About Us
Our Research Products
Zimbabwe
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions
|
Convention on Cluster Munitions status |
State not party |
|
Participation in Convention on Cluster Munitions meetings |
Attended Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013, and a regional meeting in Lomé, Togo in May 2013 |
|
Key developments |
Actively considering accession |
Policy
The Republic of Zimbabwe has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
In May 2013, a government representative informed a regional meeting that Zimbabwe is “seriously considering” accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions but acknowledged that over the past two years the process toward joining the convention has been slow.[1] The representative informed the CMC that consultations are continuing, but no decision has been made yet.[2]
In May 2012, a government representative stated Zimbabwe’s intent to “work diligently towards accelerating the conclusion of consultations with relevant stakeholders on the country’s accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.”[3] In November 2010, Zimbabwe said it was following the progress of the convention with interest, but did not elaborate on the government’s position on joining it.[4]
Zimbabwe participated in two regional meetings held during the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and expressed its support for a comprehensive ban without exceptions.[5] Since 2008, Zimbabwe has continued to engage in the work of the convention. Zimbabwe attended the convention’s Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012 as an observer and it participated in intersessional meetings in Geneva in April 2013, but did not make any statements at either meeting. Zimbabwe also attended a regional meeting in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, where it provided an update on its accession process.
Zimbabwe has not made a national statement to express concern at Syria’s cluster munition use, but at the regional meeting it endorsed the Lomé Strategy on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions which expresses “grave concern over the recent and on-going use of cluster munitions” and calls for the immediate end to the use of these weapons.[6]
Zimbabwe is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
In March 2010, an official informed the CMC that Zimbabwe still possessed cluster munitions that remained from the former Rhodesia’s arsenal.[7] Jane’s Information Group has reported that the Alpha bomblet developed for the South African CB-470 cluster bomb was produced in Rhodesia and that “Zimbabwe may have quantities of the Alpha bomblet.”[8] Additionally, Zimbabwe possesses RM-70 122mm surface-to-surface rocket systems, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[9]
Zimbabwe is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions since its independence. It is unclear if Zimbabwe has ever used cluster munitions.[10]
[1] Statement of Zimbabwe, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2013/05/X_Zimbabwe.pdf.
[2] CMC meeting with Chameso Mucheka, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the UN in Geneva, in Lomé, 22 May 2013. Notes by the CMC.
[3] Statement of Zimbabwe, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, May 2012, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2012/06/Session-II_Statement_Zimbabwe.pdf.
[4] CMC meeting with Mucheka Chameso, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the UN in Geneva, in Vientiane, November 2010. In March 2010, Zimbabwe stated that “discussions are underway on the matter” of joining the convention. See statement of Zimbabwe, Africa Regional Conference on the Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Pretoria, 25 March 2010. Notes by Action on Armed Violence.
[5] For details on Zimbabwe’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 262–263.
[6] “Lomé Strategy on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2013/04/Lome-Strategy-for-the-Universalization-of-the-CCM-Final-Draft_En.pdf.
[7] CMC meeting with Mucheka Chameso, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the UN in Geneva, Africa Regional Conference on the Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, in Pretoria, 25–26 March 2010. Notes by the CMC.
[8] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air-Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey, UK: Jane’s Information Group Limited, 2004), p. 440.
[9] International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 449.
[10] Zimbabwe has not made a statement regarding possible past use. One source has said Zimbabwean and/or Congolese aircraft dropped cluster bombs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1998. Tom Cooper and Pit Weinert, “Zaire/DR Congo since 1980,” Air Combat Information Group, 2 September 2003, www.acig.org/artman/publish/printer_190.shtml.
Send us your feedback on this profile
Send the Monitor your feedback by filling out this form. Responses will be channeled to editors, but will not be available online. Click if you would like to send an attachment. If you are using webmail, send attachments to .