LEBANON: 'Every metre of safe land is income I can regain'

Adnan Fakih lost his
right arm in an accident

Adnan Fakih and his wife Majida Jaber on land cleared by MAG of remnants of conflict.

A farmer for the past 31 years since the age of 10, Adnan Fakih lost his right arm in 1998 when he encountered some sort of explosive device or booby trap.

His fields in Kfar Tebnite, about 10 kilometres southeast of the city of Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, are located on the site of much struggle and warfare, and have been greatly affected by mines and cluster submunitions since 1975.

Cluster bombs

Cluster bombs, or cluster munitions, are weapons which can be dropped from the air or fired from the ground. They release numerous explosive fragments – bomblets, or submunitions.

Bomblets which fail to explode on impact pose the threat of death or injury long after conflict is over. Their presence means a lack of access to safe land, limiting agricultural development, the reconstruction of vital infrastructure, and the work of relief and development agencies.

LEBANON: "We want our country to become like Europe"

And when the land was hit again with cluster submunitions in 2006, as the Israeli military bombed the olive groves in pursuit of Hezbollah, the 400,000m² area where we grew wheat, sesame, vegetables and tobacco was reduced to 100,000m² due to the danger.

With his income substantially lower, Fakih, his wife and six children have been forced to take out loans in order to get by.

Their future looks brighter, however. MAG started clearing the land in November 2008 and by the end of April 2009 had found 265 cluster submunitions and 126 items of unexploded ordnance (UXO).

“This helps me in a direct way,” says Fakin. “Every metre of safe land is income I can regain. I can feel comfortable and safe working the land thanks to the clearance teams.”

Conflict exacerbates poverty and contributes to the creation of poverty traps, low growth rates, and an increase in hunger and deprivation.

Although many international wars and internal conflicts may be relatively short, the legacies of modern conflict have been known to continue on for decades, often with devastating human, social, economic, financial and political cost.

MAG’s work is not just about removing cluster submunitions, UXO, landmines and other remnants of conflict, but about making a significant and positive difference to people living with the threat. See also: Development impact.

[Photo, top: MAG Lebanon]

Worldwide scourge of cluster bombs

Click on main image for caption

These images taken by MAG photographer Sean Sutton from a number of countries – Bosnia, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Kosovo, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Sudan and Vietnam – show the problems caused by cluster bombs and the solutions provided by MAG.

11 May 2009