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Country Reports
Sao Tome e Principe

São Tomé e Príncipe

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé e Príncipe signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3 December 2008. The status of the ratification process is not known.

While São Tomé e Príncipe did not attend any of the four Oslo Process international diplomatic conferences in 2007 and 2008 to develop the convention text, it did participate in the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008.[1] It did not attend the African regional meeting in Livingstone in March/April 2008, but did attend the regional meeting in Kampala in September 2008.

During the Dublin negotiations, São Tomé e Príncipe joined other African states in working against efforts to weaken the draft convention text. It opposed a transition period before obligations took effect.[2] It said it was not convinced of the necessity to add exemptions to the proposed definition and objected to subjective terms such as accuracy and reliability rates.[3] At the conclusion, São Tomé e Príncipe agreed with the consensus adoption of the convention and described it as “robust, ambitious and balanced.”[4]

At the Kampala conference, São Tomé e Príncipe endorsed the Kampala Action Plan, which declared that states should sign and “take all necessary measures to ratify the convention as soon as possible.”[5] São Tomé e Príncipe’s Minister of Defense, Elsa Maria Neto D’Alva Teixeira de Barros Pinto, signed the convention in Oslo. The Minister said that São Tomé e Príncipe hoped to set up an interdepartmental body to ensure swift ratification.[6]

São Tomé e Príncipe has stated that it has never used cluster munitions.[7] It is not believed to have ever produced, transferred or stockpiled them.

São Tomé e Príncipe is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.


[1] While not at the Wellington conference in February 2008, São Tomé e Príncipe endorsed the Wellington Declaration on 9 May 2008 as a prerequisite to full participation in the Dublin negotiations; the declaration committed states to negotiate in Dublin on the basis of the draft Wellington text.

[2] Summary Record of the Committee of the Whole, Eighth Session: 23 May 2008, Dublin Diplomatic Conference on Cluster Munitions, CCM/CW/SR/8, 18 June 2008.

[3] Statement of São Tomé e Príncipe, Dublin Diplomatic Conference, 19 May 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.

[4] Summary Record of the Committee of the Whole, Sixteenth Session: 28 May 2008, Dublin Diplomatic Conference, CCM/CW/SR/16, 18 June 2008.

[5] CMC, “Report on the Kampala Conference on the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” 30 September 2008; Kampala Action Plan, Kampala Conference, 30 September 2008.

[6] Statement of São Tomé e Príncipe, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008, www.clusterconvention.org; and Signing Conference, Oslo, 2–4 December 2008. Notes by Landmine Action.

[7] Statement of São Tomé e Príncipe, Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008, www.clusterconvention.org.