Uganda
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary: Signatory Uganda often expresses its intent to ratify the convention, but has not taken any steps towards this objective. Uganda has participated in many of the convention’s meetings, but not since 2015. It abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution on the convention in December 2017.
Uganda states that it has not used, produced, or stockpiled cluster munitions, but there is evidence that cluster munitions were used in Uganda in the past.
Policy
The Republic of Uganda signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008.
Uganda has expressed its desire to ratify the convention on several occasions, but it has taken few steps to accede.[1] In May 2017, Uganda’s Minister of State for Defence and Veterans Affairs, Colonel Charles Okello Engola, reiterated the government’s commitment to ratify the convention.[2] Uganda’s Cabinet received a ratification package for the convention in May 2016 that must be submitted to parliament for consideration and approval.[3]
Uganda participated extensively in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions and hosted a regional meeting on cluster munitions in Kampala in September 2008.
Uganda has participated in most of the convention’s meetings, but not since 2015.[4] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Seventh Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2017. Uganda has participated in and hosted regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala in May 2017.[5]
Uganda has not explained why it abstained from voting on a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2017 that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[6] It abstained from voting on previous UNGA resolutions promoting implementation and universalization of the convention in 2015 and 2016.
Uganda has condemned new use of cluster munitions.[7]
Uganda is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is also party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Uganda has stated on several occasions that it does not stockpile cluster munitions and has never used, produced, or transferred the weapons.[8] At the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015, Uganda stated it “does not use, produce, stockpile or transfer cluster munitions and does not intend to do so.”[9] Minister of State for Defence and Veterans AffairsOkello told a May 2017 workshop that Uganda had never manufactured, acquired, transferred, or used cluster munitions.[10]
Until Uganda becomes a State Party and provides an Article 7 transparency report formally declaring the status of its stockpile, the Monitor will continue to list Uganda as a stockpiler of cluster munitions.
Previous use
Information and photographs, provided to Human Rights Watch (HRW) by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), of remnants cleared by mine action teams in northern Uganda near the then-Sudan border indicate that RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh cluster bombs were used in the past during the years-long fighting between the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan military.[11] It is not clear who used the cluster munitions or precisely when or how many munitions were used. On several occasions, Uganda has denied that its armed forces ever used cluster munitions and said the LRA was responsible.[12] The Uganda Mine Action Center (UMAC) has informed the Monitor that no unexploded submunitions remain.[13]
Uganda has denied using cluster bombs in South Sudan in early 2014, when it was providing air support to the government of South Sudan against opposition forces.In February 2014, evidence emerged showing that in the period since mid-December 2013 cluster munitions were used outside of Bor, the capital of Jonglei State, during the conflict between the opposition forces loyal to South Sudan’s former Vice President Riek Machar and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) government forces, with air support for the SPLA provided by Uganda.[14] Remnants of at least eight RBK-250-275 cluster bombs and an unknown quantity of intact unexploded AO-1SCh fragmentation submunitions were found by a major road 16 kilometers south of Bor in an area that was not known to be contaminated before.[15]
South Sudan denied using cluster munitions in the conflict and denied any Ugandan use of the weapon.[16] In September 2014, Uganda denied that its armed forces possess cluster bombs and stated Uganda had not used the weapon in South Sudan.[17]
The use of cluster munitions in South Sudan received strong media coverage as well as public outcry and condemnations.[18] Approximately 30 countries have expressed concern at or condemned cluster munition use in South Sudan.[19] On 27 May 2014, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2155, which noted “with serious concern reports of the indiscriminate use of cluster munitions” in Jonglei state in February 2014and urged “all parties to refrain fromsimilar such use in the future.”[20]
[1] See for example, statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 9 September 2015; statement of Uganda, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, 28 May 2012; statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011; and statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 9 November 2010.
[2] “Final Report on Convention on Cluster Munitions Ratification Seminar,” Kampala, 29–30 May 2017.
