WELLINGTON, February 18 , SPA -- Delegates from more than120 countries opened negotiations Monday on aninternational convention that would ban the use,production, trade and storage of cluster bombs that causeunacceptable harm to civilians, AP reported. Talks on the convention, first launched by Austria,Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru and the Vaticanlast year, aim to define which cluster bomb weapons shouldbe banned and which, such as those dispensing chaff used todeflect airborne missiles, can continue to be used. «What we're trying to prohibit is those cluster munitionsthat cause unacceptable harm to civilians,» the conferencechairman, New Zealand Disarmament Ambassador Don Mackay. Some 41 of the 76 states in the world that stockpilecluster munitions are taking part in the negotiations,along with a majority of the weapon producers. However, major producers such as the U.S., Russia, Chinaand Pakistan have not joined the process and have noobservers at this week's conference in the New Zealandcapital, Wellington. Cluster bombs are built to explode above the ground,releasing thousands of bomblets primed to detonate onimpact. But combat results show between 10 percent and 40percent fail to go off and lie primed in the target area tokill and injure civilians. Talks on the convention were launched in Oslo, Norway lastyear, and this week's negotiations are the last talks amongsenior officials before final diplomatic negotiationsscheduled for May in Ireland.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/528054