"Living with Cluster Bombs"

A deadly legacy remains in Lebanon as a result of last year's war. It is estimated that four million cluster bombs were dropped in the last three days of the war, a quarter of which did not explode on impact. To date, clearance organisations have disposed of a total of 118,000 bombs, leaving over 880,000 yet to be cleared. By June of this year 239 people, many of them children, were injured or killed by unexploded ordnance. Kristian Buus, a Danish photojournalist, visited Lebanon recently to make a film on the legacy of the cluster bombs left by Israel. You can view the short and long versions of "Living with Cluster Bombs" here: www.kristianbuus.com.

In the film you meet Rashad Siblini from Tyre, a 26 year old who is clearing cluster bombs from affected areas, and Housam Sh'adi who is 34 and doing the same. They are helping people like Ali Salami, whose land in Tyre is littered with bomblets - Ali found 536 bomblets on his small patch of land before the UN even began their clearance operations. We are also introduced to Muhammed Nahle, a Lebanese Civil Defence volunteer whose leg was amputated as a result of a cluster bomb injury which took place on the last day of the war. His ability to remain optimistic in the light of such an injury is inspiring. These people are the heroes whose daily lives continue to be affected by the effects of last year's war. They are the faces and the living stories behind the statistics we hear. (lebanon united source)