Israel has used cluster munitions in its ongoing campaign in Gaza said John Holmes, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today, a claim also reported by Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the Turkish Today’s Zamen.
Given the high population density of the Gaza strip, sources say there is a dangerous risk of high numbers of civilian casualties, since cluster munitions scatter over a wide area and leave behind deadly unexploded ‘duds’ that act as de facto landmines.
Israel’s extensive use of cluster munitions during its Lebanon invasion in 2006 was widely condemned for the resultant civilian casualties and galvanized the nascent campaign to ban cluster bombs. Click here to read a Landmine Action report on the impact of cluster munitions in Lebanon. For a similar report from Human Rights Watch, click here. For a particularly good short documentary film on the impact of Israel’s use of cluster bombs in Lebanon, click here.
Israel was not among the some 100 countries that signed the Cluster Munitions Treaty in December, that outlawed the transfer, production and stockpiling of such weapons and called on states to help mitigate the impact of ongoing contamination.
For more information on cluster munitions, see the previous posts on Political Minefields, or click here to view a short informational web video.
UPDATE 7 January 2009: Sources with a presence in Gaza are currently telling me that the claim that Israel is using cluster munitions may be incorrect, and may be a misinterpretation of pictures showing air burst weapons used to create smoke clouds to reduce visability. If any readers have any more information on this issue, please post a comment. Thanks - PM.
source
مازالت مخلفات الحرب تهدد التنمية الإسماعيلية - محمد فوزى
مازالت قضية اتساع المساحة الصحراوية بمحافظة الإسماعيلية تثير القلق، لاسيما داخل مدينتى القنطرة شرق وفايد، مع الأخذ فى الاعتبار أن المدينتين على خط المواجهة وشهدتا الكثير من المعارك على أرضهما، سواء خلال حرب يونيو 1967 أو حرب أكتوبر 1973، حيث مازالت تلك المناطق تضم ألغاماً مدفونة من مخلفات الحروب.
ذكرى الحرب الأليمة فى القنطرة وفايد
فمدينة القنطرة شرق التى تضم مساحات صحراوية كبيرة شهدت أكثر من حادث انفجار لغم أو شظية راح ضحيتها العشرات من أبناء المدينة من رجال ونساء وأطفال على مدار السنوات الأخيرة منذ عودة المهجرين، وقد شهدت المدينة خلال الثلاث سنوات الأخيرة ما لا يقل عن عشر حوادث انفجار ألغام فى أجساد أبناء المدينة.
أما مدينة فايد فقد فجر الحادث الأخير بقرية عبد الناصر بفايد، والذى راح ضحيته ثلاثة طلاب بالمرحلة الإعدادية قضية مسح وتطهير المناطق الصحراوية بالمدينة، خاصة المناطق السكنية، لاسيما وأن المنطقة التى وقع فيها الحادث مخططة لإقامة مجمع سكنى ومدرسة للتربية الفكرية على مساحة سبعة عشر فدانا منها، تم بالفعل تخصيصها للوحدة المحلية بفايد.
خطر يهدد البناء والاستثمار
محمد أبو العنين عضو مجلس محلى محافظة الإسماعيلية عن مركز القنطرة شرق، أكد أن الألغام ومخلفات الحروب حصدت العشرات من أبناء القنطرة، حيث لا يمر عام إلا وتقع إكثر من حادثة انفجار لغم فى المواطنين لاسيما الأطفال، وللأسف فإن هذا الملف الشائك لم يقترب منه أحد طوال السنوات الماضية، ربما بسبب حساسية القضية، حيث إن أغلب تلك المناطق تقع فى حوزة جهات سيادية.
وأصاف أبو العنين أن محافظ الإسماعيلية الحالى اللواء عبد الجليل الفخرانى، تنبه لتلك المشكلة، حيث قامت المحافظة بالاشتراك مع القوات المسلحة بتطهير مساحة من الأرض شرق قناة السويس، لكن مطلوب تطهير باقى المناطق لاسيما وأن شرق قناة السويس تضم مشروعات مستقبلية إستراتيجية مثل مشروع الإسماعيلية الجديدة ونفق أسفل قناة السويس.
فيما يرى محمد غنام عضو مجلس محلى محافظة الإسماعيلية عن مركز فايد، أن حادث قرية عبد الناصر الذى راح ضحيته طلاب فى عمر الزهور، يعد جريمة ولابد إعادة النظر فى تخصيص الأرض لمشروعات مستقبلية سكنية وتعليمية دون أن يتم تطهيرها والتأكد من خلوها من الألغام، خاصة وأنها كانت مناطق عسكرية ومازالت آثار الحرب عالقة بها.
