Zimbabwe
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Zimbabwe has shown interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions but has not taken any steps to join it. Zimbabwe participated in a regional workshop on the convention in March 2022. Zimbabwe abstained from voting on a key United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
Zimbabwe exported and imported cluster munitions in the past, but it is not clear if it ever used them. Prior to 1980, the defense industries of the country—then known as Rhodesia—developed and produced cluster bombs. Zimbabwe is believed to possess cluster munitions, but there is no information regarding the types and quantities stockpiled.
Policy
The Republic of Zimbabwe has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Zimbabwe has shown interest in the convention and told States Parties in September 2019 that “internal processes are underway” for its “possible” accession to the convention. At the time, Zimbabwe stated that it had not joined largely due to reduced “logistical and technical capacity mainly due to political, economic and social challenges.”[1]
Zimbabwe participated in two regional meetings during the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, where it expressed support for a comprehensive ban without exceptions.[2] However, Zimbabwe was absent from the Dublin negotiations in May 2008 and the Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008.
Zimbabwe has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, most recently the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2019.[3] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021. In March 2022, Zimbabwe participated in a regional universalization workshop in Abuja, Nigeria.[4]
Zimbabwe abstained from voting on a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2021, which urged states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to join “as soon as possible.”[5] Zimbabwe has abstained from voting on the annual UNGA resolution since 2019, after voting against it during 2015–2018.
Zimbabwe is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
It is unclear whether Zimbabwe has ever used cluster munitions.[6]
Zimbabwe is not known to have produced or exported cluster munitions since it gained independence from the United Kingdom (UK) in 1980, but likely possesses a stockpile, containing munitions dating from before independence and since then.[7]
According to Jane’s Information Group, Rhodesia produced the Alpha bomblet developed for the South African CB-470 cluster bomb.[8] State Parties to the convention Chile and Peru have reported stockpiling Alpha bomblets.
Brazil transferred 104 BLG-250K and four BLG-60K cluster bombs and various components for BLG-500K, BLG-250K, and BLG-60K cluster bombs to Zimbabwe between January 2001 and May 2002, according to declassified Brazilian Ministry of Defense documents.[9]
Zimbabwe may have transferred Chilean-manufactured cluster munitions to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as recently as July 2013, according to a copy of an official shipping document.[10] The DRC signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in March 2009 but has not ratified it. As a signatory, the DRC has committed not to take any action that runs contrary to the object and purpose of the convention, such as importing or otherwise receiving cluster munitions.
Zimbabwe also possesses RM-70 and BM-21 122mm surface-to-surface rocket systems, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[11]
[1] Statement of Zimbabwe, Convention on Cluster Munitions Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 2 September 2019. Previously, in May 2013, a government representative told a regional meeting that Zimbabwe was “seriously considering” acceding to the convention. Statement of Zimbabwe, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, 22 May 2013. Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) meeting with Mucheka Chameso, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Zimbabwe to the UN in Geneva, in Lomé, 22 May 2013. In May 2012, a government representative said Zimbabwe was conducting “consultations with relevant stakeholders on the country’s accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions” that it hoped to soon conclude. Statement of Zimbabwe, Accra Regional Conference on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Accra, May 2012. In March 2010, Zimbabwe stated that “discussions are underway on the matter” of joining the convention. 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 (AOAV).
[2] For details on Zimbabwe’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 262–263.
[3] Zimbabwe participated as an observer at the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010–2013 and 2019, as well as intersessional meetings in 2012–2015. It did not attend the First Review Conference in 2015. Zimbabwe has participated in regional workshops on the convention, most recently one in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in August 2016. “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.
[4] Convention on Cluster Munitions Implementation Support Unit (ISU), Report on the African Regional Convention on Cluster Munitions Universalization Workshop in Abuja, Nigeria, 23–24 March 2022.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[6] Zimbabwe has not made a statement regarding possible past use of cluster munitions. One source has said that Zimbabwean and/or Congolese aircraft dropped cluster bombs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1998. Tom Cooper and Pit Weinert, “Zaire/DR Congo since 1980,” Air Combat Information Group, 2 September 2003.
[7] In 2010, an official told the CMC that Zimbabwe still possessed cluster munitions that were in the former-Rhodesia’s arsenal. 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: Jane’s Information Group, 2004), p. 440.
[9] Rubens Valente, “Brasil vendeu bombas condenadas a ditador do Zimbábue” (“Brazil sold condemned bombs to Zimbabwe dictator”), Folha de São Paolo, 22 July 2012.
[10] In May 2018, HRW obtained several documents including a “packing list” dated 3 July 2013 and issued on the letterhead of Zimbabwe Defence Industries Ltd., which was addressed to the National Army of the DRC. The list of various weapons includes three crates or pallets of cluster bombs, one weighing 350kg and two weighing 150kg each. According to the document, a manual for CB-250K cluster bombs was also provided. It is unclear if complete cluster bombs were provided or components. Chile produced and transferred CB-250K cluster bombs prior to signing the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
[11] International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 449.