Africans say that when two elephants fight, it is the ground that suffers. This appears to be the case in Libya where decades of warfare have now come home to roost. The authorities in the North African country say they have destroyed more than 200 tons of Explosives Remnants of War, ERW, with the support of the UN Mine Action Service, UNMAS.
A spokesman for UNMAS said, “At the end of January, UNMAS completed phase one of its initiative to destroy ERW which have been endangering the lives of Misratan communities, and of the wider Libyan population”. The UNMAS official expatiated, “More than 200 tons of ERW were successfully eliminated with the support of the governments of Denmark and South Korea, generous contributors to the UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Assistance in Mine Action”.
The mission said in cooperation with the Danish Demining Group, the UNMAS provided training to 20 of the Libyan Mine Action Centre’s personnel who destroyed 203 tons of war remnants. According to the mission, “The next step is phase two of the initiative, which aims to destroy at least 200 more tons of ERW. Phase two is kindly supported by the government of France.”
Years of armed conflict in Libya left large amounts of unexploded ordnance, which killed and injured many soldiers and civilians.
The UN said since March 2011, 108 Libyans have been reported killed and another 161 injured in 135 accidents involving ERW, despite the fact that more than 500,000 ERW, including landmines, projectiles, bombs and guided missiles, had earlier been cleared in Libya.
Mine experts say that unlike in other countries contaminated by ERW, the larger risk to civilians in Libya comes from unsecured munitions, which can form the basis for the construction of improvised explosive devices, which are recently being used in Libya. The world body said during the conflict, armed groups seized Libyan government arms and ammunition stockpiles while some unserviceable munitions were left over from the bombings by NATO forces.
Today, the UN says there are probably millions of unsecured explosive weapons and ammunition rounds in Libya while weapons proliferation remains a major concern.
According to the 2013 UN Appeal Document summarizing the financial needs of implementing partners in Libya working on weapons management and mine clearance projects, mine action has been the highest priority since 2011.