جهود بطيئة بدعم المحافظة
اللواء عبد الجليل الفخرانى محافظ الإسماعيلية، أكد أن قضية الألغام الموجودة بشرق قناة السويس من القضايا التى تستحوذ على اهتمام المحافظة، وقال قمنا بالتنسيق مع القوات المسلحة واستطعنا تطهير حوالى 16 فدانا بشرق قناة السويس خلف مشروع وادى التكنولوجيا بتكلفة 200 ألف جنيه تحملتها المحافظة وجارى تطهير مناطق أخرى بالاشتراك مع القوات المسلحة، أما بخصوص الحادث الأخير بمدينة فايد فجارى الاتصال حاليا والتنسيق مع القوات المسلحة لمسح وتطهير منطقة قرية عبد الناصر، خاصة وأنها تضم مساحة عليها مشروعات قد نضطر لتجميد تنفيذها لحين الانتهاء من تطهير المنطقة.
Link below 
September 2007
Active landmines thread on desert-info.ch with maps (mostly in German)
Landmines
It's well known that certain areas of the Sahara are scattered with minefields, some dating back to WWII, but most laid during more recent conflicts. Anti-personnel mines will blow off your legs and possibly kill you if you step on one, but if you drive over such a mine, you could get away with just a ruined tyre. Larger anti-tank mines will destroy both you and your vehicle. In In Search of the Sahara Quentin Crewe described driving his Unimog over a mine near Nouadhibou in the 1970s. The heavy vehicle was destroyed but saved the occupants from injury. Most years a Saharan party sets off a mine somewhere, all known cases being in the areas listed below.
The best way to avoid setting off a mine is to avoid known minefields altogether. However, if you can't or don't want to do that, hire a relibale local guide to steer you through the danger zone. If you decide to go it alone using someone else's GPS waypoints through a minefield, be aware that the slightest deviation could result in a fatal accident. Follow any existing tracks and be wary of any unnatural barriers across a piste.
Known mined areas in the Sahara
Apart from the Atlantic Route (p.464), Route L6 and routes in Egypt's Western Desert, all the pistes in this book avoid mined areas so you should have little to worry about. Nevertheless, it's prudent to list the known locations of Saharan minefields, though this list should not be taken as a guarantee that mines do not exist elsewhere.
Starting from the far west, the horizontal border between Western Sahara and Mauritania is mined. Even though by now everyone knows the risks of leaving the piste when crossing the border and a new sealed road is complete, deadly accidents still happen as late as Feb 2007. There is no danger if you directly follow the couple of kilometres of stony track from leaving the tarmac at the Moroccan frontier to rejoining the tarmac at the Mauritanian frontier. Stay on the clearest direct tracks. The 2007 death occured way east of this route - no one knows why they are there but sadly they asked for it.
It's very likely that the entire Mauritanian border north with Morocco is left mined from a time when Polisario raiders got as far south as Chinguetti. There are certainly mines alongside the Layounne-Bir Mogrein road; a Paris-Dakar truck caught one here in the late nineties.
Still in Mauritania, areas east and south of Ouadane are also said to be mined although Route R8 to Guelb is safe. Again there are said to be mines north of Guelb near the El Beyyid well and rock paintings.
There are also mines between Algeria and Morocco in the Hamada du Draa and Guir region between Tindouf and Bechar, though no regular pistes cross this area. If they exist they are all well south of the Moroccan routes given in this book.
Mali is thought to be mine-free as is Algeria. In Niger Tubu rebels laid mines in the Djado region in 1997-8. They were cleared in 2001 after the rebels came to an agreement with the Niger government but in March 2003 three Italians tourists were killed when they hit an anti-tank mine north of Djado. After the accident the military post at Chirfa confirmed there were mines in the area on the route into Enneri Blaka where the former base of the FANS Tubu rebels was located until 2001. There are apparently three routes into the valley of Enneri Blaka, one is the regular route from the south via Seguidine, one from the north which cuts north east of Djaba and then goes south down the Enneri Domo, and a new one which cuts directly eastwards from Chirfa. It was this latter route which was reported to be mined.
Besides this, the far eastern reaches of the Seguedine-Zouar piste are mined around Col de Yei Lulu just before the Chad border, and also reports of wired-off mine fields further north.
