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Country Reports
Chad

Chad

The Republic of Chad signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3 December 2008. The status of the ratification process is not known.

Chad did not attend the initial Oslo Process meeting in February 2007, but participated in the subsequent international treaty preparatory conferences in Lima and Vienna. Chad did not attend the Wellington conference, but adopted the Wellington Declaration on 15 May 2008, indicating its intention to be a full participant in the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[1] It also attended the Belgrade conference for affected states and the African regional conference in Kampala.

At the Lima conference, Chad called for a “total ban” on cluster munitions, stating that as an affected country, the humanitarian aspect should be central to a definition of cluster munitions; it considered all harm to be unacceptable.[2] Chad described its experience as a country affected by cluster munitions, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and mines, and appealed for assistance and international support for its efforts to clear munitions contaminating its territory.[3]

At the Dublin negotiations, Chad joined other African countries in opposing efforts to weaken the draft treaty text, and strongly objected to the suggestion of a transition period during which cluster munitions could still be used.[4] During the Kampala regional conference, Chad publicly announced that it would sign the convention in Oslo.[5] It endorsed the Kampala Action Plan, which declared that states should sign and “take all necessary measures to ratify the convention as soon as possible.”[6]

At the Signing Conference in Oslo, Chad delivered a statement in the name of its President, Idriss Deby Itno, stating that UXO, including cluster munitions, are an obstacle to development of humanitarian and socio-economic activities in Chad and that the removal of UXO is now a prerequisite for the implementation of many development projects.[7]

Chad is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW). It attended one CCW session on cluster munitions in 2008 as an observer.

Use, Production, Stockpiling, and Transfer

Chad is not believed to have used, produced, stockpiled, or transferred 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. Following the end of conflict, unexploded submunitions and cluster munition containers have been found in the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti region, Biltine region, and east of N’Djamena.[8]


[1] New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, “List of countries subscribing to the Declaration of the Wellington Conference on Cluster Munitions,” 23 May 2008, www.mfat.govt.nz.

[2] Statement of Chad, Session on Definition and Scope, Lima Conference on Cluster Munitions, 24 May 2007. Notes by CMC/WILPF.

[3] Statement of Chad, Session on Clearance, Lima Conference, 23 May 2007. Notes by WILPF.

[4] Statement of Chad, Committee of the Whole, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, 23 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.

[5] CMC, “Report on the Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” 30 September 2008, www.stopclustermunitions.org.

[6] Ibid; and Kampala Action Plan, Kampala Conference, 30 September 2008.

[7] Statement of Chad, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008.

[8] Handicap International, “Fatal Footprint: The Global Human Impact of Cluster Munitions,” Brussels, November 2006, p. 17; Handicap International, “Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities,” Brussels, May 2007, p. 48; and Survey Action Center and Handicap International, “Landmine Impact Survey, Republic of Chad,” Washington, DC, 2000, p. 59.