Mixed Munitions Messages

Officials have denied that the government scrapped plans to send a delegation to a meeting of nations that has ratified a convention banning cluster munitions, insisting that a Cambodian delegation will attend.

The meeting, set to begin next Tuesday, will bring together governments, United Nations officials, civil society representatives and cluster-bomb victims to discuss the merits of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

The convention came into effect in August but Cambodia is yet to sign it.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Koy Kuong said a Cambodian delegation had been planning to attend the meeting all along.

“It will be someone from CMAC,” he said, referring to the Cambodian Mines Action Centre. When asked whether the government had originally declined to attend, he said: “No, what I heard is that Cambodia has committed to sending a delegation to the meeting.”

Last week, Leng Sochea, the Cambodian Mines Action Authority deputy secretary general, said Cambodia would not be sending a delegation to the meeting following orders from “high-level” authorities.

Cambodia was instrumental in the drafting of the Cluster Munitions Convention..