South Africa opposes cluster-bomb ban

The hypocrisy of the South African government again stunned the world. No, it’s not that President Mbeki has failed to lift a finger to influence the despot Robert Mugabe in neighbouring Zimbabwe. Nor is it his continuing ludicrous attitude the HIV/AIDS.

It’s South Africa’s refusal to support a ban on cluster bombs. Cluster bombs are deadly weapons deployed from aircraft and helicopters. The bombs release hundreds of smaller bomblets or grenades.

They open in mid-air and scatter over a large area, often causing large numbers of civilian casualties. Often the bomblets don’t go off and lay in the ground until an unsuspecting person steps on one.

(Below, victims of cluster bombs. What's the problem,asks the South African government?)

Norway launched an international treaty last year to prohibit cluster bombs by 2008; 84 governments participated in the process including over half of the world's stockpilers and half of the producers. The four outstanding non-signatories are the US, South Africa, Israel and Russia.

At a meeting in Zambia, South Africa was the only country of 39 African countries on cluster bombs to oppose a blanket ban prohibiting the manufacture and use of the deadly bombs.

The main purpose of the meeting was for Africa to unite before negotiations over a global ban on cluster bombs started at the May in Dublin.

South Africa again made a fool of itself by insisting that not all cluster bombs are deadly and that bombs with a “98% reliability rate” are legitimate weapons of war. And what was behind this bizarre refusal? Money, of course. South Africa and Egypt are the only two manufacturers of cluster bombs on the African continent.

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