Thailand used cluster bombs in Cambodia - campaigners

GENEVA | Wed Apr 6, 2011

(Reuters) - Thailand used cluster bombs on Cambodian territory in February in contravention of an international agreement banning their use, a campaigning body said on Wednesday.

The Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) said Thailand had confirmed the findings of CMC officials at a meeting on April 5, acknowledging the first known use of such arms since the ban came into force last year.

Their use killed two people, said the CMC -- an umbrella body for non-governmental organisations which played a major role in getting a wide range of countries to sign up to a ban.

Cluster bombs scatter hundreds of bomblets across a wide area and are blamed by campaigners for killing and maiming tens of thousands of people, mainly in poor countries, often years after they have been used in conflicts.

"It's appalling that any country would resort to using cluster munitions after the international community banned them," said Laura Cheeseman, director of the CMC.

"Thailand has been a leader in the global ban on antipersonnel mines, and it is unconscionable that it used banned weapons that indiscriminately kill and injure civilians in a similar manner."

Cambodia and Thailand are not among the 108 countries that have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but each has joined a 1997 landmine ban treaty.

The convention, under which signatories pledge to ban production, stockpiling and use of cluster weapons, went into force in August last year. Most European and many Asian, African and Latin American countries have signed.

The contaminated areas in Cambodia included Svay Chrum Village, Sen Chey Village and around the Preah Vihear temple hill, the CMC said.

"These cluster munitions have already robbed two men of their lives, two more have lost their arms and a further five were injured," said Sister Denise Coghlan, a CMC leader.

"The area must be cleared immediately to prevent more suffering. Cambodia must make every effort to ensure the safety of civilians."

The CMC quoted a Thai official saying it used the munitions "in self-defence", using the principles of "necessity, proportionality and in compliance with the military code of conduct".

(Reporting by Andrew Callus; editing by Robert Evans and Elizabeth Piper)