Russia to send 40 sappers to Lebanon in 2008
Russia will send a team of mine-disposal experts to a mountainous area in Lebanon to the east of Beirut in 2008, a spokesman for the Lebanon Mine Action Program said Wednesday.
"An agreement has been reached with the Russian side that it will send a group of 40 sappers from the Emergency Situations Ministry to Lebanon. They will work in the Baabda-Allei area for six months with the possibility of the term being extended by another six months," Imad Abdel Baki said.
He said the team will start working in early 2008.
"There are about 300 mines in the area," he said, adding that unexploded ordnance remained after the civil war (1975-90).
Abdel Baki said the situation is compounded by the fact that there are no minefield maps.
Baaba is an outskirt of Beirut where the presidential palace and the Defense Ministry are located. Allei is a 30-minute drive to the east of the Lebanese capital in the direction of the Syrian border, populated mostly by Druze.
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