The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Dublin

Representatives from around 100 countries opened a 12-day conference Monday in a bid to agree a global ban on cluster bombs, one of the most lethal weapons facing civilians caught up in conflict.

The talks, at Dublin's Croke Park Gaelic sports stadium, are aiming for a wide-ranging pact that would completely wipe out the use, production and stockpiling of cluster bombs by its signatories.

"Governments have been talking about the dangers of cluster bombs for years," said Grethe Ostern, joint head of the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) umbrella group, ahead of the conference opening.

"More delays mean more injuries and death for ordinary people. We have a unique opportunity to ban cluster bombs in Dublin. It is now or never."