Egypt Is Using Banned U.S.-Made Cluster Munitions in Sinai, Rights Group Says
Amnesty International said an analysis of an official Feb. 21 video released by the Egyptian military, trumpeting the triumphs
of its northern Sinai crackdown on militants, showed one of the weapons, which can kill and maim indiscriminately.
28, 2018
Egypt’s armed forces have used internationally outlawed cluster bombs, made in the United States, in operations
aimed at crushing Islamic extremists in northern Sinai, Amnesty International said Wednesday.
Although the video described the weapons as improvised explosive devices planted by the militants, Amnesty said, the markings on one identified it as an American-made Mk-118 anti-tank anti-personnel submunition, "which could only have been dropped by the Egyptian Air Force." Amnesty said the video showed the weapon to be "untampered with
and in good condition despite its age," with an identifying number clearly visible.
The use of such weapons, if confirmed, would not only contravene the treaty banning their use, signed by a majority of countries,
but may also violate United States laws regarding recipients of American military aid, like Egypt.
" the group said. that This new video confirms our worst fears, that the Egyptian armed forces are using cluster bombs in North Sinai,
Department of Defense documentation obtained by Human Rights Watch and cited in their cluster munition survey shows
that Egypt possessed 1,300 Rockeye cluster bombs, containing 321,000 Mk-118 submunitions, as of 2007.
