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Last update - 15:35 22/08/2008
UN to scale back Lebanon cluster bomb cleanup over budget constraints
By Reuters
Tags: Lebanon, Cluster Bombs, UN

Many of the 44 teams clearing cluster munitions scattered by Israel in south Lebanon during its 2006 war with Hezbollah will have to stop work this month for lack of funds, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.

Donors have failed to come up with a promised $4.7 million needed to fund the program in 2008, according to Dalya Farran of the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC).

"A very large number of the clearance teams will be stopping by the end of this month if we don't get funds before that," she said, adding that some donor countries had not kept their promises and others had lost interest two years after the war.
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UNMACC has led efforts to clear thousands of unexploded cluster bomblets left over after Israel's war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. Israel fired or dropped most of the munitions in the last 72 hours before an Aug. 14 ceasefire.

Since then 27 civilians have been killed and 234 wounded by unexploded ordnance, mostly cluster munitions, while 13 bomb disposal experts have been killed and 39 wounded, Farran said.

"Any reduction in clearance work would lead to a higher accident rate because past experience shows that villagers will attempt to deal with the bomblets themselves if they believe that no disposal teams will do the job," Farran said.

UNMACC has identified 1,058 cluster strike locations across the south. The United Nations says Israel has not responded to repeated requests for detailed data on the strikes.

Farran said 43 percent of the estimated 43 million square metres (51 million square yards) of Lebanese land contaminated by cluster munitions had been fully cleared and another 49 percent had been surface-cleared, removing the immediate threat
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  1.   Get Hezbullah to do the clean up work 16:19  |  zionist forever 22/08/08
  2.   Should not clean, it keeps the Hezbys out of those areas 17:28  |  Mark Anthony 22/08/08
  3.   Cluster Bombs 18:17  |  Carter 22/08/08
  4.   Israel should pay 19:45  |  Tarek 22/08/08
  5.   Raising Funds for Clean-up 20:31  |  Mark of Lewiston 22/08/08
  6.   Donors 20:41  |  Jacob 22/08/08
  7.   Israel should pay for the entire cleanup... 20:42  |  BBSNews 22/08/08
  8.   UN giving up in Leb Period 21:13  |  John 22/08/08
  9.   Forced by hezbullah-payment should come from hezbullah 21:15  |  Arie 22/08/08
  10.   BBS News...let Hezbollah pay for it 21:24  |  Lynn 22/08/08
  11.   Two faced Rice berates Russia for dropping Cluster Bombs 21:42  |  Labhras 22/08/08
  12.   BBS News - Let the Manufacturers Pay 22:25  |  Mark of Lewiston 22/08/08
  13.   #1 NO WAY Lebanon sheltered HEZB..-Lebs deserved what they have. 22:32  |  Vittorio 22/08/08
  14.   Tooo baaad 23:23  |  leo 22/08/08
  15.   detailed data on the strikes? 23:29  |  MX 22/08/08
  16.   to bbsnews #1, dont agree at all 23:33  |  steves 22/08/08
  17.   Two-faced Labhras defends Russia for using cluster bombs 01:52  |  Voice of Reason 23/08/08
  18.   12, Israel said they started the War to rescue captured men 03:06  |  lydia 23/08/08
  19.   Send the bill to Israel 19:35  |  John 23/08/08
  20.   WELL IT`S NOT ONLY DISCOURAGING TO HELP LEBANON CLEAN UP ONE;IT`S 01:28  |  glenna 24/08/08
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