Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Mozambique signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 14 March 2011. The convention entered into force for Mozambique on 1 September 2011.

Mozambique provided its initial Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 report in June 2012, for the period from 1 September 2011 to 31 May 2012.[1] According to the report, the government “is undertaking a review of legislation to ensure compliance with obligations” under Article 9 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[2]

Mozambique was one of just three African states that attended the launch in February 2007 of the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It participated actively throughout the Oslo Process and was a strong advocate for a comprehensive ban without exceptions, as well as for victim assistance and international cooperation and assistance.[3]

Mozambique has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It attended the convention’s Second Meeting of States Parties in Beirut, Lebanon in September 2011, as well as intersessional meetings in April 2012. Mozambique attended the Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in May 2012, where it endorsed the Accra Universalization Action Plan issued by the conference and made a presentation on victim assistance.

Mozambique is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Mozambique has not yet made known its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Convention on Conventional Weapons

Mozambique is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW), but it participated as an observer in the CCW’s Fourth Review Conference in Geneva in November 2011.

During the Review Conference, Mozambique joined a group of states opposed to the adoption of a draft protocol on cluster munitions. On the final day of the conference, Mozambique was one of 50 countries that issued a joint statement declaring that there was no consensus on the draft protocol and that it did not address fundamental humanitarian concerns.[4]

The Review Conference ended without reaching agreement on the draft protocol, thus concluding the CCW’s work on cluster munitions.

Use, production, and transfer

In June 2012, Mozambique has declared that it “never produced” cluster munitions and “therefore has no need to convert or decommission such facilities.”[5]

Previously, in June 2011, a government representative stated that Mozambique is not a producer of cluster munitions and said that the country “never had the capacity to produce” cluster munitions. The representative also confirmed that Mozambique “never used cluster munitions.”[6]

It is not known who used cluster munitions in Mozambique in the past. In its Article 7 report, Mozambique declared that cluster munition remnants, including submunitions from RBK-250 and CB-470 containers, have been found in the provinces of Tete, Manica, Gaza and Maputo.[7]  In September 2011, Mozambique requested that “State Parties in a position to do so … provide any technical data on previous cluster munitions strikes within the territory of Mozambique that may be available in their military archives.[8]

Mozambique’s declaration of a stockpile indicates past importation of cluster munitions.

Stockpiling and destruction

In its initial Article 7 report (June 2012), Mozambique declared a stockpile of 290 cluster munitions and 22,656 submunitions of two types: 97 RBK-250 bombs, each containing 150 submunitions (14,550) and 193 RBK-250, each containing 42 PTAB submunitions (8,106).[9]

The stockpile was identified during a review by the Ministry of Defence and according to the report, “[t]he Ministry of Defence will separate the cluster munitions from other munitions maintained for operational use and is developing a plan for destruction of all cluster munitions in its stockpile. The Ministry of Defence will request technical assistance and financial support to complete the destruction process.”[10]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Mozambique is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 September 2019.

According to Mozambique’s Article 7 report, it has not retained any cluster munitions for training or research purposes as permitted by Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.