mine-clearance operations, Recognizing the important role that the international community, particularly States involved in the deployment of mines, can play in assisting mine clearance in affected countries through the provision of necessary maps and information and appropriate technical and material assistance to remove or otherwise render ineffective existing minefields, mines and booby traps, Bearing in mind the serious threat that mines and other unexploded devices pose to the safety, health and lives of personnel participating in humanitarian, peacekeeping and rehabilitation programmes and operations, Aware that the rate of mine clearance needs to accelerate substantially if the global landmine problem is to be tackled effectively, Concerned about the limited availability of safe and cost-effective mine-detection and mine-clearance equipment as well as the need for effective global coordination in research and development to improve 7 See A/52/465, annex I. /...