Georgia relied on cluster bombs
during war
Georgia admits to purchasing cluster munitions from
Israel butinsist the weapons were not used in civilian
areas
By Michael Schwirtz
International Herald Tribune, November 5, 2008
go to original
See Article I.7 Use
of Illegal Weapons
| |
Georgians look at a projectile in
the village of Ruisi, near the Georgian breakaway
province of South Ossetia. The US used cluster
bombs in Iraq in 2003
Source: Washington
Times
|
MOSCOW — Georgian military forces fired more
cluster munitions during the August war with Russia
than originally thought, and some of these weapons
may have malfunctioned, causing civilian casualties
when they fell short of targets and hit Georgian villages,
according to new research by Human Rights Watch, a
New York-based rights group.
Georgia has denied the findings, which Human Rights
Watch presented at the Convention on Conventional
Weapons held in Geneva on Tuesday.
The group found that both Georgia and Russia extensively
used cluster munitions during the war. After Georgia
launched a massive artillery bombardment against South
Ossetia, a breakaway Georgian enclave, Russian invaded
large swaths of Georgian territory.
Though Russia endured the brunt of international
outrage for its conduct during and after the war,
Georgia's actions in the conflict have come under
increasing scrutiny, and the new report adds to a
growing body of evidence of Georgian atrocities during
the fighting.
Cluster bombs, typically anti-personnel weapons which
eject dozens of explosive submunitions when detonated,
killed as many as 17 civilians during the brief, but
bloody, war and injured dozens more, Human Rights
Watch said. In addition, many of the weapons on both
sides failed, the statement said, scattering unexploded
ordinance that has already caused casualties and continues
to pose a danger to civilians.
In several Georgian villages researchers from Human
Rights Watch said they found wreckage from Israeli-supplied
Mk-4 GRAD LAR-160 ground rockets with M85 submunitions
used by Georgia, suggesting a "massive technical
failure," the report said. The munitions killed
at least one civilian and injured two in the Georgian
towns of Tirdznisi and Shindisi.
"What was suprising is that the large number
of the duds we've found were unexploded," said
Giorgi Gogia, a Georgia-based researcher for Human
Rights Watch, who worked on the report. "There
were so many duds in these fields that it looked like
a catastrophic failure or malfunction," he said.
Georgia has admitted to purchasing cluster munitions
from Israel and using them during the conflict, though
officials insist the weapons were used only against
Russian military targets and not in civilian areas.
Georgian officials criticized the Human Rights Watch
report, saying the government has no information that
missiles fired by Georgian forces had somehow hit
Georgian villages.
"What we believe was completely misunderstood
in the publication was that our cluster ammunition
could have harmed the civilian population under Georgian
control, which cannot be true," said Kakha Lomaya,
the head of Georgia's State Security Council.
Moreover, Lomaya said, Georgian cluster munitions
were equipped with a self-destruct mechanism that
would disarm any duds, rendering them harmless.
Human Rights Watch disputed the claim.
"We have found dozens and dozens of duds, and
none of them had a self-destruct mechanism,"
Gogia said.
Though researchers found evidence of Russian and
Georgian cluster munitions in over a dozen towns and
villages in the conflict zone, Human Rights Watch
said that Russian weapons caused most of the civilian
casualties.
Unlike Georgia, Russia has vehemently denied using
cluster munitions during the war, despite strong evidence
to the contrary. Human Rights Watch investigators
found Russian AO-2.5 RTM submunitions from RBK air-dropped
cluster bombs in Georgian villages, according to the
report.
And the Dutch Foreign Ministry insists that a Russian
cluster bomb killed the Dutch cameraman Stan Storimans
and four other people in an attack on the central
square in Gori on August 12. In a report released
last month, the ministry said that an examination
of forensic evidence, video and photographs indicated
that a Russia SS-26 rocket loaded with cluster munitions
caused the deaths.
The use of cluster munitions has been widely condemned
worldwide because of the devastating effects these
weapons can have on civilian populations. Unexploded
submunitions scattered over broad areas can kill and
maim people for years.
Over 100 countries signed a Convention on Cluster
Munitions in May this year, vowing to refrain from
using, storing and selling cluster munitions. Georgia
and Russia have not, and neither have many of the
world's heaviest users of cluster bombs - including
the United States and Israel.
So far, according to Human Rights Watch, two people
have been reported killed and three wounded by Georgian
duds since the war ended.
