Japan, over 100 other countries sign cluster bomb ban in Oslo

OSLO, Dec. 3 Kyodo - Japan joined about 100 other countries in signing a landmark treaty in Oslo on
Wednesday banning the use and stockpiling of cluster bombs, although major
producers such as the United States, China and Russia were not among them.
Represented by Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone at the signing conference on
the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Japan also vowed to comply with the
obligation to provide assistance to countries littered with unexploded
bomblets.
Pledging Japan's continued efforts to help prevent civilians from falling
victim to cluster munitions, Nakasone promised assistance expected to amount to
around $7 million, including ongoing and recently decided projects.
''This convention is a manifestation of the fact that the attitude of human
beings towards armed conflicts has entered a new phase,'' said the minister,
who arrived in the Norwegian capital Tuesday evening for the event.
Nakasone also recalled his experience of visiting a demining site in the
Thai-Cambodian border region, saying, ''I keenly felt that we must not allow
the use of weapons which will revive hatred even after the end of an armed
conflict.''
In Tokyo, Prime Minister Taro Aso described the treaty as bearing ''historic
significance'' and said Japan will work on getting other nations to join the
ban.
Signatory nations to the convention, better known as the Oslo Process, are
required to dispose of their stockpiles of cluster bombs in eight years.
The Japanese Air Self-Defense Force and the Ground Self-Defense Force currently
possess around 27.6 billion yen worth of such munitions, but the defense and
foreign ministries decline to reveal the exact number possessed.
In order to compensate for deficiencies in military capabilities as a result of
the ban, the Japanese Defense Ministry has included a request for around 7.3
billion yen to acquire advanced single-warhead munitions to replace banned
weapons in its budget request for fiscal 2009 beginning in April.
The ministry is also seeking about 200 million yen in spending for fiscal 2009
to study measures to dispose of the cluster bombs.
Japan, which maintains a close security alliance with the United States, had
until a conference in May argued that cluster bombs would be effective in
repelling an enemy landing, given the Japanese archipelago's long coastlines.
However, under the administration of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who advocated
promoting Japan as a ''peace-fostering nation,'' Tokyo shifted from its
previous stance of supporting only a partial ban to approving on May 30 the
accord stipulating an immediate ban on all use of cluster bombs in principle.
But the accord, a draft of which was agreed upon in Dublin in May, does not ban
cluster weapons outright as it allows for the development of advanced munitions
with better precision and lower failure rates.
Cluster bombs are air-dropped or ground-launched weapons that explode in
mid-air, scattering small bomblets over a large area, and are designed to kill
personnel and destroy vehicles.
But their use has drawn growing international criticism because of the threat
they pose to civilians, including many who are killed or maimed by scattered
munitions and duds even years after conflicts have ended.
Some critics have raised concerns over the effectiveness of an accord without
the participation of the major military powers that possess cluster bombs.
Meanwhile, supporters hailed the Oslo treaty as a step forward and expressed
hope it will provide momentum for the stalled negotiations for a comprehensive
protocol under the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons.
==Kyodo
2008-12-03 22:28:26