U.N. sees chance for global ban on cluster bombs

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations sees renewed momentum for a global ban on cluster bombs as more than 100 nations -- but not the world's top users and stockpilers -- gather in Dublin to finalize an anti-cluster munitions treaty.

A top U.N. official and diplomats from countries that support a ban say there is a good chance that the conference, which starts on Monday and runs through May 30, will end with the signing of a treaty outlawing cluster bombs.

"I see a momentum that warrants cautious optimism on what Dublin can bring about," Ad Melkert, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Program, told Reuters.

There is an increasing "awareness that leaving so many devices spread around is taking away the peace from people after conflicts, particularly for children," he said.

Cluster munitions open in mid-air and scatter as many as several hundred "bomblets" over wide areas. They often fail to explode, creating virtual mine fields that can kill or injure anyone who comes across them.

The UNDP says cluster munitions have caused more than 13,000 confirmed injuries and deaths around the world, the vast majority of them in Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon.

The so-called Oslo process against the bombs began three years ago and is modeled on the campaign against anti-personnel land mines, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 and led to the 1999 Ottawa Treaty banning them.

Melkert said U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was playing a key role in the Norwegian-led campaign against cluster bombs by actively advocating a ban.