Libya: Gaddafi forces are ‘using cluster bombs’

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the controversial weapons have been used in the flashpoint western city of Misrata, but government officials in Libya deny the accusations.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said the reports were “worrying”, and “one of the reasons why the fight in Misrata is so difficult.”

Fred Abrahams, special adviser at HRW, said he had “no doubt whatsoever” that cluster munitions had been used by regime forces.

Libya has not signed up to an international ban on cluster bombs but Mr Abrahams said their indiscriminate nature meant they were nevertheless “a violation of the rule of war”.

See the report here: Human Rights Watch - Cluster munitions strike Misrata

He added: “We also interviewed ambulance drivers who explained seeing explosions that were very thoroughly consistent with cluster munitions. So we have no question.”

Ruth Sherlock is a freelance journalist currently in Misrata.

(Friday) was the bloodiest day in the last week because of Gaddafi’s use of Grad rockets and cluster bombs. Dr Ramadan Atewah

She told Channel 4 News that the lethal explosives have been nicknamed “candy bombs” in the local hospital because they “look like toys”. A heart and lung surgeon, Dr Ramadan Atewah, told her “children are picking them up in the streets”.

Mr Atewah also said that Friday (15 April) had been “the bloodiest day in the last week because of Gaddafi’s use of Grad rockets and cluster bombs.”

(A remnant base section of a MAT-120 cluster munition found in Misrata, Libya. Courtesy: Human Rights Watch)

Call for rebels to be trained

The former head of the UK’s armed forces, Lord Dannatt, has urged the international coalition to seek a fresh UN Security Council resolution specifically authorising the training and arming of Libyan rebels in the fight against Colonel Gaddafi.

He said: “We want to act within the law, within international agreement and therefore we should be arguing the case to not accept a stalemate, not to put our own boots on the ground, but to properly arm those boots that are on the ground.

“They are Libyan boots. Let the Libyan people have the wherewithal to choose a new government for themselves.”

“We have got to move this one on, we have got to be innovative about the way we do it. I have thought about it long and hard: go back to New York, get a strengthened UN Security Council resolution and arm, equip and train the opposition.”

The use of cluster bombs had further weakened Gaddafi’s position, he said.

“If we thought that Gaddafi had lost the moral right to rule this country a month ago, he has lost it in the last 24 hours, that’s for sure.”

Channel 4 News special report - Libya war: strike against Gaddafi