ISU Director’s visit to Lebanon

Lebanon has a CCM Article 4 deadline of 1 May 2021 to clear its estimated contaminated area of 17.18 million square metres and destroy the cluster munition remnants. At the 8MSP, Lebanon had reported to be facing a variety of obstacles in meeting its clearance obligations, including a decrease in funding, the discovery of new cluster munition contaminated areas and a complex terrain. As a consequence, Lebanon has informed that it will not be able to meet its 2021 deadline and will therefore need to request an extension.

In order to assess the situation and to offer support in the Article 4 Extension Request process, the ISU Director, Ms. Sheila N. Mweemba, paid a visit from 26 to 28 March 2019 to the Lebanon Mine Action Center (LMAC). She took the opportunity to visit two clearance operations sites in South Lebanon that are currently being cleared by the Lebanese Association for Mines and Natural Disaster Action (LAMINDA) and DanChurchAid (DCA). Meetings were held with the outgoing LMAC Director, Brig. Gen. Ziad Nasr, the incoming LMAC Director, Brig. Gen. Jihad Al Bechaalany, and LMAC Head of Operations, Maj. Fadi Wazen.