Commitment to the Convention on Cluster Munitions

Policy

The Republic of Mozambique signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified on 14 March 2011. The convention entered into force for Mozambique on 1 September 2011.

 In July 2012, Mozambique reported that it was “undertaking a review of legislation to ensure compliance with obligations” under Article 9 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[1] As of June 2013, the legislative review was continuing.[2]

Mozambique provided its initial Article 7 report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions in July 2012.[3] It submitted its annual updated Article 7 report on 17 June 2013, covering calendar year 2012.

Mozambique was one of just three African states that attended the launch of the Oslo Process in February 2007 which produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It participated actively throughout the Oslo Process and was a strong advocate for a comprehensive ban without exceptions, as well as for victim assistance and international cooperation and assistance.[4]

Mozambique has continued to actively engage in the work of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. It attended the Third Meeting of States Parties in Oslo, Norway in September 2012, during which it made statements on victim assistance, stockpile destruction, and clearance. Mozambique also participated in intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2013, as well as a regional conference of the convention in Lomé, Togo in May 2013.

Mozambique has not made a national statement to express concern at Syria’s cluster munition use, but it endorsed the Lomé Strategy on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which expresses “grave concern over the recent and on-going use of cluster munitions” and calls for the immediate end to the use of these weapons.[5]

Mozambique is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Mozambique has not yet stated its views on certain important issues related to interpretation and implementation of the convention, including the prohibition on transit, the prohibition on assistance during joint military operations with states not party that may use cluster munitions, the prohibition on foreign stockpiling of cluster munitions, the prohibition on investment in production of cluster munitions, and the need for retention of cluster munitions and submunitions for training and development purposes.

Use, production, and transfer

Mozambique has declared that it “never produced” cluster munitions and “therefore has no need to convert or decommission such facilities.”[6]

It is not known who used cluster munitions in Mozambique in the past. In its Article 7 report, Mozambique declared that cluster munition remnants, including submunitions from RBK-250 and CB-470 air-dropped bombs, have been found in the provinces of Tete, Manica, Gaza and Maputo.[7] In September 2011, Mozambique requested that “State Parties in a position to do so…provide any technical data on previous cluster munitions strikes within the territory of Mozambique that may be available in their military archives.[8]

Stockpiling and destruction

In June 2012, Mozambique declared a stockpile of 290 cluster munitions and 22,656 submunitions of two types: 97 RBK-250 bombs, each containing 150 AO-1SCh submunitions (14,550 in total) and 193 RBK-250 bombs, each containing 42 PTAB submunitions (8,106).[9] The same cluster munitions were reported stockpiled in the annual report provided in June 2013.[10]

The stockpile was identified during a review by the Ministry of Defence and according to the Article 7 report provided in June 2012, “[t]he Ministry of Defence will separate the cluster munitions from other munitions maintained for operational use and is developing a plan for destruction of all cluster munitions in its stockpile. The Ministry of Defence will request technical assistance and financial support to complete the destruction process.”[11] In September 2012, Mozambique confirmed that it was still in the process of preparing a stockpile destruction plan.[12] In June 2013 it reported that planning of the stockpile destruction process is scheduled to be done during 2013. Mozambique has reported that its Ministry of Defence is requesting technical assistance and financial support to complete the destruction process.[13]

Under Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Mozambique is required to destroy all its stockpiled cluster munitions as soon as possible, but not later than 1 September 2019.

Mozambique has declared that it is not retaining any cluster munitions for training or research purposes as permitted by Article 3 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.[14]