SUMMARY OF THIS MONTH'S ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS
- Visual search & clearance of 395,619 square metres of land through hand, electronic, and visual techniques.
- Removal and destruction of 443 hazardous remnants of conflict [1] - 308 sub-munitions and 135 items of unexploded ordnance
BATTLE AREA CLEARANCE (BAC) AND EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL (EOD)
The continued focus of clearance for this month has moved towards clearance of agricultural and pastoral areas for the recovery of livelihoods.
MAG worked in the following areas and achieved the following outputs from 1st April to 30th April 2008:
- Area 6: 20 BAC teams, one mechanical team, and one reconnaissance team continue to operate. They worked in 14 villages: Yohmor, Zawtar West, Arnoun, Aadchit, Jibchit, Maazraat Doumiat, Sejoud, Qaaqaiat Al Jisr, Qossaybe, Kafar Roummane, Al Nabatieh Al Tahta, Kafar Sir, Habbouche, and Harouf. These teams have used visual and electronic methods of clearance, clearing an area of 395,619 square metres. 443 remnants of conflict were found and destroyed.
- All teams are contributing to the social and economic recovery and development of South Lebanon through the safe, efficient, and effective clearance of remnants of conflict.
COMMUNITY LIAISON (CL)
All Contact Officers have continued to undertake community liaison activities at the pre-clearance, clearance, and post-clearance stages.
There were 411 activities during the month, including 69 data collection activities [2], 56 liaison activities, 13 UXO tasking reports, and 177 other activities that support clearance work by providing control point locations and storage areas, securing land owner's approval for using their house/fields for clearance activities, liaison with local authorities, and emphasising public safety messages to communities undergoing clearance.
EMERGENCY UXO CLEARANCE IN NAHR EL-BARED REFUGEE CAMP, TRIPOLI
MAG was contracted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to conduct a risk assessment and survey of the Nahr el-Bared Refugee Camp. The risk assessment and survey were completed during the month of April, and will be used to prioritise clearance of remnants of conflict at the camp.
[1: MAG uses the term remnants of conflict to describe all items recovered and destroyed as part of its humanitarian disarmament activities, which include anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, explosive remnants of war (ERW), abandoned and unexploded ordnance (UXO) and small arms and light weapons (SALW). This term has been developed to reflect more accurately the broad range of clearance activities undertaken by MAG. 2: Data collection includes population, socio-economic data, village services and beneficiary details. If the teams discover a minefield/dangerous area then information is collected specific to the dangerous area/minefield in addition to the general information form.]
DONORS
MAG would like to express gratitude to the following donors to the Lebanon programme:
- Adopt A Minefield
- DFID
- European Commission
- German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA)
- US Department of State, Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement
- United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
For more information on MAG's programme in Iraq and around the world, please visit www.maginterntional.org.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
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