ICRC to help clean up Libya’s unexploded bombs

The Geneva-based International Committee for the Red Cross has launched a campaign to clean up unexploded bombs in Libya.

The campaign to remove devices and also educate the public about the dangers will focus particularly on the towns of Sirte and Bani Walid, where there is the highest concentration of such objects and the humanitarian impact is most serious.

Around 100 members of the Libyan Red Crescent organisation have been trained to help educate the public about the risks. ICRC members have begun putting up billboards and handing out leaflets and are starting to clear munitions.

Such devices are a serious threat to civilians wanting to return home following the toppling of the regime of former leader Moammar Gaddafi. The casualties confirmed in Sirte include a girl aged eight who lost her arm while playing with a device. In the region of Zlitan, west of Misrata, around 30 people have been injured by them.

The ICRC has removed or neutralised around 1,400 warheads, munitions, grenades and mortar shells since March, the organisation said in a statement on Monday.

It expects the clean-up to take “considerable time and resources” and a coordinated effort with other organisations.