Cluster Bombs: Libya Accused Of Using Banned Weapon On Civilians

Libya’s dictator Colonel Moamar Khadhafi and his military forces are being accused by a human rights group of using a deadly and destructive weapon known as the "cluster bomb" against Libyan rebels and innocent civilians. Cluster bombs are voluntarily banned by 108 countries.

The non-governmental agency Human Rights Watch claimed on Friday that one of its observers photographed three mortar-launched projectiles exploding over a residential area of Misrata.

The area where Human Rights Watch witnessed the use of cluster munitions is about 1 kilometer from the front line between rebels and government forces. The submunitions appear to have landed about 300 meters from Misrata hospital. Human Rights Watch could not inspect the impact sites due to security concerns, according to the organization’s press statement. 

Human Rights Watch has not yet been able to determine if civilians in Misrata have been wounded or killed by cluster munitions. Human Rights Watch interviewed two ambulance drivers who said they had witnessed cluster strikes prior to April 14.

A meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) foreign ministers in Berlin ended Friday without reaching an agreement with non-participating member countries to contribute warplanes to the enforcement of the United Nations-sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya.

The US, UK and France officials stated in a joint media release that the danger to Libyan civilians will continue as long as Col. Khadhafi maintains power. The Russian government condemned NATO, accusing it of exceeding the UN resolution to protect civilians from the onslaught or retaliation of Khadhafi’s military or the mercenaries the dictator hired from nearby African countries.

Releasing photographs of cluster munitions, officials from the New York-based Human Rights Watch claimed three projectiles had exploded over Misrata.

First discovered by a New York Times reporter, and inspected by Human Rights Watch, the object photographed is said to be an MAT-120 120mm mortar projectile, which opens in mid-air and releases 21 sub-munitions over a wide area.

"Upon exploding on contact with an object, each submunition  disintegrates into high-velocity fragments to attack people and releases a slug of molten metal to penetrate armored vehicles," HRW noted in a press statement. HRW claimed the cluster bomb was manufactured in Spain.

The International Convention on Cluster Munitions official signed in Dublin, Ireland, in 2008 prohibits its 108 signatories from using cluster weapons due to concerns over use of the weapon on civilian populations or incidents of "collateral damage." 

Libya is one of the states did not sign the agreement. The United States, Israel, Russia and China also refused to sign the weapons ban.

The fragments found in Misrata were produced about a year before the convention was adopted, according to one intelligence source.

Jim Kouri, CPP, formerly Fifth Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, and he’s a columnist for Examiner.com.  In addition, he’s a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. 

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