Lebanese President Michel Sleiman said Wednesday that the international community should pressure Israel to hand over its maps of the unexploded ordnance it had strewn on Lebanese territory.

Sleiman's remarks came on the occasion of the International Day for Mine Awareness observed by the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), the state-run National News Agency reported.

Sleiman expressed hopes that regional and international efforts be exerted to prevent the use of mines whose dangers exceeded that of wars.

UNIFIL has 11 combat engineering teams from its Belgian, Cambodian, Chinese, French, Italian and Spanish contingents working on the demining issue.

From 2002 to 2008, mine clearance in southern Lebanon was coordinated by UN Mine Action Coordination Center of Southern Lebanon (UNMACC-SL).

As part of this coordinated effort, UNIFIL demining teams have since the 2006 conflict contributed to demining around 4.8 million square meters of affected land and destroyed more than 34,000 unexploded ordnance and mines in southern Lebanon. However, mine infestation remains a challenge in southern Lebanon as explosive remnants of war continue to claim innocent victims.