[3] Statements of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties San Jose, 3 September 2014; and Convention on Cluster Munitions Coordination Committee Meeting, Geneva, 28 April 2016. Notes by the CMC. In February 2014, a Ugandan diplomat told the CMC that the ratification process was underway but requires Cabinet approval before it can be referred to parliament for adoption. Interview with Matata Twaha, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Uganda to the UN in Geneva, Geneva, 20 February 2014.
[4] Uganda participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010–2014, the First Review Conference in 2015, and intersessional meetings in 2011–2013 and 2015. Uganda has also participated in and hosted regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala in May 2017.
[5] Convention on Cluster Munitions Ratification Seminar, Kampala, 29–30 May 2017; and “The Addis Ababa Commitment on Universalization and Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Africa Regional Workshop on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 5 August 2016. See also, ICRC, “Zambia: Implementing the ban on cluster munitions in southern Africa,” 17 June 2015.
[6] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 72/54, 4 December 2017.
[7] Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 9 September 2015.
[8] In April 2012, a government official informed an intersessional meeting of the convention that “Uganda has never manufactured, acquired, stockpiled, transferred or used cluster munitions.” Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Intersessional Meetings, Geneva, 18 April 2012. In September 2011, Uganda stated that it has never used, produced, transferred, or acquired cluster munitions. Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 13 September 2011. In June 2009, a senior official said that Uganda does not have any stockpiled cluster munitions. Presentation by Maj.-Gen. J. F. Oketta, Office of the Prime Minister, Berlin Conference on the Destruction of Cluster Munitions, 25 June 2009, slides 2 and 22.
[9] Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 9 September 2015.
[10] “Final Report on Convention on Cluster Munitions Ratification Seminar,” Kampala, 29–30 May 2017.
[11] See for example, statement by Amb. Cissy Taliwaku, Deputy Head of Mission, Permanent Mission of Uganda to the UN in Geneva, to the Belgrade Conference for States Affected by Cluster Munitions, 4 October 2007. Notes by the CMC.
[12] Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 Report (for the period 2 April 2008 to 2 April 2009), Form J; “Landmine survivors welcome ban on cluster bombs,” IRIN (Gulu), 4 June 2008; Paul Amoru, “Cluster bombs conference on,” Daily Monitor, 29 September 2008; and interview with Maj.-Gen. J. F. Oketta, Office of the Prime Minister, in Berlin, 25 June 2009.
[13] Response to Monitor questionnaire by Vicent Woboya, Director, UMAC, 1 April 2010.
[14] HRW press release, “South Sudan: Investigate New Cluster Bomb Use,” 15 February 2014.
[15] The UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) report noted “UNMAS found physical evidence of the use of cluster munitions in the Malek area of Bor county, approximately 16 kilometres south of Bor along the Juba-Bor Road.” UNMISS, “Conflict in South Sudan: A Human Rights Report,” 8 May 2014.
[16] See, Jacey Fortin, “The Bad Bomb: Cluster Munitions, Cold Cases And A Case of Blame Game in South Sudan,” International Business Times, 12 March 2014. Both South Sudanese and Ugandan forces are believed to possess fixed wing aircraft and helicopters capable of delivering air-dropped cluster munitions, such as the RBK-250-275 AO-1SCh cluster bomb, while South Sudan’s opposition forces are not believed to possess these means of delivery.
[17] Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San Jose, 3 September 2014.
[18] Statement by Margot Wallström, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Conference on Disarmament, Geneva, 2 March 2015; Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement, “Norway condemns use of cluster bombs in South Sudan,” 22 February 2014; and statement by Wylbur C. Simuusa of Zambia, President of the Fourth Meeting of States Parties of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, 14 February 2014.
[19] The following states expressed concern at and/or condemned the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan in national statements and/or resolutions since 2014: Argentina, Australia, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, South Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mauritania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
[20] See, UN Security Council press statement, “Security Council, Adopting Resolution 2155 (2014), extends mandate of mission in South Sudan,” 27 May 2014.