AFRICANS READY TO SIGN CONVENTION BANNING CLUSTER MUNITIONS

Joy Online
Tuesday, 7 October 2008, 8:46 GMT
Ghana

A total of 28 African countries have affirmed their commitment to
sign the convention on banning the use of cluster munitions by the
end of the year.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions is an international treaty that
bans cluster bombs and provides assistance to affected communities
to be opened for signature in Oslo, Norway, on December 3, 2008,
the International Day for Persons with Disabilities.

A total of 107 states adopted the Convention in Dublin, Ireland,
in May 2008, a statement issued in Accra by Foundation for Security
and Development in Africa (FOSDA) to the Ghana News Agency on Monday
stated.

The statement said the continent’s position was made at the just-ended
African Regional Conference on Cluster Munitions held in Kampala,
Uganda.

According to the statement, the Africa Regional Conference adopted
the "Kampala Action Plan" outlining a series of strong actions by
civil society organisations across the continent to persuade African
governments to sign the Convention.

The Kampala Conference is the second in a series of regional meetings
arranged to build support for signing the convention banning the use
of cluster munitions.

Cluster bombs or munitions are large weapons which are deployed
from the air and from the ground and release hundreds of smaller
sub-munitions.

Sub-munitions released by airdropped cluster bombs are often called
"bomblets," while those delivered from the ground by artillery or
rockets are usually referred to as "grenades."

Air-dropped or ground-launched, they cause two major humanitarian
problems and risks to civilians. First, their widespread dispersal
means they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians
so the humanitarian impact can be extreme, especially when the weapon
is used in or near populated areas.

The Kampala Conference said many sub-munitions used in the past had
failed to detonate on impact and become de facto antipersonnel mines
killing and maiming people long after the conflict has ended.

The Conference said these duds were more lethal than antipersonnel
mines, adding that incidents involving sub-munitions duds were much
more likely to cause death than injury.

Fourteen countries were identified for having used cluster munitions –
Eritrea, Ethiopia, France, Georgia, Israel, Morocco, the Netherlands,
Nigeria, Russia (USSR), Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, UK, US,
and FR Yugoslavia.

According to the FOSDA statement, a total of 34 states are known to
have produced over 210 different types of cluster munitions whilst
more than two dozen countries have been affected by the use of cluster
munitions including Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Azerbaijan, Bosnia
and Herzegovina, and Cambodia.

The rest are Chad, Croatia, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Georgia,
Grenada, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Montenegro, Saudi Arabia,
Serbia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Uganda, and Vietnam,
as well as Chechnya, Falkland, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Western Sahara.

A total of 42 African governments attended the Kampala Conference,
which discussed the treaty on cluster munitions, of which 28 announced,
most for the first time, their intent to sign the Convention on
Cluster Munitions.

The countries were Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central
African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of Congo, DR Congo, The
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Lesotho, Madagascar,
Malawi, and Mali.

The rest are Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal,
Seychelles; Uganda, Togo and Zambia.