Africa: Kenya urged to support cluster munitions ban pact

Landmines have long been recognized internationally as indiscriminate weapons of war. The impact of their use in human and socio-economic terms has received considerable attention, generated studies, contributed to policies and, in the end, led to one of the most successful international instruments and a process for monitoring states' compliance with their Mine Ban Treaty commitments.

Whereas the use of cluster munitions creates very similar problems in terms of indiscriminate, persistent, and disproportionate harm to civilians in the short and long terms, they have not received similar attention.

Experts say cluster munitions are well-established weapons of war. Each one is made up of 10 to 200 mini-bombs - or sub-munitions - packed in a single container. Distributed by air or rocket launcher, each container spreads its contents indiscriminately over an area of several football fields, with each sub-munition designed to explode on impact. Five to 30 percent however, do not explode as intended, and end up lying on the ground, in trees or on rooftops, representing a threat to civilians that is very similar to landmines. The slightest contact can be enough for them to maim, seriously burn or kill, and the blast from one sub-munition can be fatal up to 25 metres.

Sylvie Bouko, Regional Technical Advisor in Mine Risk Education for Handicap International observes that there is no doubt that cluster munitions leave one of the most problematic and impacting legacies of warfare today due to their fatal “footprint”: the wide area they are designed to cover, their high failure rates, and their sensitive nature as Explosive Remnants of War (ERWs).

Speaking at a media briefing during the commemoration of the Global day of civil society mobilization and action to Ban Cluster Bombs exactly one month before the start of the Vienna Conference for governments on Cluster Munitions, Bouko urges the Kenyan government to become involved in the ban on cluster munitions, to participate in treaty discussions, and to support a strong and effective treaty.

She says public actions are taking place in about 40 countries around the world today, as civil society calls on all governments to adopt immediate national moratoria on the use, trade and production of cluster munitions and participate in diplomatic discussions on a new international ban treaty in Vienna in a month's time.
Vienna is the third of five international conferences on cluster munitions. The conference will take place from December 5, to 7 2007.

The Global Day is aimed at attracting media attention; raising awareness on the problem of cluster munitions and the Oslo Process to ban these weapons as well as encouraging high attendance at the Vienna Conference.
“We are taking this action today to call on the Kenyan government to support the international Oslo Process and a treaty that will ban cluster bombs,” says Bouko, adding that Kenya has been at the forefront of other arms control initiatives and support for the Oslo Process would reaffirm its contribution to protecting civilians and promoting human security.
Casualty data and reports demonstrate what military sources have long known: cluster sub-munitions-contaminated areas are often “de facto minefields.” Cluster munitions are designed to kill and maim. Failed cluster sub munitions cause more casualties per incident and subsequent injuries are as severe or even more disabling than landmine injuries.

Mereso Agina of Kenya Coalition against Landmines (KCAL) describes cluster sub munitions as being prone to detonation during normal livelihood activities.
“The sensitivity of some sub munitions is so extreme that detonations causing casualties have been reported from the vibrations of cars, animals, bicycles or even people on foot simply passing by,” she adds.
Often, casualties occur merely in the vicinity of an explosion, creating a specific and recognizable pattern of civilian harm. Failure rates are dependent on numerous environmental conditions which are not in the control of users. In reality, this makes sub munitions failure rates inevitably higher, contamination worse, and thus the human impact greater than assumed based on manufacturers' estimates.
Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities a report by Handicap International reconfirms that civilians are almost the sole victims of cluster munitions at 98 percent of casualties.

Although Kenya does not use, produce or stockpile Cluster Munitions, and is not directly affected by them, Cluster Munitions are a very real concern in Kenya's regional context.
“Having a strong strategic position in the region, and being a strong supporter of the mine ban treaty, Kenya is well-positioned to set an example to its neighbours by supporting the treaty banning Cluster Munitions alongside Uganda, Tanzania, and the 80 other countries that have joined the initiative,” say Bouko, Mereso and Thomas Nash, Coordinator of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC).

Africa accounts for nearly a third of the countries affected by Cluster Munitions - Uganda, Angola, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Western Sahara are all affected - contributing to regional instability, and hindering development.
“The number of countries taking part in the first ever global day of action to ban cluster bombs is a sign of the public's commitment to achieving a new treaty. It is the public, particularly in states affected by these horrendous weapons, that is driving this process and we will not stop until a ban treaty is signed next year,” adds Nash.

Integrated Regional Information Network's (IRIN) Christopher Horwood says cluster munitions, merit global concern because they have caused a consistent and predictable humanitarian devastation during and after every conflict they have been used in. More than 360 million sub munitions have been dropped in at least 29 countries and territories, leaving over 33 million unexploded sub munitions. Nearly 85 percent of recorded victims of cluster munitions are civilians, and the majority of these accidents occur while the victims carry out daily livelihood activities. Children are the victims of 23 percent of all cluster munitions accidents. It is estimated that as few as one in 10 cluster munitions accidents are reported, making the true scope of the problem impossible to measure.
34 countries produce cluster bombs and over 70 have stockpiles, translating into billions of sub munitions from these weapons. Horwood reveals that several million cluster munitions were dropped during recent conflicts in Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo alone, resulting in thousands of victims. Other weapons presenting comparable humanitarian problems, such as landmines and incendiary bombs, have been banned or regulated and widely stigmatised. Cluster Munitions have a serious impact on communities, preventing access to food, housing, agricultural resources, infrastructures, services and rights. These damages exacerbate existing poverty or vulnerability.
They also have devastating effects on the public sector, impacting the health system and medical resources, development and reconstruction, and the cost for risk reduction programs such as risk reduction education, clearance and victim assistance.
“Although public opposition to cluster munitions has existed for over 30 years, global public awareness intensified in 2006 after Belgium banned the weapon, Norway introduced a moratorium, and the use of the weapon in southern Lebanon demonstrated beyond any doubt the urgent need for an international ban,” says Bouko.

As the international non-governmental Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) stepped up its calls for a new treaty, many states responded by joining a Norwegian-led initiative to conclude a new ban treaty in 2008, a process now known as the Oslo Process.
The Cluster Munition Coalition is led by a Steering Committee of: Human Rights Watch, Landmine Action and Norwegian People's Aid (Co-Chairs), Danish Church Aid, Handicap International, International Campaign to Ban Landmines, IPPNW Russia, Landmine Resource Centre (Lebanon), Mines Action Canada, IKV Pax Christi, Protection (Egypt).

Cluster Munitions are weapons that can disperse up to several hundred smaller sub munitions - sometimes referred to as “bomblets” - over wide areas. They have indiscriminate, wide area effects that kill and injure civilians during and after attacks and they leave severe and lasting humanitarian and development consequences from large quantities of post-conflict unexploded ordnance.

At least 75 countries stockpile cluster munitions and 34 are known to have produced more than 210 types of cluster munitions. 14 states have used cluster munitions in at least 30 countries and territories.
Other weapons presenting comparable humanitarian problems, such as landmines, have been banned or regulated and widely stigmatized.
The UN is calling on all countries to freeze the use and trade of cluster bombs and negotiate an international prohibition on cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.
Angola, Burundi, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia are the African countries participating in the Oslo Process that will be held in Vienna from December 4 to 7 and Wellington from February 18 to 22 to develop the ban treaty, and on May 19 to 30 in Dublin to formally negotiate the treaty.