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The 11th meeting of the Convention on Cluster Munitions recently concluded in Geneva with two NATO members, Bulgaria and Slovakia, as well as South Africa, completing the total destruction of their cluster munition arsenals.
Common Dreams reports 9,582 bombs and 585,422 bomblets were destroyed between the three countries, and that this makes South Africa the first nation in history to acquire both cluster bombs and nuclear bombs, and then relinquish both.
This week Bulgaria, Slovakia & South Africa formally completed their obligation to destroy cluster munition stocks, destroying a combined total of 9,582 cluster munitions + 585,422 submunitions – @hrw: https://t.co/kRYF0AATRR 📸🇧🇬 @isuccm #CCM11MSP #GoodNews pic.twitter.com/tb7jZuBsLm
— Mary Wareham (@marywareham) September 14, 2023
Peru is now the only remaining party to the CCM that still retains cluster munitions. Bosnia & Herzegovina reported that they have finished demining operations from the Baltic conflicts of the 1990s.
“The main concern remains with countries unwilling to ban the weapon that may continue to use them now or start using them in the future,” said Mary Wareham, who was also jointly awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
The President of the 11th meeting took the occasion to call on the belligerents in the war in Ukraine to join the treaty and dispense with the use of these uncontrollable weapons.
“We also call upon all States to adhere to the provisions of the Convention by refraining from the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention or transfer of cluster munitions, which indiscriminately endanger the lives of civilians during and long after conflicts,” Mr. Abdul-Karim Hashim Mostafa stated. “We reaffirm our commitment to promote and ensure world peace and security by urging all States that are not party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join it.”
“It is our firm belief that only a comprehensive global ban on cluster munitions will ensure a safer world for all,” he concluded.
“In 2022, the remnants of cluster munitions killed or maimed civilians in Azerbaijan, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen, with 71% of the casualties recorded among children, who sometimes mistake unexploded ordnance for harmless metal balls and pick them up to play with them,” Common Dreams reported earlier this month.
Biden to give Ukraine more cluster munitions
In July, President Joe Biden exercised his Presidential Drawdown Authority which allows him to quickly send arms and ammunition from the United States’ own arsenal to deliver 155mm howitzer shells to Ukraine that can be filled with between 50 and 70 small bombs that scatter over enemy positions. Produced in the 1980s and last used in the bombing campaigns against Serbia, they are low-tech and prone to malfunctions that can leave as much as 18-20% of the bombs unexploded.
Now, three US officials speaking with Reuters anonymously suggest that the next PDA decision could include ATACMS, a long-range missile system that can strike 190 miles behind enemy lines. ATACMS can be filled with up to 300 bomblets, while another potential weapon system called the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) can disperse 404.
The officials claimed, according to Reuters, that the administration is seeing signs of progress during Ukraine’s offensive and believes it is the opportune moment to provide a greater punch, which begs the question why Biden bothered to wait and start with the 155mm shells to begin with. The ATACMS have been considered until this point a serious escalation in the proxy war between the US and Russia taking place in the country.
Featuring the longest range of any weapon sent into the warzone thus far, it would allow Ukrainian operators to fire far behind the lines of engagement, potentially allowing them to target Crimea, an act which Russia has declared it will respond to with nuclear force.
Short of that, it would allow Ukrainian forces to target airfields, railway infrastructure, and command and control centers deep in civilian-occupied areas where cluster bombs would cause the greatest collateral damage. Part of the reason they are banned internationally by over 100 countries under the CCM, is because of the inability of armies to ensure the bomblets won’t fall on civilians and their property, or that the bomblets won’t explode until a civilian steps on them.
When Biden first announced they would be giving Ukraine the cluster munitions, which have contributed to an almost imperceptible difference in the ongoing battle, Ukrainian officials promised the White House they would carefully record the details of every shell fired, how many were fired at a single position, and where those positions were. However, one Ukrainian artillery officer speaking with war reporters told them this was not taking place.WaL
PICTURED ABOVE: An ATACMS missile being launched from an M270 MLRS.