Libya
Libya has plenty of mines from both WWII (mostly in the east) and along its southern border following the war with Chad and related to the current Tibesti rebellion. WWII still exist east of the line from Ajdabija (south of Benghazi) to Jalu as well as further south. A surveyor working in southeast of Libya reported that 'Many areas of country to east of Kufra-Benghazi road are mined' although the run from Al Jakbub close to the border across a passable 'neck' of the Calansho Sand Sea down to Kufra is becoming a popular off-piste excursion with no known reports of mines (see also 'Egypt' below). These mines have long been a sore point with Libya who've insisted Germany and Britain pay for their clearance and as a result of Libya's continuted rehabilitation, in March 2003 the Virgin Group announced a deal where they would sell an airship-based landmine clearance system using radar to Libya.
It's also been reported that in the broad plain leading from the tarmac road about 90km north of Sebha. southeast to the Sarir al Qattusah is mined (in 1989 a traveller was warned by a Libyan police patrol who followed).
In southern Libya between Serir Tibesti and the Rebiana Erg in the Dohone region, the Passe de Klingue on Route L6, KM409 has mines from several periods and wrecked vehicles to prove it. Mines located at this point damaged a truck in 1991, nearby in 2001 and again in 2003.
In August 2000 a Swiss party hit a mine on the way back from the well at Gongom on the western side of Dohone. The mine was located in the Oued Oyouroum (N22° 40' E18° 45'), which was not known to be mined.The travellers were returning along their own three-day-old tracks. Later they met an Chadian army patrol near Kilingue looking for Chadian rebels who probably laid the mines, thinking the new tracks belonged to rebels using the well. It seems the Chadian army has permission from Libya to venture into deep southern Libya to lay mines in theor operations against the Tubu rebels so it's simply best to avoid this part of Libya.
Chad
Chad, or to be precise the north as far south as Faya and up to and beyond the Libyan border is the most mined region in the Saharan, dating from the Libyan war of the 1980s and, as you've just read, still being mined today. Mines exist alongside tracks, some are well marked, others are not. In August 2002 the leader of the rebel MDJT movement himself was among the dead in a landmine incident. Near the Libyan border the mines at the Passe de Korizo are well-known with a well developed alternative piste. A truck hit a mine on the track south of the Pass on the Arkiafera Plain north of Wour. Mines also wrecked a Unimog at N22° 19' E17° 25' on the way to Aozou and other tracks in this region are well known to be mined, such as the track between Ouri and Aozi, east of the Dohone spur.
There are said to be mines around Ounianga Kebir and the piste northwest to Gouro as well as the piste between Faya and Fada through the Kora dunes (just above N18°). They block the line of least resistance which everyone would follow and you must know the places to avoid by crossing a 50m-high dune belt. South of Ounianga Kebir the ominously named Wadi Doum (N18° 22' E20° 23') - where the Libyans lost the 1980s war and now a Chadian military base - is littered abandoned military hardware, UXO and is heavily mined. Those minefields which are crossed by the clear piste are carefully fenced off with barbed wire. You may by quite safe staying on the piste but walking around to a look to the military equipment is dangerous.
In January 2003 in the first reported mine clearance operation in Chad, the head of the anti mine unit funded by a UN development programme announced that they had removed some five hundred mines from around Faya Largeau and the area was mine free up to 10kms from the town.
In this region as well as the western Ennedi it is wise to travel with an experienced guide. Even the sides of the well-used piste about 20km WNW of Fada are mined at a narrow passage. This list is far from exhaustive and sticking to previous tracks or travelling with a guide if coming down from Al Gatrun all the way to Faya (should it even be safe enough to do so) seems to be the only advice. Guides however are not a guarantee that you will avoid mines which, along with its other dangers, is why northern Chad is the least visited Saharan country.
Egypt
The Western Desert of Egypt saw fierce fighting in WWII and its northern part, between El Alamein and the Libyan border, as well as the Qattara depression, was heavily mined. All mines have been eliminated between the coastal road and the sea, but further inland any number may still remain. The Qattara Depression was never cleared, and both the German and the British armies mined the northern parts, below the cliffs, to prevent the other from getting behind their lines. Given this situation, all parts of the Depression away from travelled roads and tracks are best avoided.
Tensions between Egypt and Libya resulted in some of the border areas being mined. At Jebel Uweinat there is a marked minefield (with large anti-tank mines) blocking the west side of the entrance of Karkur Talh (N22° 02.7' E25° 07.9'), and also at the low pass where the track skirts the northern spur of the mountain and continues towards the Libyan border at N22° 04.5' E25° 02.8'. It's also reported that there are mines near tracks passing a series of hills at N22° 04' E25° 16', about 20km NE of Uweinat where two red tracks join on the 1942 Uweinat map.
