Congo, Republic of
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
State Party Congo ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 2 September 2014. It last participated in a meeting of the convention in 2015. Congo voted in favor of the key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
Congo states that it has never used, produced, or transferred cluster munitions, and does not possess any stockpiles, including for training or research purposes. It must submit an Article 7 transparency report for the convention to formally confirm this cluster munition-free status.
Policy
The Republic of the Congosigned the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 3 December 2008 and ratified it on 2 September 2014. The convention entered into force for the country on 1 March 2015.
Congo has not enacted implementing legislation for the convention, but in the past officials have expressed an interest in doing so.[1]
As of August 2022, Congo has not submitted its initial Article 7 transparency report for the Convention on Cluster Munitions, originally due by 28 August 2015. Timely submission of the report is a legal obligation.[2]
Congo participated in several meetings of the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and joined in the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008.[3]
Congo has participated in several meetings of the convention, but not since the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia in September 2015.[4] It was invited to, but did not attend, the convention’s Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021. However, Congo has attended regional workshops on the convention, and participated in a universalization workshop for African states in Abuja, Nigeria in March 2022.
In December 2021, Congo voted in favor of the key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution promoting implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which urged States Parties to provide “complete and timely information” to promote transparency and compliance with the convention.[5] Congo has voted in favor of this annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Congo has expressed concern at the use of cluster munitions in Syria.[6]
In 2013, Congo’s National Focal Point on mine action elaborated the country’s views on several important issues concerning the interpretation and implementation of the convention, telling the Monitor that Congo “is not willing to assist any country with prohibited acts” under the convention, nor “to use its national territory for transit of these weapons or the stockpiling of cluster munitions and landmines belonging to a foreign army.”[7] Congo also agrees with the view that the convention prohibits investment in the production of cluster munitions.[8]
Congo is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty. It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Use, production, transfer, and stockpiling
Congo stated in 2011 that it had never used, produced, or exported cluster munitions.[9] Congo also reported that it had no stockpiles of cluster munitions on its territory, including for training or research purposes.[10]
Congo must provide an Article 7 transparency report for the convention to formally confirm that it does not possess stocks of cluster munitions.
Previously, in 2010, a Ministry of Defense official said Congo once possessed Soviet-made cluster munitions supplied for use with MiG-21 aircraft.[11] In 2011, Congo stated that the destruction of an arms depot in Maya-Maya during the conflict in 1997–1998 dispersed explosive weapons over a wide area, including RBK-250 and RBK-500 cluster bombs.[12] Subsequent clearance of the site destroyed ordnance including PTAB-2.5M and AO-1SCh submunitions.[13] Cluster munitions were not among the unexploded ordnance scattered after a series of explosions at a munitions storage depot in Brazzaville on 4 March 2012, which killed more than 200 people.[14]
[1] In September 2015, Congo informed States Parties that it was reviewing the national implementation measures required to enforce the convention’s provisions. See, Statement of Congo, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 8 September 2015.
[2] The transparency report should be emailed to the UN Secretary-General via the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs at ccm@un.org. More information here.
[3] For details on Congo’s cluster munition policy and practice up to early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 61–62.
[4] Congo participated in the convention’s meetings of States Parties in 2010–2014, the First Review Conference in 2015, and the intersessional meetings held in 2011 and 2014.
[5] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[6] Statement of Congo, UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security, New York, 14 October 2013.
[7] Interview with Col. Nkoua, National Focal Point of the Struggle Against Mines, 13 May 2013.
[8] Telephone interview with Col. Nkoua, National Focal Point of the Struggle Against Mines, 8 June 2013.
[9] Statement of Congo, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 15 September 2011.
[10] In September 2011, Congo stated that it had no stockpiles of cluster munitions on its territory. In May 2013, Congo reported that it had destroyed its remaining 372 antipersonnel mines held for training and research purposes following the massive explosions at a weapons depot in Brazzaville in March 2012 and was now a country fully free of landmines and cluster munitions. See, Statement of Congo, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 15 September 2011; statement by Col. Nkoua, National Focal Point of the Struggle Against Mines, seminar to mark the 20th Anniversary of the ICBL, hosted by the Congolese Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs, Kinshasa, 19 December 2012; and statement of Congo, Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 22 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV).
[11] Email from Lt.-Col. André Pamphile Serge Oyobe, Head of Information Division, Ministry of Defense, 13 July 2010.
[12] Statement of Congo, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 15 September 2011.
[13] Ibid. Cluster munitions were also apparently part of weapons stockpiles destroyed in 2008–2010 with the assistance of United Kingdom (UK)-based humanitarian demining organization Mines Advisory Group (MAG). Email from Lt.-Col. André Pamphile Serge Oyobe, Head of Information Division, Ministry of Defense, 13 July 2010.
[14] An assessment found that cluster munitions were not found among the unexploded ordnance or other stockpiled munitions in the depot. Simon Conway, “Mpila Munitions Depot Explosion, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, Field Assessment 26 March 2012–1 April 2012,” April 2012; and AOAV and MAG, “Brazzaville Response Situation Report 2,” 16 March 2012.