27 March 2013

CHAD RATIFIES CLUSTER BOMB BAN

Chad has become the 80th State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, having deposited its instrument of ratification on 26 March. Chad will formally become a State Party on 1 September 2013, after the waiting period mandated by the Convention.Chad actively engaged in the Oslo Process that created the convention and supported a comprehensive ban on cluster munitions

.Chad attended the Accra Regional Conference on the Universalisation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Ghana, 28-30 May 2012, which resulted in 34 African countries adopting an action plan with the ultimate aim of a cluster munition-free Africa.Amy Little, Campaign Manager for the CMC said: "We welcome Chad on board and are encouraged by the growing number of African countries uniting and working to help ensure all governments join this lifesaving treaty."More countries are expected to join the global ban in the run up to the Fourth Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, a key treaty meeting in Zambia, 9-13 September 2013.

According to Cluster Munition Monitor, Chad is not known to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions. French aircraft dropped cluster munitions on a Libyan airfield inside Chad at Wadi Doum during the 1986–1987 conflict. Libyan forces used AO-1SCh and PTAB-2.5 submunitions.