UNIPATH STAFF
Vast areas of Yemen, including densely populated regions, have been planted with anti-personnel and anti-vehicle land mines by the Houthis. The United Nations is calling for an international and regional effort to clear the country of these deadly explosives.
Official estimates place the number of Houthi mines, many manufactured with the support of the Iranian government, at 1.2 million across 15 Yemeni governorates.
The city of Taiz is among the large Yemeni cities severely affected by the war between Yemeni government forces and the Houthis. And its province is among the most contaminated by anti-personnel mines. Out of the 22 districts that make up the province, 18 are laced with land mines.
In the first quarter of 2019, civilian deaths in the city and the surrounding area caused by land mines exceeded 465, including more than 120 children and 85 women, according to Aref Al-Qahtani, executive director of the Yemen Executive Mine Action Center in Taiz (YEMAC). There were 905 injured, including 275 children and 183 women.
In December 2019, a woman and child were killed by an exploding mine in al-Dhali governorate. In another incident, Wassila Abdul Karim Muhammad al-Amiri, 12 years old, died while herding sheep.
Yet another land mine exploded when two families were searching for shelter after they were displaced from their homes. A woman was killed and seven others were wounded.
Yemeni Deputy Minister of Human Rights Nabil Abdul Hafeez said the Houthis have “sown death” in areas they once held, scattering land mines around farmland, roads and villages. They have also planted improvised explosive devices, blending them in with the landscape to avoid detection.
Not only do Houthi-laid mines kill and maim Yemeni civilians, they also prevent Yemenis from harvesting their crops and collecting drinking water. Mines also prevent international aid organizations from delivering food and medicine to Yemeni civilians suffering from hunger and diseases. That hindered the response to crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) continues to support mine-clearance efforts in Yemen. In 2019, UNDP provided YEMAC with 20 Toyota pickup trucks to help Yemenis remove mines from the main road used by humanitarian aid convoys coming from the port of Hodeidah. U.N. conventions forbid the use of anti-personnel mines.
In addition, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has launched the Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance, dedicated to demining Yemen
and protecting civilians.
The program reported clearing more than 100,000 mines since 2018, including 2,400 explosives during a single week in April 2020.
Sources: almashareq.com, ye.undp.org, alarabiya.net