Norway renews its commitment to battle area clearance

Besides supporting MAG, Norway has signed a three years framework agreement amounting to more than three million USD with Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) Mine Action program from 2008 till 2010 to undertake clearance activities. As emphasized in the White Paper no. 40 (2008-2009) Norway’s Humanitarian Policy, the Norwegian Government is strongly committed to humanitarian disarmament and to fulfilling its obligations to provide cooperation and assistance under the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Convention. The overall aim of MAG’s project is to improve the physical and livelihood security for Remnants of Conflict affected communities in Central and southern Lebanon through the continuation of clearance of Remnants of Conflict. Norway’s support for 2010 will ensure operation sustainability of two MAG battle area clearance teams and one MineCat Mechanical team. This support will allow MAG with other active organizations on the ground and with close cooperation with the Lebanese Mine Action Center (LMAC) to contribute in clearing the remaining 17.3 million m2 out of 39.6 million m2 of the battle area affected by the 2006 conflict according to LMAC. It is worth noting that in 2006 there were 64 clearance teams on the ground, whereas at the close of 2009 the capacity had diminished to 18. According to General Fehmi, Director of LMAC, it is hoped that Norway’s efforts to render Lebanon free of remnants of war might be a shared concern for other donors’ countries notably if Lebanon manages to sign the Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty noting that Lebanon was the third country to sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions that was adopted on 30 May 2008 in Dublin and signed by 94 states in Oslo 3 - 4 December 2008 (http://www.clusterconvention.org/index.php).