Netherlands Infomation Services BV, THE HAGUE: The Netherlands are destroying their CBU-87 cluster-bombs. Defence Minister Eimert van Middelkoop has told the Lower House that they can cause too much unacceptable human suffering.
The CBU-87 consists of a container with 202 sub-munitions. It is the most important kind of cluster munitions the Netherlands has. The bombs can be dropped from F-16s. Earlier, Van Middelkoop decided not to deploy these bombs in principle until further notice. Now he has announced that they will “in due course” be destroyed.
The minister does still want to keep the M261 cluster-bombs for Apache fighter helicopters. These rocket-heads consist of nine units of sub-munitions. According to Van Middelkoop, the chances of unexploded pieces being left behind are no higher than with ordinary munitions.
The cabinet wants international agreements on banning cluster-bombs with more than 10 units of sub-munitions. The Netherlands is thereby backing a number of important partners, the minister told the House in writing. An international conference will be held on this next month in Dublin, Ireland.
The CBU-87 sub-munitions are equipped with mechanical ignition and do not have a self-destruct mechanism. This means they can still go off if for example children find unexploded ones and play with them.
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