By
Mohammed Zaatari
NABATIEH,
Lebanon: Representatives of two countries that donate to demining efforts in
south Lebanon visited the area Tuesday to see how their funds are put into
action.
Belgian
Ambassador Collette Taquet and Guido Benevento, director of the Italian
Cooperation Office for Development, went south along with Robert Watkins, U.N.
resident coordinator for Lebanon.
Belgium
has donated 1 million euros ($1.2 million), and Italy 650,000 euros, to a
United Nations Development Program project that supports the Lebanon Mine
Action Program. Lebanon’s demining program is carried out by the Army-headed
Lebanese Mine Action Center and the Defense Ministry.
Taquet,
Benevento and Watkins first visited LMAC’s center at the Lebanese Army barracks
in Nabatieh where they met with Brigadier Aymad Adeimy, the head of the center;
Colonel Mohammad Shaaban, the head of Army intelligence in Nabatieh; and
Lieutenant Colonel Pierre Bou Maroun, the head of LMAC’s Nabatieh branch.
Maroun
explained the Army’s role in supervising the teams that work in demining and
removing cluster bombs. He said that since the end of the July 2006 war with
Israel, Israeli cluster bombs have killed 51 people and injured around 385.
The
U.N. has said that Israel dropped around 4 million cluster bombs in Lebanon
during the summer of 2006. This helped kick-start the process that led to the
Convention on Cluster Munitions, which requires countries to declare and
destroy stockpiles of cluster munitions, clear contaminated areas, and assist
survivors and affected communities. Lebanon has signed and ratified the treaty.
Adeimy
said the number of teams who work in cluster bomb removal will be increased, a
step which should speed clearance. LMAC aims to clear the country of cluster
bombs by 2016.
Taquet
called on other countries to up their contribution to cluster bomb removal, and
added that improving awareness and treatment of those injured by cluster bombs
should go hand in hand with the removal process.
Benevento
stressed Italy’s concern with removing cluster munitions, and called for
international bans and treaties that would prevent their use in the future. He
said that more teams were needed to clear south Lebanon of cluster bombs so as
to reduce the numbers of deaths and injuries.
Watkins
said Tuesday’s tour is part of UNDP’s project entitled “Support to Lebanon Mine
Action Program – Phase II,” to which Belgium and Italy donated. One part of the
program is the funding of four new teams at the demining organization Norwegian
People’s Aid.
He
said that the project’s main aim was to build the capabilities of local
humanitarian demining programs, and increase the number of operating teams.
The
delegation also visited a mine field Norwegian People’s Aid is clearing in the
Marjayoun area of Tallousa. Deminers gave a detailed explanation of how cluster
munitions work, and Taquet and other members of the Belgian delegation donned
protective gear so as to safely observe the operations.
Cluster bombs are destroyed
through controlled explosions, and Taquet pressed the button that set off
Tuesday’s detonation.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2012/Jun-13/176656-donor-countries-delegates-visit-south-lebanon-land-mine-sites.ashx#axzz1xaZDFUkH
No comments:
Post a Comment