Britain May Opt Out Of Cluster Bomb Ban
More than a hundred countries are expected to ban cluster bombs this month - but Britain may not be one of them.
The UK says it wants to keep at least two types of so called ’smart’ cluster bomb in its arsenal, claiming they minimise the risk of civilian casualties.
But Sky News has unearthed powerful evidence they can cause far more civilian deaths and injuries than is being claimed.
Cluster bombs scatter a shower of lethal sub-munitions over huge areas.
Many do not explode, posing a risk to civilians for years to come in the same way as landmines do.
The M85 cluster bomb has an extra mechanism ensuring it nearly always self-destructs on impact according to its Israeli makers and Britain’s Ministry of Defence, which wants it exempted from the cluster bomb ban.
But the UN in southern Lebanon has told Sky News that mechanism repeatedly fails.
UN sponsored teams are still clearing the area of hundreds of thousands of cluster bombs dropped by Israel during its war with Hizbollah almost two years ago.
UN spokesman Dalya Farran told Sky News: “It was established that the failure rate for the M85 with self-destruct mechanism was around 10%.
“Many people were injured and killed by the M85 with self-destruct mechanism.”
For Wairde Suleiman, who lost her 20-year-old son to an M85 cluster bomb, there is nothing ’smart’ about them.
“When I hold his photograph my heart fills with darkness,” she said.
“I get more upset than you can imagine. He’s my son. I brought him up for 20 years until he became a man and then I lost him.”
In another village, Naemeh Ghazi lost her leg when she stepped on an M85 in her garden.
Asked what she thought about British and Israeli claims the M85 is safer than other cluster bombs, she responded angrily: “It injured me and it destroyed me. What more could it do?
“It’s not safe, the cluster bomb is not safe. None of them are safe. Just look at me.”
(Sky News)
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