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L’Afrique s’unit contre les bombes à sous-munitions
an article by La Coalition sur les armes à sous-­munitions

Une conférence pour faire avancer la lutte contre les bombes à sous-­munitions a eu lieu la semaine 3 28 mai à Accra, au Ghana. 34 pays africains ont adopté un plan d'action fort ayant pour but ultime une Afrique sans bombes à sous-­munitions.


Photo credit: CMC

click on photo to enlarge

Le Plan d'action d'Accra énonce des mesures concrètes que les États doivent prendre pour promouvoir et obtenir une adhésion continentale à la Convention de 2008 sur les armes à sous-munitions, qui interdit complètement l'utilisation, la production, le stockage et le transfert de ces armes. Le document réaffirme le partenariat entre les États, l'ONU et la société civile pour atteindre les objectifs de ce traité et assurer sa mise en oeuvre complète au niveau national.

"L'Afrique s’est engagée pour mettre un terme aux effets dévastateurs que ces armes causent sur les populations civiles, peu importe où elles ont été utilisés, c’est pourquoi, elle a été un continent pionnier dans l'interdiction des bombes à sous-munitions», a déclaré Mme Afi Yakubu de la Fondation pour la sécurité et le développement (FOSDA), membre national de la Coalition contre les armes à sous-­munitions (CMC) au Ghana. "Cette semaine, les pays africains se sont unis pour que tous les gouvernements de la région rejoignent le traité aux plus tôt. Nous nous réjouissons des engagements qui ont été pris" Yakubu ajouté.

Le Cameroun et le Togo, États signataires, ont annoncé que leurs gouvernements ont approuvé la ratification de la Convention sur les armes à sous-­munitions, et effectueront la dernière étape de dépôt de leur ratification auprès de l'ONU dans les prochaines semaines. L'Ouganda, où des milliers de personnes vivent avec les blessures causées par des restes explosifs de guerre tels que les bombes à sous-munitions, a également annoncé son intention de ratifier le traité avant que les États se réunissent à Oslo en Septembre pour la troisième réunion des États Parties au traité.

L’Afrique du Sud, le Bénin,la Gambie et le Tchad ont également indiqué qu’ils espéraient ratifier prochainement. Autre note positive, Maurice, qui n'a pas encore adhéré au traité, a annoncé que le comité national pour le droit humanitaire allait prochainement examiner son adhésion à la convention. Les pays présents ont massivement exprimé leur soutien clair à l'universalisation du traité.

"Les militants de la CMC, venant de toute l'Afrique, sont fortement encouragés par ces annonces positives", a déclaré le Dr Robert Mtonga, membre de la CMC par le biais de IPPNW en Zambie. "Nous allons continuer à travailler en partenariat avec les gouvernements afin de nous assurer qu’ils tiennent les engagements pris de cette semaine."

Suite aux rapports médias la semaine dernière sur l'utilisation récente d’armes à sous-­munitions au Soudan, la Coalition contre les armes à sous-munitions a renouvelé son appel au gouvernement soudanais pour qu’il mène une enquête sur ces cas et l'invite à rejoindre la Convention au plus vite.

Un total de 34 États africains ont pris part à la conférence d’Accra, dont trois qui n'ont pas encore signé la Convention (Érythrée, Maurice et le Zimbabwe). Dix-­huit autres pays africains qui doivent encore ratifier ont également participé, ainsi que 13 États Parties.

( Cliquez ici pour une version anglaise)

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Can cluster bombs be abolished,

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Here are more recent news on the cluster bombs treaty, as taken from Agence France Presse (very little coverage in the US media, as usual for peace matters).

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Observers laud landmark cluster bomb ban

May 28, 2008

DUBLIN (AFP). — Observers on Thursday lauded a landmark treaty agreed by delegates from 111 countries in Dublin to ban cluster bombs, though the deal lacks the backing of major producers and stockpilers.

After 10 days of painstaking negotiations at Croke Park stadium in Dublin, diplomats agreed the wording of a wide-ranging pact to outlaw the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions by its signatories.

It also provides for the welfare of victims and the clearing of areas contaminated by unexploded cluster bombs.

The agreement will be formally adopted on Friday, and signed in Oslo on December 2-3. Signatories would then need to ratify it.

It was hailed in The Independent newspaper in London as a "significant step forward", describing cluster bombs as "little more than air-delivered landmines" and declaring that "there can be no compromise when it comes to cluster bombs."

The newspaper acknowledged in its editorial, however, that the document was weakened by the absence of the United States, Russia, China, India, Israel and Pakistan from the Dublin talks, and thus the agreement.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said the treaty was a "very strong and ambitious text which nevertheless was able to win consensus among all delegations."

"It is a real contribution to international humanitarian law," he added.

The Irish Department for Foreign Affairs said 111 participating states and 18 observer countries attended.

The treaty requires the destruction of stockpiled munitions within eight years -- though it leaves the door open for future, more precise generations of cluster munitions that pose less harm to civilians.

Britain was widely cited by campaigners as being at the forefront of a group of states seeking to water down the treaty.

But in a dramatic move Wednesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced in London that Britain would withdraw all its cluster bombs from service in a bid to "break the log jam" in the Dublin talks.

The draft treaty agreed in Dublin read:

"Each state party undertakes never under any circumstances to:

"(a) Use cluster munitions;

"(b) Develop, produce, otherwise acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer to anyone, directly or indirectly, cluster munitions;

"© Assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in any activity prohibited to a state party under this convention."

Much of the wrangling focused on what signatories could and could not do in joint operations with states still using cluster bombs.

The draft text said signatories "may engage in military cooperation and operations".

But the Cluster Munition Coalition, an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations, hopes that the treaty will stigmatise the use of cluster munitions -- as the similar Ottawa Treaty did for landmines -- and stop countries from helping others to use them.

CMC co-chair Simon Conway told AFP the treaty was a compromise but nonetheless "incredibly strong".

"We're going to end up with a strong treaty that prohibits every cluster bomb that's ever been used, with no transition periods, with strong obligations on clearance and particularly strong obligations on victim assistance," he said.

Hildegarde Vansintjan, advocacy officer for disability campaigners Handicap International, said the convention made states responsible for providing assistance to cluster bomb victims.

The treaty "would be a real step forward for the people suffering from cluster munitions all over the world," she told AFP.

The cluster munitions ban process, started by Norway in February 2007, took the same path as the 1997 Ottawa Treaty by going outside the United Nations to avoid vetoes and seal a swift pact.

Cluster munitions are among the weapons that pose the gravest dangers to civilians, especially in heavily bombed countries such as Laos, Vietnam and Afghanistan.

Dropped from planes or fired from artillery, they explode in mid-air, randomly scattering bomblets. Countries are seeking a ban due to the risk of civilians being killed or maimed by their indiscriminate, wide area effect.

They also pose a lasting threat to civilians as many bomblets fail to explode on impact.


This report was posted on June 8, 2012.