TYRE, Lebanon: When the British ambassador to Lebanon first visited the country’s south, she found something nasty lurking in a fruit orchard. “I first came [to south Lebanon] in November 2006 and we visited an orange grove,” said Frances Guy. “There were still cluster bombs in the trees because [of] the sheer quantity of weapons dropped during the last three days of the war.”
Three years later and Guy is back in the south, joined by delegates to Lebanon from across the world, Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) chiefs and more than 400 field workers to celebrate the clearance of 13 million square meters of contaminated Lebanese soil by the Mine Action Group (MAG) since 2006.
Another 14 million square meters remains to be cleared.
Heads of US, British, German, Norwegian and Australian embassies attended Friday evening’s event in Tyre, even as MAG representatives called on the international community to continue supporting the mine removal work conducted by NGOs in south Lebanon.
MAG chief executive and co-founder Lou McGrath told The Daily Star that more work needed to be done to return large areas of still uninhabitable land to southern residents.
“We want to recognize those people who have been doing the work day in day out,” he said. “Our object is to also thank those who have put money into the clearance work and will hopefully commit to continue that support until we see the day when we can say that Lebanon is free of the dangers [of cluster bombs].”
Israel dropped more than a million cluster bomblets over south Lebanon in the final 72 hours of the 2006 summer war. Designed to kill indiscriminately, many munitions released during the strikes were too old or damaged to explode upon impact with the ground.
These weapons continue to kill and maim residents of south Lebanon; in 2009 alone, it is thought that 14 civilians – mostly children – have lost their lives as a result of these de facto land mines.
Brigadier General Mohammad Fehmi, Head of the Lebanese Mine Action Center (LMAC) labeled Friday’s event a “major milestone” in efforts by the LAF, UNIFIL and various demining NGOs to rid Lebanon of cluster bombs.
“The work done by MAG has been highly beneficial to Lebanon. It has worked with communities, land-owners and government officials in a manner that has earned MAG the respect of all in the area that have been affected by explosives,” he said.
However, he warned that much work still needed to be done and called on foreign countries to redouble their efforts in tackling Lebanon’s deadly scourge. Fehmi said that almost half of the territory contaminated by cluster bombs in Lebanon remained strewn with potentially deadly shrapnel.
“In addition, mine action must also focus on the needs of the ever-growing number of land-mine survivors and victims of explosive elements of war, who need to restart their lives and livelihoods,” he added.
Lebanon was the third country to sign up to the Oslo treaty of December 2008, which called for the banning of cluster bomb use throughout the world.
“We are in a position to be the first cluster munitions affected country to satisfy all 50 requirements [of the Oslo accord],” Fehmi said. “All known cluster munitions can be cleared from Lebanese soil in 18 months, if there is just a little more support from the international community.
“Everyone is aware that where there is a will there is a way. We have the will and [the international community] is the way … but we are lacking the resources [required] to keep these teams working.”
In the immediate aftermath of Israeli strikes, there were 64 mine-clearing teams operating in Lebanon. Today there are just 18, as land mine situations in countries such as Angola and Cambodia are deemed to be higher priority by the international community.
Last week, the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michele Sison, announced that Washington was donating $2.35 million to aid LMAC’s operations.
MAG’s Country Program Manager for Lebanon, Christina Bennike, said the money would be enough to keep eight teams of clearance workers operating until April next year.
She thanked the US administration for its donation but warned that donor fatigue was still affecting the clearance program in south Lebanon.
“When you have funding in the beginning there’s a global interest in an emergency, but we need to really go for it to clear this country,” she said, paying homage to her predominantly Lebanese staff of field clearers.
“These workers risk their lives and they come to work every day with the clear understanding that they might not be coming back.”
Guy told The Daily Star that international support for demining the south had shown signs of waning.
“[Demining work] is vital to restoring some life to people’s houses but also in opening up the agricultural sector [in south Lebanon],” she said.
“But we all have a problem. We have global commitments for demining and these will now switch to areas which are more highly contaminated than the problems here.
“There is an issue but we all have limited budgets and we are going to help the worst areas,” Guy added.
Bennike insisted that Friday’s event proved many countries were still committed to making all Lebanese soil safe for civilians once again.
“The significance of so many governments’ and ambassadors’ support clearly demonstrates the international interest in clearing land mines in Lebanon,” she said.
“It not only shows support for MAG but [it] highlights the importance of all NGOs and their work that is being done in south Lebanon.”
McGrath said that sustaining the current level of investment in mine clearing would reap long term benefits for all of Lebanon.
“If we can get the right and proper support, then over the next few years we can see that all areas are cleared, but it is a slow process. The longer munitions stay on the ground the more difficult they become to find and remove,” he said.
“Other donors will want to see that they don’t give up now. Sustaining the level of support over the time it takes to carry out the clearance work is always a difficulty.”
Cluster bomb menace stalks south
BEIRUT: A 44-year old civilian was injured on Sunday in a cluster bomb explosion while working on his land in the southern village of Zawtar, the National News Agency reported.
Imad Sheitani was transferred to Nabatieh Hospital where doctors attended to facial injuries he had sustained during the incident.
The munition was reportedly a remnant from the 2006 war.
Also on Sunday, another unexploded cluster bomb was found next to Habboush High School, also in the qada of Nabatieh, according to the NNA. Lebanese Army members, aided by disposal experts from UNIFIL, were able to safely detonate the device with no further reported injuries.
Sunday’s incident takes to 352 the number of people injured or killed in cluster-bomb incidents since the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon in 2006. – The Daily Star
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