British to ban cluster bombs
Michael Evans; 23/5/08
Prime Minister Gordon Brown signalled his intention to phase out the use of all cluster bombs by British armed forces yesterday, even as the US reiterated its opposition to a worldwide ban on the dangerous munitions. Mr Brown’s statement yesterday electrified an international conference on cluster bombs in Dublin, which hopes to achieve a treaty prohibiting their use. Human rights activists interpreted it as a significant switch in British policy. A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister had asked the Ministry of Defence to review the risk to civilians posed by the last two remaining weapons deployed with the armed forces, the artillery-fired M85 and the helicopter-launched M73. Until now, Britain supported a ban on condition that it excluded the two systems still used by British troops overseas. They emphasised that the weapons had self-destruct mechanisms so that they did not pose a long-term threat to civilians.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23742601-31477,00.html?from=public_rss