SUMMARY OF THIS MONTH'S ACTIVITIES AND OUTPUTS

Visual search & clearance of 467,448 square metres of land through hand, electronic, and visual techniques.

Removal and destruction of 311 hazardous Remnants of Conflict* - 297 sub-munitions and 14 items of unexploded ordnance

[* MAG uses the term Remnants of Conflict (RoC) to describe all items recovered and destroyed as part of its humanitarian disarmament activities, which include Anti-Personal and Anti-Vehicle mines, Explosive Remnants of War (ERW), abandoned and unexploded ordnance (UXO) and SA/LW. This term has been developed to reflect more accurately the broad range of clearance activities undertaken by MAG]

BATTLE AREA CLEARANCE AND EXPLOSIVE ORDNANCE DISPOSAL

Priority clearance of access routes, homes, and gardens have been completed by operational teams. 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 1 October to 31 October 2007:

Area 6: 8 BAC teams continue to operate in the villages of Maalieh, Al Hosh, Batoulay, and Al Smaieh. These teams have used visual and electronic methods of clearance, clearing an area of 180,601 square metres. 100 Remnants of Conflict were found and destroyed.

Area 7: 14 BAC teams operating in the villages of Yohmor, Zawtar East, Zawtar West, Al Qoseybeh, Aadchit, Al Jawharieh, Qaaqaiyat Al Jisr, Kfar Sir, Kfar Roumane, and Shoukin. These teams have used visual and electronic methods of clearance, clearing an area of 286,847 square metres. 211 Remnants of Conflict were found and destroyed.

All teams are contributing to the social and economic recovery 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 285 activities during the month, including 58 data collection activities*, 39 liaison visits, 4 UXO tasking reports, and 2 dangerous areas reports. In addition, the CL team continued to 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 emphasizing public safety messages to communities undergoing clearance.

[* 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.]

EMERGENCY UXO CLEARANCE IN NAHR EL-BARED REFUGEE CAMP, TRIPOLI

MAG still has international technical staff and 4 Mine Action Teams available to undertake UXO clearance and/or provide technical support to UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies.

For more information on MAG's work in Lebanon, or any of its programmes across the world, please visit www.magclearsmines.org or contact:

David Horrocks, Country Programme Manager, MAG Lebanon, PO Box 140, Villa Geara, Kfar Joz, Nabatieh 170002020, Lebanon... Tel/ Fax: +961 7530 727... Mobile: +961 70 994 567... Email: david.horrocks@maglebanon.com

Nicky Asfaw, Regional Desk Officer, MAG, 47 Newton Street, Manchester, M1 1FT, United Kingdom... Tel: +44 161 236 4311... Fax: +44 161 236 6244... E-mail: nicky.asfaw@mag.org.uk