“Myanmar’s production and use of cluster munitions is of great concern as these indiscriminate weapons kill mostly civilians,” a researcher at the Cluster Weapons Observatory said.
An NGO alliance fighting against cluster munitions, the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), yesterday denounced their use by the military in Myanmar, a country torn by armed conflict between the junta and its opponents after the military coup of February 1, 2021.
Myanmar has neither signed nor ratified the 2008 international convention that banned cluster weapons, but to date there has been no evidence of their use, according to a press release released by the CMC.
But new information, including photographic material, shows that “Myanmar’s armed forces have used cluster munitions (…) during attacks in various parts of the country since 2021, even as recently as early June 2023.” , emphasizes the NGO alliance.
The CMC mainly reviewed photographs showing remnants of cluster bombs dropped by the Air Force in raids in Chin, Kaya, Kayin and Shan states over the past 13 months.
“Myanmar’s production and use of cluster munitions is extremely worrying as these indiscriminate weapons kill mostly civilians. Nothing can justify their use,” researcher Jeshua Moser-Puangxuan of the Dispersal Weapons Observatory emphasized, according to the announcement.
These weapons disperse up to hundreds of small explosive devices, so-called submunitions, and some of them do not explode and remain on the ground, posing a danger to civilians during any war and even years after their use.
A total of 112 countries have ratified the 2008 convention banning the production and use of cluster weapons. 12 have signed it.
According to the CMC, the cluster munitions used by Myanmar’s Air Force “resemble” other products manufactured at a state-run arms industry, the so-called KaPaSa (“Myanmar Defense Products Industries”), yet the bomb remnants do not ” no distinguishing mark of their place of manufacture or assembly.’
Myanmar’s military is facing stiff resistance from insurgents opposed to the military coup that toppled the government of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The repression has cost thousands of lives.
The CMC says the cluster-weapons attacks come amid escalating armed conflict in northwest and southeast Myanmar.
The conflict, according to the statement, is also characterized by the widespread use of anti-personnel mines “by all sides”.
Source :Skai
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