In the case of the Lebanon it may take rather six months of work

The international community will mobilize to combat the oil spill that damaged half of Lebanese coastline after the bombing, July 14, the powerhouse Jiyah tanks, South of Beirut. Tomorrow to be held in Athens a meeting of the Working Group established to assess and coordinate the fight against this ecological disaster. Will be present experts of the international maritime Organization (IMO), the European Union and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Programme, but also the specialist French Centre for documentation, research and experimentation on accidental water (Cedre) pollution. They provide the Secretariat of the Working Group should attempt to implement this cleansing operation in a country ravaged by war, and whose defence of the coastline is obviously not the first priority. On the ground, the Minister of the environment Lebanese, Yacoub Sarraf, told the Reuters agency that the first volunteers will begin the cleaning of the port of Byblos as quickly as possible.

"Six months".

The task should be complex. The 15,000 tons of fuel oil spilled equivalent to half of the cargo carried the tanker "erika" when it sank in December 1999 off the coast of Brittany have been pushed by the wind and currents on a 30 sites. Portions of this rocky coast are covered with a metre of slime as oil having soiled the Breton coast. Since the bombing, Danish experts visited on-site, and the part which was slightly affected the Syrian coasts has been cleared. "We believe that, in a peaceful country, should be three months of work in 300 to 500 people to remove the dirty oil." In the case of the Lebanon, it may take rather six months of work. "It is normal that civilian populations are put in security first," explains Michel Girin, Director of the Cedre. The expert nonetheless believe the cost of transactions between 30 and 50 million, including a third party equipment and two thirds in human costs to the product on the rocks.

For now, Norwegian material and Kuwaiti has already been shipped, and UNEP has made a donation of 200,000 euros. The France provides equipment, recovery pumps, pools of storage, absorbent roller or floating dams. All, already on pallets, is ready to be shipped by air in the coming weeks if the French Government gives the green light.

As the financial support of the disaster, it seems that it should be as gifts. Indeed, the international fund for compensation for damage due to pollution by hydrocarbons (IOPC), fueled by the global oil companies, does not intervene in the event of war: it only covers the transport of oil by industrial for smear from the coast of an acceding country. After the Gulf war, fifteen years ago, where 700,000 tonnes less than had been common in the Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia, a levy on oil revenues of the Iraq had been carried out at height in excess of $ 100 million. In the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, "there is neither winner nor loser, so not identified payer", notes one expert. But as the Mediterranean is already weakened by pollution, rapid cleaning of the Lebanese coast is more than necessary.