Combatants to clear up deadly leftovers

[spindrifter]

The Times November 13, 2006

By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor

A NEW international treaty came into force yesterday that will require countries to clear up unexploded munitions used in combat, which continue to cause thousands of casualties each year.

Although the agreement was criticised as weak by some groups, there were hopes that it would give new impetus to the campaign this week at arms control talks in Geneva for an international ban on the use of cluster bombs, which has had strong support from the UN.

The International Committee for the Red Cross hailed yesterday’s treaty, known as the Protocol on Explosive Remnants of War, as the first of its kind to require countries to clean up unexploded munitions, which they said threatened “civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers” long after fighting was over.

But some human rights groups issued a warning that the treaty was vaguely worded and had been ratified by only 26 countries, none of them heavily engaged in the world’s main military operations.

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2451448,00.html