US donates $1.5 million for removing ordnance as cluster bomb kills civilian
De-mining group welcomes “tremendous financial support”
A shepherd was killed by a cluster bomb in south Lebanon on Thursday after stepping on the deadly device in a field near the village of Hula. The news comes as the US government announced it had donated $1.5 million to help solve a funding crisis faced by cluster bomb clearance teams in south Lebanon.
Fuad Musa Ghanawi, 45, was severely wounded when the lethal explosive detonated after lying undisturbed since the summer 2006 war with Israel. He died on the way to hospital. Ghanawi is one of dozens of Lebanese civilian killed by Israeli cluster-bombs since the end of the war. Hundreds of others have been wounded.
Twelve million square meters of land are still contaminated by cluster bombs dropped by the Israeli military in the final stages of the 2006 war, when millions of individual bomblets were fired into Lebanon after a ceasefire had been negotiated. Many failed to detonate on impact, becoming de facto landmines which have proven a deadly threat to unsuspecting civilians.
There are concerns that there could be more victims unless money can be found to pay for essential cluster-bomb clearance in southern Lebanon, where funds have dried up in recent months. At least three clearance companies have been forced to withdraw from the area and others have cut staff numbers.
Mine action officials have warned that much of the cluster bomb clearance effort in Lebanon threatens to grind to a halt unless money can be found, leaving the civilian population under threat from the unexploded ordnance in contaminated areas.
The problem prompted the US to donate the money to the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a British organization that specializes in clearing unexploded ordnance. In a statement announcing the release of the funds, the US Embassy said that it was part of a wider program of mine clearance in Lebanon. "The US government has expanded its humanitarian clearance program in Lebanon to reduce the dangers to civilians posed by landmines and other unexploded ordnance," it said. "US government funding goes toward demining, victim assistance programs and a unique program to identify and remove unexploded underwater ordnance."
MAG”s Lebanon program manager, Christina Bennike, told The Daily Star that the money was a welcome boost. "Today”s accident in which a civilian was tragically killed is a clear indication that there is a continued need for cluster munition clearance in Southern Lebanon," she said.
She explained that the money from the US would keep 10 clearance teams in operation until the summer. "The funding from the Americans is a tremendous financial support allowing MAG to continue its operations. However, we are constantly seeking funding to remove the remaining threat of cluster munitions."
The US money comes hot on the heels of a similar donation from the Norwegian government, which led an international campaign to ban the use of cluster munitions.
The campaign culminated in the signing of an international treaty in Oslo in December last year and 95 countries signed the document, which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of cluster munitions. But the world”s biggest producers and users of the cluster munitions, including the US, Israel, Russia and China have all refused to sign the treaty, prompting criticism from opponents of the weapons.
There have, however, been encouraging signs from the new administration in Washington that the US is open to restricting their use. New legislation passed by President Barack Obama sets stricter rules for the weapons” use and export, including a clause which bans their sales to countries where they might be used on civilians.