Monday Column By Hameed M. Bello, PhD
hamdbelo@yahoo.co.uk
From Washington, DC in the United States of America, USA, came news March 2, 2023 that Nigeria has ratified the international Convention on Cluster of Munitions on February 28, 2023, becoming the 111th country to do so, according to the Human Rights Watch. The Human Rights Watch is a co-founder of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the global coalition of nongovernmental organizations working to eradicate cluster munitions and provides editing for its annual Cluster Munition Monitor report.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions was adopted in Dublin on the 30th of May 2008, with 108 countries signing as members, while 111 others have currently ratified the convention’s grand objective to ban use, by any nation, of Cluster Munition whether in war or in peace time. Nigeria is the latest member in this category. Among the member countries are Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the State of Palestine. In Africa, aside from Nigeria which has just ratified the convention, Cameroon, Uganda, Zambia, and Senegal are among other countries in the continent that are also members.
“Nigeria’s decision to join the cluster munitions ban shows that countries can play an important role in stigmatizing these heinous weapons, which endanger lives long after the fighting has stopped,” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch and chair of the Cluster Munition Coalition in a statement. He added: “Nigeria now needs to carry out the requirements under the treaty and destroy any stocks of the weapons without delay.”
We are all aware that Nigeria is currently engaged in internal war against terrorist organizations, especially in the northern and southern parts of the country. On both sides of the war, combat images have revealed the use of cluster munitions which have resulted in casualties on troops, the terrorists and even unarmed civilian communities. This is a major reason why the decision of Nigeria to join the global community in ratifying the global cluster munition ban is timely and of essence.
As observed by the Human Rights Watch, cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, and mortars, or dropped by aircraft. They typically open in the air, dispersing multiple bomblets or submunitions over a wide area. Many submunitions fail to explode on initial impact, leaving duds that pose a long-lasting danger, like landmines.
Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council had approved ratification of the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions on June 22, 2021. Nigeria proceeded to deposit the instrument of ratification with the United Nations on February 28. Already, the UN convention had comprehensively banned cluster munitions and required destruction of stockpiles, clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants, and assistance to victims of the weapons.
Nigeria had signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in June 2009 after participating in the fast-track diplomatic “Oslo Process” that negotiated and adopted the convention in May 2008. It expressed its intent to ratify the treaty over the past 13 years, but the domestic approval process did not gain momentum until recently. The Human Rights Watch statement specified, interalia, that the Cluster Munition Monitor – the annual report by the Cluster Munition Coalition – reported that Nigeria is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions, but imported them, possesses a stockpile, and may have used them in the past.
“As required by the treaty, Nigeria must now formally declare any cluster munition stocks and destroy them within the eight-year stockpile destruction deadline. Nigerian authorities should investigate any possible use of cluster munitions in the past to determine if any areas need to be cleared of cluster munition remnants and determine if assistance is needed for victims of the weapons.
“Before Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe was the last country to ratify the Convention on Cluster Munitions, in January 2020. Eight of the 12 signatory countries that still have not ratified the convention are in Africa: Angola, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania, and Uganda. The other signatories are Cyprus, Haiti, Indonesia, and Jamaica.
“Eleven other countries in Africa still need to join the convention: Algeria, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.
“Over the past year, Russian forces have repeatedly used cluster munitions in Ukraine, while Ukrainian forces also appear to have used cluster munitions rockets on several occasions. Cluster munitions were also used in attacks in Idlib governorate in Syria on November 6, 2022 by the Syrian-Russian military alliance, killing and wounding civilians.
“Countries that have not yet banned cluster munitions should follow Nigeria’s lead and do so without delay,” Goose said. “The best response to the recent use of these discredited weapons is to embrace and reinforce international law rejecting them.”
Flashback to 2002. A case of cluster Munition incident was recorded at the Lagos armoury explosion which was the accidental detonation of a large stock of high explosives at a military storage facility in the city of Lagos, Nigeria, on January 27,2002. The fires created by the debris from this explosion burnt down a large section of the Northern part of Lagos, and created a panic that spread to other areas. Many people fled the flames, while several others fell into a canal and drowned. The explosion and its aftermath were believed to have killed no fewer than 1,100 people and displaced over 20,000, with many injured or rendered homeless. Then the government of Nigeria launched an enquiry, which blamed the Nigerian Army for failing to properly maintain the base, or to decommission it when instructed to do so in 2001. 21 years after the terrible bomb blast explosions that rocked the Ikeja Military Cantonment, Lagos State, some of those bombs are still kept in some military bases and it is not certain whether the necessary precautionary measures have been taken to prevent a recurrence.
.The Lagos explosions were actually triggered by a fire outbreak in the nearby Mammy Market, which was also home to the families of soldiers living in the barracks. Soon after, high calibre bombs stored in the armoury of the cantonment began to detonate in quick succession. And according to reports, the blasts killed many of the base staff and their families and immediately destroyed several nearby streets. The Vibration from the explosion also brought down some buildings in the area, trapping people in the ruins and starting new fires from damaged cooking appliances.
Elsewhere, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munition Coalition (ICBL-CMC) is gravely concerned about the potential transfer of banned cluster munitions by the United States to Ukraine according to a CNN on 8 December. The potential transfer of the munitions, prohibited under the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, has come to light amidst reports that Ukrainian officials have repeatedly requested cluster munitions to counter the Russian offensive.
There are feelers that the United States Government has thus far indicated that cluster munitions transfers to Ukraine would be unlikely due to national legislation prohibiting the transfer of cluster munitions with a greater than one percent unexploded ordnance rate. However, the government possesses an aging stockpile of just such weapons and has not yet rejected this option, which would violate the prohibition on the transfer of the weapon under the convention.
“Providing banned cluster munitions to Ukraine or any other country, is a flagrant rejection of the Convention on Cluster Munitions and a blatant disregard for civilian lives. Such a move risks exacerbating the existing humanitarian disaster in the country,” said Hector Guerra, Director of the ICBL-CMC.
Russia, Ukraine and the United States remain outside of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In response to questions on the requests for the banned weapon, a Ukrainian official was quoted as saying, “The [US] worry is about collateral damage. We are going to use them against Russian troops, not against the Russian population,” said the CNN report.
Since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine in February, Russia has used cluster munitions extensively causing civilian deaths. Cluster munitions not only kill at time of impact, they also leave a lethal trail of unexploded ordnance threatening lives for years to come.
On 13 December, ICBL-CMC member HRW documented alleged Russian cluster munition attacks and related civilian casualties in the city of Kherson. Ukrainian forces appear to have used them at least two times in the war according to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2022 report.
ICBL-CMC calls for an immediate halt to use of the internationally banned weapon and urges Russia and Ukraine to join the Cluster Munition Convention as soon as possible to guarantee protection of civilians and respect for international humanitarian law.
In Nigeria, authorities need to hasten to comply with the convention to destroy all cluster munitions in demonstration of its commitment to the general principles of the convention in order to guarantee more safety of lives, whether in wartime or in peacetime.