There are unconfirmed reports of mines at the pass between Peter and Paul, and mines may be expected at any easily blockable route close to the border. In February 1999 German tourists ran over a mine in the southern Gilf Kebir at the western entrance of the Wadi Wassa (N23 00.2', E25 51.3'), and it may be expected that the western reaches of the Wadi el Firaq are also mined; a vehicle hit a mine here in 1983 around N22° 53' E25° 47', half a kilometre from some iron poles and near a yellow drum.
There have been reports of the Aqaba Pass at the central Gilf Kebir being mined, however this seems extremely unlikely as countless vehicles have gone through this narrow pass overr recent years. Old reports suggested that the western entrance of Wadi el Gubba in the northern Gilf Kebir was also mined, but this too is unlikely. A Dakar Rally passed through here in 2000 as have several travellers since, taking the track rounding the western Gilf and heading for the entrance to Silica Glass valley (see p.000).
The recent minefields placed by the Egyptian army are marked with posts and barbed wire, and small stone cairns. If you see any obviously man-placed object (piles of stones, big slabs, steel drum, etc.) directly across the track, this is likely to be a warning sign for mines.
SOURCE
http://www.sahara-overland.com/mines/index.htm
Afghan teenage cluster bomb victim battling for ban
By Robin Millard
Agence France Presse
Afghan teenager Soraj Ghulam Habib, whose legs were blown off by a cluster bomb, is campaigning hard for a ban on such lethal munitions that would spare other children from his tragic fate.
A 10-year-old boy when the unexploded bomblet left him close to death, Habib, now 17 and wheelchair-bound, is in Dublin to press officials from 109 countries who have gathered to thrash out a landmark ban on cluster bombs.
The conference, due to conclude on May 30, is aiming for a wide-ranging international pact that would completely eliminate the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions among signatories.
Habib’s childhood curiosity with a funny-looking object left him a whisker from death, yet another innocent civilian victim of deadly cluster bombs.
“One day, I went out with some of my cousins for a picnic in a public park,” the softly-spoken teenager, from Herat province in north-western Afghanistan, told AFP through a Dari-speaking interpreter.
“It was the beginning of New Year in Afghanistan and on the way home, on the sidewalk, I saw a yellow can. I picked it up and wanted to open it. When I threw it down, it exploded.”
The same colour as the emergency food parcels air-dropped by US planes, the yellow can was in fact a BLU-97, a sub-munition dropped in a cluster bomb during the US aerial bombing campaign to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
“It’s a dangerous weapon but it looks nice, it looks very interesting to a child,” he said.
Taken to hospital, the doctors wanted to give the 10-year-old a lethal injection, judging that his life was not worth living given the extent of his injuries.
“He said to my father, ‘it’s not good for his future life to be like this, let’s let him die,’” Habib said.
But the boy’s father disagreed and the youth was operated on. A week later, a small piece of sub-munition was found in his stomach, which had entered his body through his leg. Again, the medics operated.
After four months, he was allowed to return home, with daily visits from the doctors. Further operations followed.
The physical horror of his ordeal is visible, but the emotional and social damage is not.
Leaving hospital, the destruction of his childhood became clear.
“Cluster munitions injure but also do not lead us to be in society,” Habib said.
“I wanted to go outside and play with my friends, but they did not want to play with me. They said that now I was a wheelchair user, I was not able to do anything.”
Fighting his corner, his uncle pushed for him to be allowed in school.
“It was a social problem that nobody would play with me,” he said.
“I had a lot of dreams, to do for my friends, my family, my community and my country; it destroyed all my dreams and all my wishes.”
He is not the only one whose childhood has been wrecked by cluster bombs. Campaigners say they disproportionately affect civilians, with Handicap International estimating that 60 percent of civilian casualties are children.
“There are a lot of people affected by cluster munitions in Afghanistan, especially in Herat,” Habib said.
“In my rehabilitation centre, one of my classmates also lost both his legs.”
Habib is clear about the outcome he wants from the talks at Croke Park stadium in Dublin.
“I’m calling on all the states, especially those here, to stop it, join with us and let the children have peace and a life without cluster munitions.
“I hope from this conference that we come out with good results to save future lives,” he said.
“It’s the responsibility of those countries … save the lives of children and give them a brilliant future.”
Habib now works in Herat with the Kabul-based ALSO, the Afghan Landmine Survivors’ Organisation.
“I try to bring back the dreams I had before: to work hard and offer the help that I can to my people, my community and my country,” he said.
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