Afif Nasser Elddine is the head of the municipality of Sejoud, a village 22 km east of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon. He has been trying to convince people who fled the village due to conflict to return back to Sejoud. Like many towns in the region, Sejoud was damaged and littered with cluster submunitions during the 34 day war between Hezbollah and Israel in the summer of 2006.
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A MAG Battle Area Clearance Team cutting through vegetation close to the school in Sejoud. [photos: David Harbin, MAG Lebanon] |
Nasser Elddine explains Sejoud’s eventful history. Due to its tactical position, on a hilltop 1,200 metres above sea level with a panoramic view of the surrounding valleys, Sejoud was the site of almost continual fighting from the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 until the end of the Israeli occupation in 2000.
From 1984 to 2000, Sejoud was essentially abandoned as military personnel set up posts to watch the surrounding area.
Homes, buildings, and infrastructure were destroyed in fighting during that time, and Sejoud’s residents fled to surrounding villages, or further afield to Beirut or abroad.
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"Most people are staying out of their own gardens until the clearance is complete."
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The end of the Israeli occupation in 2000 brought some hope of a return to normality. Although many of Sejoud’s 2,800 residents had settled into new lives elsewhere after 25 years of war, there was still strong interest in returning to the village.
Returning residents found an unrecognisable landscape: complete destruction, with streets covered with rubble and the village bore no relation to what had existed before 1975.
Nasser Elddine explains that there were many dangers remaining at this time, including anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, resulting in accidents and more than 20 injuries during the reconstruction of the village.
Nevertheless, the Kuwaiti government 'adopted' the village, with promises to rebuild the shattered housing and infrastructure. By the summer of 2006 there were 1,000 returnees living in newly rebuilt houses.
Investments in public infrastructure included a three-storey school, as well as a 'husseinieh', a community structure run by local clerics that is used for community events.
The summer of 2006 saw yet more conflict. Nasser Elddine explains the situation then during the war:
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Statistics for Sejoud |
Nov 07 |
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Land verified or cleared: |
127,151 |
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Cluster submunitions found and destroyed: |
154 |
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Items of unexploded ordnance found and destroyed: |
17 |
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“People were fearful. We tried to ensure people’s safety, but we couldn’t control everyone. Some people left due to fear, while others stayed until the final three days. There was no electricity, food, or water, as the only road to Sejoud was cut off.”
In the final three days of the war, Sejoud was the site of multiple cluster bomb strikes. More houses were damaged or destroyed, and at the end of hostilities, unexploded cluster submunitions lay on the streets and rooftops, as well as in the fields near the newly-built school and 'husseinieh'.
The 1,000 people who were in Sejoud before the 2006 conflict have mostly returned. But life isn’t yet normal.
Nasser Elddine notes that all residents have received Mine Risk Education, and that “MAG is most definitely making a difference. When we see pickets [used by MAG to mark areas undergoing clearance], we know work is underway and people should stay away. Meanwhile, most people are staying out of their own gardens until the clearance is complete”.
Sejoud, with its beautiful views and cool mountain air, seems half empty and still damaged. The town’s high location has meant interruption of the clearance during winter due to snow, so extra effort has gone into the clearance effort during the warm weather months.
MAG has been working in Sejoud since 2007, including clearing the fields surrounding the rebuilt school, which sits empty awaiting the return of children. The two MAG Battle Area Clearance teams are working to clear Sejoud before the oncoming winter.
Speaking of the MAG teams, Nasser Elddine says “we thank those who put themselves in danger to clear the land, as well as those who donate to support this work”.
MAG’s work in Lebanon is currently funded by: Adopt-a-Minefield;
DFID (UK Department for International Development); European
Commission; German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Office of
Weapons Removal and Abatement, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs,
U.S. Department of State.
16 September 08
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