30 August 1999

From the Archive

From a leading article on a ban on cluster bombs

LAND MINES are the baby seals of arms control. The campaign to ban them, like that to ban the culling of baby seals, is simple, emotional and enjoys celebrity endorsement. Two years ago, the Princess of Wales visited Angola to publicise their use there and the case for a worldwide ban. That ban took the form of the Ottawa treaty last March, which was a great step forward. But there is still a long way to go. The United States did not sign the treaty, and Angola, which did, is now seeing as many land mines laid as ever.

An important omission from the scope of the treaty was brought home by Nato's use of cluster bombs in the Kosovo war. However justified that war was, the morality of Nato's case was needlessly undermined by some of the means used to fight it. A just war should be fought by the use of minimum force, and by limited means which minimise civilian casualties. On the whole, the war for Kosovo was. But there were striking exceptions. For all the fuss made by left- wing conspiracists about the long-term radiation dangers of using missiles tipped with depleted uranium, the use of cluster bombs was far more reprehensible. No serious long-term risks of depleted uranium, a metal which is used because it is unusually heavy, have been demonstrated. But in Kosovo several people are killed every month by unexploded cluster bomblets. Nato's military commanders used cluster bombs despite knowing that about one-third of the bomblets do not explode on impact and lie scattered in the ground.

The campaigns against land mines cannot afford to be high-minded about the use the secular-saintly memory of Diana, or the emotional appeal of the elephant in Thailand which had a leg amputated last week after it trod on one. They should press whatever buttons they can to mobilise public pressure to get the US to sign and to extend the scope of the Ottawa treaty to cover cluster bombs.

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