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Deal on cluster bombs ban

A cluster bomblet

DUBLIN: Diplomats from more than 100 nations reached agreement on a treaty that would ban current designs of cluster bombs and require the destruction of stockpiles within eight years.

The breakthrough on Wednesday capped more than a year of negotiations that began in Norway and concluded over the past 10 days in Dublin. Nations were expected to sign the document in December in Oslo. The draft treaty declared that a signatory nation “undertakes never under any circumstances to use cluster munitions” nor “develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions.”

Ireland and other lead sponsors plan to unveil the treaty on Friday. Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said all 111 participating nations have backed a draft treaty that he called “a real contribution to international humanitarian law.”

“This is a very strong and ambitious text which nevertheless was able to win consensus among all delegations,” said Mr. Martin.

He added that majority support within the world community would put pressure on leading cluster-bomb makers — the U.S., Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan — to quit relying on them too. Those six nations did not participate.

Washington dismissed the prospect that the treaty would alter U.S. policy. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the U.S. remained committed to the U.N.-sponsored talks that seek voluntary codes of “best practice” among leading makers of cluster bombs.

“While the U.S. shares the humanitarian concerns of those in Dublin, cluster munitions have demonstrated military utility, and their elimination from U.S. stockpiles would put the lives of our soldiers and those of our coalition partners at risk,” said Mr. Casey. In London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the treaty was “in line with British interests and values, and makes the world a safer place.”

Cluster bombs have been used in conflicts from Vietnam to Iraq, to crush enemy forces by laying a carpet of dozens to hundreds of explosions with a single bomb, shell or rocket. Their devastating impact on the battlefield often comes at a terrible cost to civilians. — AP

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