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A team of 10 New Zealand military staff will fly to Lebanon in the new year to find and pick apart unexploded bomblets littering the landscape.
As many as 1.2 million unexploded devices are estimated to be covering Lebanon's countryside after this year's conflict between Israel and Hizbollah.
Many, fired in the final hours of the conflict, were cluster bombs that scattered bomblets about the size of tennis balls.
Defence Minister Phil Goff said last night that the number of devices was larger than originally expected.
Removing them would be "a huge task", he said.
New Zealand would help by sending a team of four explosive ordnance disposal technicians and six surveyors to join a United Nations force.
The highly dangerous work would involve the team locating, mapping and destroying the devices during a six-month deployment.
A replacement team would then carry on the job for six more months.
Mr Goff said undetonated bomblets had killed or injured 152 civilians since the end of the conflict in Lebanon. The number of devices was "simply massive".
"A huge amount of bombs were sent over that were old and unreliable stock, most of which didn't explode," Mr Goff said.
It was normal for about 90 per cent of cluster bomblets to actually explode on impact.
Details of the way that the New Zealanders will go about their nerve-racking work is a tightly guarded secret - the Defence Force is reluctant to give too much information for fear of helping the wrong people.
Much of the work to clear Lebanese buildings of the unexploded devices has already been done.
Mr Goff said it was now important to get the land into a state that could be used for farming, horticulture and economic development.
"That's a very large task that they hope to complete by about this time next year," he said.
The New Zealanders were not expected to get involved in conflict.
The biggest risk to them was "really in the inherently dangerous nature of unexploded ordnance clearance, which has to be conducted by hand".
Mr Goff said New Zealanders had earned an "enviable" reputation for their work around the world in the management and disposal of unexploded ordnance.
"This niche and highly valuable contribution to UN operations will fill a vital role in making the cities and countryside safe for the people of southern Lebanon as they rebuild their lives."
Cluster bombs
* Canisters packed with shrapnel-filled bomblets designed to break up in mid-air, disperse their cargo over large areas and explode on impact.
* Border areas between Lebanon and Israel are littered with unexploded bomblets, which have killed or injured 152 civilians since the conflict ended in August.
