Concord Times (Freetown)
Abdul Karim Koroma
9 October 2008
Sierra Leone was among 42 African states that adopted the Kampala Action Plan on 30 September, 2008. This came about after two days of deliberation by representatives of those African states and civil society in a conference hosted by the government of Uganda dubbed the African conference on the convention on cluster munitions.
The aim was to solicit an African consensus to sign the convention on cluster munitions (CCM) at the signature ceremony in Oslo, Norway on 3 December 2008.
The CCM was adopted by 107 states including Sierra Leone at the Dublin diplomatic conference on 30 May this year. The convention prohibits the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions, consistent with international human rights and humanitarian law, with much prominence given to states obligation to victim assistance, clearance of contaminated areas and destruction of stockpiles.
Through the Kampala action plan, African states pledged inter alia to sign the Oslo treaty "to demonstrate the continent's strong commitment to the eradication of cluster munitions"; to "publicly declare their intention to sign the Convention in Oslo on December 3"; and "take necessary measures to ratify the Convention as soon as possible."
Article 2 of the CCM defines cluster munitions as "a conventional munition that is designed to disperse or release explosive sub munitions each weighing less than 20 kilograms, and includes those explosives sub munitions."
Cluster munitions have been widely used globally by fourteen countries, including five in Africa - Eritrea, Ethiopia, Morocco, Nigeria and Sudan. 34 states are known to have produced 210 different types of cluster munitions including Egypt and South Africa, whilst nine countries in Africa are being regarded as affected states- Angola, Chad, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda and Western Sahara.
As an affected state, Sierra Leone has placed immense importance in the conclusion of a legally-binding treaty since December 2007, when the tiny West African country first joined the Oslo process in Vienna, Austria. Subsequently, Sierra Leone, during the various Oslo process conferences, was quite strong in advocating the need for a strong Victim Assistance clause in any treaty banning the use, production, transfers and stockpiling of the deadly arsenals.
In Kampala, Sierra Leone was represented by the deputy minister of foreign affairs, Vandi Chidi Minah, Sahr Johnny of the same ministry, Brig. Rtd. Leslie Modibo Lymon, director of small arms, and Hon. Ibrahim Sorie of the ruling All Peoples Congress.
Meanwhile, Abu-Bakarr Sheriff, programme officer of the Sierra Leone action network on small arms and focal person of cluster munitions coalition (CMC) has expressed great satisfaction in the outcome of the Kampala conference.
Sheriff who was part of civil society representation in the recently concluded conference said even though Sierra Leone did not make a public statement that it would sign in Oslo, yet, by adopting both the CCM and the Kampala action plan, he was pretty confident that the country would be represented by a high level delegation in Oslo on December 3 ready to sign and subsequently ratify the convention.
"However, in a bid to set the record straight, Sierra Leone is bound by the spirit and letters of the Kampala Action Plan to state publicly its intent of signing the groundbreaking treaty banning the use of cluster bombs that cause unacceptable harm to civilians," he emphasized.
He said Sierra Leone would be responding positively to the wishes and needs of victims of these horrendous instruments of war."
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