Tarjei Kidd Olsen

Cluster Bomb Victims Push for Ban



OSLO, Norway, Feb 22 (IPS) - As Branislav Kapetanovic brushes aside some grass to get a better view, his arms and legs are ripped off by a cluster bomb dropped by NATO. His eardrums burst. On the way to hospital his heart stops, but he survives to tell the tale. Four years and more than 20 surgical operations later, he recounted the fateful day to delegates at a large non-governmental organisation and civil society forum in Oslo Wednesday. In his wheelchair, gesticulating with stumps where hands and arms once were, Kapetanovic laid out the case against cluster bombs.