LONDON, May 28 (Reuters) - Britain proposed on Wednesday to ban the use of cluster bombs by its armed forces, saying it wanted a planned international convention outlawing the munitions to be as strong as possible.

"After 10 days of intense talks in Dublin, we are now very close to agreement on a new international convention prohibiting the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement.

"In order to secure as strong a convention as possible in the last hours of negotiation we have issued instructions that we should support a ban on all cluster bombs, including those currently in service by the UK," he said. Representatives of more than 100 nations are working on an agreement against the use of cluster munitions although the United States, China and Russia are not participating in the talks in Ireland's capital Dublin.

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