Mozambique

The Republic of Mozambique signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo on 3 December 2008. The status of the ratification process is not known. Mozambique is not believed to have used, produced, transferred, or stockpiled cluster munitions.

Mozambique participated in the initial Oslo Process conference in Oslo in February 2007, and all three of the international diplomatic conferences to develop the convention text in Lima, Vienna, and Wellington, as well as the formal negotiations in Dublin in May 2008. It also participated in the two African regional conferences held in Livingstone (March/April 2008) and Kampala (September 2008).

Mozambique was one of just three African states, along with Angola and South Africa, that attended the launch of the Oslo Process in February 2007. Mozambique called for urgent action to tackle cluster munitions due to the weapon’s impact on civilian populations, and said it was vital for the negotiation process to bring together all concerned parties including civil society.^[1] It endorsed the Oslo Declaration committing states to conclude in 2008 a convention prohibiting cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians.

At the Vienna conference, Mozambique said it was pleased at momentum generated by the Oslo Process and called for a complete prohibition on cluster munitions.^[2] In Wellington, Mozambique said “the purpose of our discussions is not to regulate the use of cluster munitions, but…to ban them. Because we don’t believe neither in the concept of safe cluster munitions, nor in their categorization, we hold the view that there should be no exemption in their definition.”^[3] It endorsed the Wellington Declaration, indicating its intention to participate fully in the Dublin negotiations. At the regional meeting in Livingstone, Mozambique endorsed the Livingstone Declaration, calling for a comprehensive treaty with a prohibition that should be “total and immediate.”^[4]

Mozambique worked for a strong treaty text during the negotiations in Dublin in May 2008. It pushed for better provisions on victim assistance^[5] and on international cooperation and assistance.^[6] It opposed a number of proposals it believed would weaken the treaty, including a transition period before obligations take effect.^[7] Mozambique joined the consensus adoption of the convention and said it believed the balance achieved represented the best possible compromise.^[8]

At the Kampala regional meeting in September 2008, Mozambique endorsed the the Kampala Action Plan, which declared that states should sign and “take all necessary measures to ratify the convention as soon as possible.”^[9]

Upon signing the convention, Mozambique’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Henrique Banze, said that “in signing this Convention, we are not only denying the human suffering but we are particularly responding to our development needs.” ^[10]

Mozambique is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.