[Norwegian People’s Aid]
In an open letter to president Mahinda Rajapaska the Cluster Munition Coalition urges Sri Lanka to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions…As you know some recent media coverage of the conflict between Sri Lankan armed forces and the LTTE focused on erroneous allegations of cluster munition use. As you are no doubt aware, the United Nations spokesperson Gordon Weiss issued a corrective to Amnesty International on 6 February noting that UN staff had: “… confused the explosion of cluster munitions with air-burst fragmentation munitions, which deliver shrapnel over a wide area and which have a similar loud explosive report, followed by many smaller reports.” This is consistent with analysis by weapons experts of ordnance photographed in the conflict region, identified as OFAB airburst fragmentation shells.
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