Since last year's 34-day war ended, MAG teams have destroyed more than 15,000 remnants of conflict, assisting 450,000 people at risk from death or injury and making more than 4.8 million square metres of land safe for local communities.
The emergency phase of MAG's operations in Lebanon ended on September 9th, 2006 – but 12 months later, working in coordination with the Lebanese authorities and UN, MAG continues to make large areas of land safe.
MAG began its activities in Lebanon in 2000, developing a team of 80 national staff members, with four Mine Action Teams (MATs) and one Mechanical Team (who clear land through a variety of mechanical means, including pulverisers, flails, and sifters) working in the areas around Nabatieh.
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An estimated one million unexploded cluster bombs were left in south Lebanon as a result of the 2006 conflict. |
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MAG technicians clear the land close to a residential area in Marayoun, near Nabatieh. |
Last year’s conflict – from July 12th to August 14th – changed everything. Israeli forces delivered large amounts of ordnance throughout the south of the country, leaving an estimated one million unexploded cluster bombs.
Like many members of MAG’s staff in Lebanon, Security Co-ordinator Nabil Mattar has vivid memories of the conflict – of “skies glowing red throughout the night from fires” and “powerful thumps in the earth” as ‘bunker-buster’ bombs were dropped onto the hillside close to MAG’s main office in Nabatieth. “Man was not meant to endure such things,” he says.
Following the August 15th ceasefire, MAG was the first humanitarian aid agency on the ground clearing cluster bombs, most of which had been dropped during the last three days of the war.
MATs worked with the Lebanese Armed Forces during this ‘emergency phase’, to help other humanitarian agencies safely deliver emergency and rehabilitation aid, and enable communities to return home.
“Directly after the ceasefire, everybody returned to check on their houses and belongings,” explained farmer Rasheed Yassine, who lives with his wife and nine children in Qossaybe village.
“The scene was shocking, with destruction and wreckage and cluster bombs covering large expanses of land everywhere – between houses, on agricultural ground, and in gardens and orchards.
“The cluster bombs problem became our daily worry. Nobody dared to move around or enter his
Lebanon: the work continuesDuring July 2007 MAG:
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field. During the first week, dozens of victims fell to cluster bombs in neighbouring villages.
“If not for the rapid intervention of MAG, we would have removed them ourselves despite the danger.”
With the removal of these remnants of conflict, obstacles to a better future for Rasheed’s family were also removed:
“Following MAG’s clearance activities, my son’s dream of returning to Lebanon from Germany to live with his family and close to his sick mother is now possible. I too am able to plant my field of 5,000 sq/m with tobacco. I lost last year’s harvest because of cluster bombs, but this year I expect a crop worth about $3,000.”
Since the immediate post-conflict phase, MAG has steadily worked on gaining capacity for ‘Battle Area Clearance’ (BAC), which concentrates on removing cluster sub-munitions and unexploded ordnance.
From October 2006 to April this year, MAG Lebanon’s capacity grew to today’s 22 MAT teams, five Mechanical Teams, three Community Liaison Teams (responsible for facilitating MAG’s activities in target communities, as well as gathering information from the community on remnants of confict), one Technical Survey Team (responsible for surveying mined areas), one Reconnaissance Team (responsible for surveying battle areas) and one Quality Control/Quality Assurance Team (responsible for training and monitoring operations quality).
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"I lost last year’s harvest because of cluster bombs, but this year I expect a crop worth about $3,000." - Rasheed Yassine, a farmer in Qossaybe village |
There are currently 380 people working on BAC tasks now, clearing between 300,000 and 500,000 sq/m per month – funded by Stichting Vluchteling - Giro 999, United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), European Commission Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), UK Department for International Development (DFID), Trocaire, MAG America, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Department of State Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (WRA), the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, The Kirby Laing Foundation, and the Lee and Gund Foundation.
The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) estimates that more than 37.5 million sq/m of land was contaminated in the south of the country during the conflict, with around 30 million of this expected to be achieved by the end of 2007.
MAG teams are currently operating in the villages of Yohmor, Zawtar, Jawhariyah, Kfar Sir, Qoseybeh, Aadchit, Arid, Kfar Roumanne, Habbouche, Shoukin, Al Smaahieh, Housh, Batoliya and Ain Biaal.
At a ceremony on August 17th, representatives from Yohmor – one of the first villages visited following the ceasefire – presented MAG with a plaque to express their appreciation and thanks for the efforts of the organisation to make the village safe.
The extent of contamination there meant that more than 70% of families were unable to safely return to their homes following the end of the war. MAG immediately began to clear the land through visual and electronic search, and often blowing up the cluster sub-munitions in situ due to them being very unstable.
One year on and all the families who left the village during the conflict have now returned.
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Youssef Hayek, Team Leader for MAG’s Mine Action Team 1, which has been working in Yohmor since the end of the conflict, receives a plaque of honour from several representatives of the municipality. |
10 September 2007
