SA opposes cluster-bomb ban

South Africa has ‘shocked” its African counterparts by objecting to a strongly worded ban on cluster bombs at a meeting of African countries in Livingstone, Zambia, this week.

South Africa was the only country of 39 attending the inaugural meeting of African countries on cluster bombs to oppose a blanket ban prohibiting the manufacture and use of deadly cluster munitions.

The main purpose of the Livingstone meeting was for Africa to unite before negotiations over a global ban on cluster bombs start at the May 19 Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions in Dublin.

Cluster bombs are deadly weapons deployed from aircraft and helicopters. The bombs release dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions — bomblets or grenades. They open in mid-air and scatter over a large area, often injuring civilians.

According to civil society network Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), which attended the meeting, South African foreign affairs director of disarmament and non-proliferation Titi Molaba objected to the wording of the Livingstone Declaration, insisting that not all cluster munitions are deadly and that bombs with a ‘98% reliability rate” are legitimate wea-pons of war. The CMC brings together organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Handicap International.

Zambian CMC representative Bob Mtonga says he is disappointed with Molaba’s objections, particularly since South Africa is a signatory to the Oslo declaration of 2007, which kick-started an international campaign to rid the planet of the deadly munitions that have killed civilians in war-torn countries such as Iraq, Bosnia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Israel.

‘South Africa came in for heavy criticism and she [Molaba] was questioned for long on the objection,” Mtonga says.

The Oslo declaration states that by 2008 endorsing parties will conclude a legally binding treaty that prohibits the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause ‘unacceptable harm to civilians”.

Africa, however, wanted to go further, with a blanket ban on all cluster bombs. At this point South Africa objected, arguing for the insertion of the Oslo phrase ‘unacceptable harm”.

Mtonga criticises South Africa for this. ‘When is harm acceptable? When you lose your toy? Your hair? Or your skin?”

‘South Africa’s position has always been more cautious than the rest of Africa, although it is part of the Oslo process,” says Noel Stott of the Institute for Security Studies’s arms control and disarmament programme.

The country has taken the view, however, that cluster weapons with a 98% reliability rate are legitimate provided they are designed properly and are not used in civilian areas, Stott explains.

Thomas Nash, coordinator of the CMC, says the only way to protect civilians from these munitions and weapons that have a similar effect is a total ban on their use.

‘This is an absolutely untenable position,” he argues. ‘A treaty cannot be based on something as random as a percentage failure rate. Who decides that rate? How do you test it? It cannot work in an international treaty.”

Mtonga is convinced that South Africa’s insistence on a less-strict ban is fuelled by the fact that state-owned arms company Denel is one of only two cluster bomb manufacturers left on the continent. The other is in Egypt.

Stott concurs, saying that through Denel South Africa has the capacity to produce cluster weapons and does so to order. According to him, the South African National Defence Force also has a stockpile of these weapons.

‘It is feasible that this is an economics argument for South Africa,” suggests Stott. ‘We know Denel’s been struggling over the years and this could be another product that is being taken away that they could make money off.”

At a 2005 arms fair in London, Denel marketed a 155mm shell that disperses 42 bomblets. A company spokesperson has confirmed that the artillery shell has a 40km range.

According to Mtonga, Molaba invited African delegates to visit South Africa and discuss the matter with Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota. The visit is scheduled to take place from April 22 to 25.

Neither the Department of Foreign Affairs nor Molaba responded to messages left by the Mail & Guardian.