“After the fighting ends, the first thing people want to do is return home. But when people return to areas where fighting has taken place, there are dangers lurking everywhere. Many civilians unwittingly put themselves at risk.”
© Handicap International
Six months after launching its first activities in Libya to educate civilians about the risks posed by unexploded weapons, Handicap International is stepping up its operations in the country. Over the coming weeks, demining teams will begin clearing land that has been littered by landmines and explosive remnants of war (shells, munitions, rockets, etc.). These devices pose a serious threat to the civilian population, especially those people displaced by the conflict who are now returning home to areas where heavy fighting took place.
Two demining teams will be deployed, each consisting of one expatriate staff member responsible for managing and training six Libyan staff, and a medical team member. These teams will primarily work in districts of Tripoli affected by fighting to identify the worst affected areas, and remove and destroy landmines and explosive remnants of war, as necessary.
“It’s vital to start the clearance operations immediately,” explains Frédéric Maio, manager of Handicap International’s operations in Libya. “After the fighting ends, the first thing people want to do is return home. But when people return to areas where fighting has taken place, there are dangers lurking everywhere. Many civilians unwittingly put themselves at risk.”
This intervention is expected to last at least until April 2012. It is part of a mission currently being run by a Handicap International demining specialist who arrived in Libya in September to assess local demining needs and provide estimates for areas contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war. This specialist is working in close cooperation with the authorities and other stakeholders in the field.
At the same time, Handicap International is continuing its accident prevention activities for civilians, which began in April, in the midst of the conflict. The organisation has been working in the east of the country and, more recently, in Misrata, a city particularly badly affected by clashes between rebels and forces loyal to the late Col. Gaddafi. Educational information about the risks posed by landmines and unexploded remnants of war have been distributed in the city and as far as the border with Tunisia. As soon as hostilities ended in Bani Walid, a Handicap International team travelled to the area to distribute risk awareness information. An initial assessment mission was also launched this week in Sirte, while fighting was still going on.
Handicap International now relies on a team of some twenty people, soon to include six expatriate staff, and around one hundred volunteers trained to organise awareness-raising sessions. The organisation has also been running an armed violence reduction project in Libya since September in Benghazi, Ajdabiya, Misrata, and other areas.
