Cablegate: Lima Conference On Cluster Munitions

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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHPE #1918 1512149
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 312149Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY LIMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5661
INFO RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA 4698
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 7368
RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 0429
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ MAY QUITO 1243
RUEHSG/AMEMBASSY SANTIAGO 1305
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC

UNCLAS LIMA 001918

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV SNAR PE
SUBJECT: LIMA CONFERENCE ON CLUSTER MUNITIONS

REF: THOMAS-BROOKS E-MAIL 5/23/07

1. (U) Peru hosted a 108-nation conference on cluster
munitions at the Sheraton Hotel in Lima, 5/23-25. Peruvian
Vice Minster of Foreign Relations Ambassador Gonzalo
Gutierrez opened the event, which was dedicated to promoting
an eventual international agreement that would ban the
production, transfer, storage and use of cluster munitions.
The meeting also dealt with setting up mechanisms to help in
the rehabilitation of victims of cluster bombs. Peru is one
of six countries, including Norway, Austria, Mexico, Ireland
and New Zealand, that have been pushing for a global ban.

2. (U) Most publicity on the conference focused on a U.S.
citizen participant, Nobel Prize-winning anti-mine activist
Jody Williams. Williams gave several press interviews in
which she criticized the United States for using cluster
munitions in various conflicts, citing the collateral damage
that the weapons cause to civilians when bomblets do not
explode upon use, but remain a latent threat to civilians,
particularly to children.

3. (SBU) Comment: The conference did not make major waves in
the media. In general, this is not a high-profile issue for
a Peruvian public, parts of which have become inured to harsh
measures taken in warfare against terrorists from Peru's
experiences in the 1980s-1990s.
STRUBLE

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