US efforts to undermine a new treaty banning cluster munitions met with significant defeat yesterday at the final negotiations in Dublin, Human Rights Watch said.

Preliminary agreement on a draft treaty text on the afternoon of May 28 indicated that virtually all of the 110 countries gathered in Dublin favour a more comprehensive ban of cluster munitions than the US itself can tolerate.

News on the morning of May 28 that the British government was willing to give up cluster munitions that it had used in recent years in Iraq left Washington further isolated in the endgame in Dublin.

“It’s a big defeat for the Bush administration. This conference is going to produce a strong treaty banning cluster munitions, and there’s nothing the White House can do to stop it.” said Steve Goose, arms director at Human Rights Watch.
Link to hrw.org