Rate of cluster-bomb fatalities declines amid demining
14 July 2007
The Daily Star

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=83822

TYRE: Injuries and deaths caused by cluster bombs remaining from last summer's war with Israel have decreased from six incidents a month to only two or three, said Dahlia Farran, a media officer for the Center for the Coordination of De-mining Works in Southern Lebanon.

"We hope that there will come a time when no incidents due to cluster bombs will be recorded," Farran said Friday. "This is due to the efforts and the round the clock work of the Lebanese Army and all other de-mining organizations and teams operating in the South."

The 2007 demining projects focused on clearing all areas identified as being infested with cluster bombs and other unexploded ordinance, explained Farran, "especially those areas near homes or cultivated stretches of land, so as to have Southerners get back to their normal life."

Around 20 percent of infested land (37 million square meters) has been cleared. Israel dropped around 1 million cluster bomblets in the South three days before the end of hostilities.

"In 2008, our main focus will be the demining of heavily infested valleys, and locating infested spots," said Farran.

"However," she added, "we still face numerous difficulties because Israel still refuses to provide the United Nations with maps [of the] cluster bomb [sites]."