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Monday 29 September 2008
(Kampala, Uganda: 29 September 2008) – Forty African governments gathered in Uganda today at a meeting to promote signature of a groundbreaking treaty banning cluster bombs. The Cluster Munition Coalition, an international network of campaigners and cluster bomb survivors, called on all African governments to unite in signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3 December 2008.
“Africa has been crucial to ensuring the creation of a strong treaty banning cluster munitions. Now African states should unite to ensure every government follows through and signs the Convention,” said Dr. Robert Mtonga of IPPNW Zambia, Africa spokesperson for the international Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).
In May 2008 more than 100 states agreed to ban cluster bombs because they kill and injure too many civilians both during and after attacks. The Convention on Cluster Munitions will be opened for signature in Oslo, Norway on 3 December 2008.
“We urge Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Rwanda and all states that have not yet endorsed the cluster bomb ban to sign the Convention this December,” said Ms. Margaret Arach Orech, director of the Uganda Landmine Survivors Association, a CMC member. “We don’t want there to be any more victims from cluster munitions. For too long Africa has felt the devastating effects of indiscriminate weapons like landmines and cluster bombs. Signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions will help prevent civilian casualties and build peace” she added.
A total of 34 African states adopted the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2008. It remains to be seen whether the nineteen others will sign the Convention this December and campaigners will be pushing for positive signals from Angola, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Eritrea, The Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Mauritius and Zimbabwe who did not adopt the treaty in Dublin in May but who have all registered to attend the Kampala conference.
“This region has experienced first-hand the humanitarian consequences of this deadly weapon,” said Ethiopian cluster bomb survivor Mr. Berihu Mesele. “This Convention is not only about banning cluster munitions; it contains important humanitarian provisions to clear contaminated land and assist survivors, their families and communities.” Mesele lost both his legs in June 1998, when a school near his home in Mekele was hit by a cluster bomb strike.
In Africa, cluster munitions have been used in Angola, Chad, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Morocco (in the disputed Western Sahara), Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Uganda. Globally at least 77 countries have stockpiled cluster munitions, including Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, and Uganda.
See also:
• CMC Fact Sheet, “Cluster Munitions in Africa” (September 2008) http://www.hrw.org/pub/2008/arms/CMC_factsheet0908.pdf
For more information, please contact:
• Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch, +256 (0) 702-177-267
• Amadou Maiga, CMC Mali, +256 (0) 77-918-5466
• In London, Natalie Curtis, CMC +44 (0)20 7820 0222 or + 44 (0) 7515 575174