Landmark cluster bomb ban agreed by 111 countries

DUBLIN, May 29 (AFP):

Delegates from 111 nations on Wednesday agreed on a landmark treaty to ban cluster bombs, Ireland’s foreign ministry said, in a deal that lacks the backing of major producers and stockpilers of the lethal weapons. After 10 days of painstaking negotiations in Dublin, diplomats agreed on the wording of a wide-ranging pact to outlaw the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions by its signatories. It also provides for the welfare of victims and the clearing of areas contaminated by unexploded cluster bombs. The agreement will be formally adopted on Friday, and signed in Oslo on December 2-3. Signatories would then need to ratify it.