Preliminary US government findings that Israel violated agreements with the United States by its use of cluster munitions in Lebanon last summer should lead to an immediate cutoff of all US cluster munitions sales to Israel, Human Rights Watch said today.The Bush administration is expected to report to Congress today on a State Department investigation into the use of US-made cluster munitions by Israel. Demining groups estimate that Israel used cluster munitions containing some 2.6 to 4 million submunitions in Lebanon, the majority of which were produced in the United States. Read more about HRW: US should cut off cluster-bomb sales to Israel
Lebanon needs urgent international support to clean up widespread pollution caused by last summer’s war between Israel and Hizbollah, including a variety of toxic and health-hazardous substances as well as unexploded cluster bombs, the United Nations environmental agency warned today on the eve of a major donors’ conference. “The sheer scale of the debris is overwhelming existing municipal dump sites and waste management regimes,” the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said in releasing a report by 12 environmental experts who carried out an in-depth field assessment between late September and mid-October. Read more about UN calls for urgent aid to clean up toxic debris from summer war with Israel
Thousands of Iraqis who have fled the violence in their country are stranded in Lebanon seeking asylum, according to a senior United Nations official. Having not signed the UN’s Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, introduced in 1951, Lebanon does not grant asylum to any refugees, despite the presence on its territory of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. “Ninety-five percent of asylum seekers today enter Lebanon illegally through the Syrian borders and 80 percent of them are Iraqis. So Lebanese authorities send them to jail, and force them to go back to their countries of origin no matter what,” said Dominique Tohme, Protection Officer in Lebanon for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Read more about Thousands of Iraqi refugees seek asylum
PARIS, Jan 25 (IPS) - Representatives of 50 industrial countries and international institutions have pledged 7.6 billion dollars to a recovery plan for Lebanon at a donor conference in Paris Thursday. The fresh aid certainly buys time for the embattled government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, but it remains doubtful if it can buy it peace. “This is not a one-shot event to support one particular government,” Siniora told the press, emphasising that the aid should benefit all Lebanese, regardless of their political or religious affiliations. French President Jacques Chirac, who hosted the conference, said that “all political forces and all actors in the region should be involved in the recovery plan.” Read more about Donors Buy Government Time, Not Peace
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s army - backed by police forces - tried Tuesday to stamp out violence erupting from street protests, only to see it resume again in area after area. By the time The Daily Star went to press, at least three people had died and 133 others, including eight policemen, were wounded in clashes. Hotspots for Tuesday’s clashes included Jounieh, Batroun, Chekka, Koura, Akkar and Tripoli in Northern Lebanon; Dekkwaneh, Nahr al-Mott and Jdeideh in Mount Lebanon; and Corniche al-Mazraa and Tariq al-Jdideh in Beirut. Read more about Security forces struggle to hold the line
Reporters Without Borders has written to Lebanese information minister Ghazi Aridi urging him to do everything possible to obtain the release of New TV journalists Firas Hatoum and Abdel-Azim Khayat, and their driver Mohammed Barbar, who have been held since 19 December for entering the apartment of a key witness in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “These journalists have been in prison for a month now,” the press freedom organisation said. “We will remain on alert until they are freed. We call on the authorities to stop considering this as a criminal case.” Read more about New TV journalists held for past month on theft charges
There have been 27 reported fatalities and 179 reported injuries from all types of unexploded ordnance in Lebanon. Of these totals, males and females 18 years old or younger accounted for six of the fatalities and 64 of the injuries, according to MACC-SL. All the fatalities and all but five of the injuries resulted from cluster munitions. So far, 839 cluster bomb strike locations have been identified in the south. For each cluster-bomb strike, clearance personnel must verify an area totaling 196,000 square meters to locate (and eventually destroy) all unexploded bomblets. Read more about Unexploded ordnance killed 27 since end of war
Water specialists have warned that Lebanon will face a severe water shortage over the coming years unless an effective water management system is soon put in place. “Some say that there could be a serious deficit by 2010 to 2015,” said Fadi Comeir, director-general of hydro-electrical equipment in Lebanon’s Energy and Water Ministry. He added that the country might experience shortages even sooner than that. While Lebanon actually has an abundance of rainfall and underground water, for years it has struggled to distribute this water and prevent it becoming contaminated in the earth. Read more about Specialists warn of potential water shortage
BEIRUT, Jan. 15 (IPS) - Anti-government demonstrations held in downtown Beirut since Dec. 1 have sparked debate about democracy in Lebanon. Protestors, largely Hezbollah supporters, have been calling on Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to give more cabinet posts to the opposition, or resign. Siniora has warned that the demonstrations are threatening democracy, but many demonstrators say they are actually working to strengthen it. Siniora’s government was formed in 2005 after massive demonstrations over the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Read more about Which Way Lies Democracy
The number of peacekeepers serving in UNIFIL has risen to 11,570, comprised of soldiers from 27 countries, 9,660 ground troops and 1,758 naval personnel. In addition to its core mandated activities UNIFIL continues providing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population. Between 7 - 13 January, there were 213 instances where UNIFIL peacekeepers provided medical assistance, 34 instances where they provided dental care, and 12 occasions in which veterinary services were provided. Read more about UNIFIL troop strength and humanitarian activities
