Landmines have become the ‘largest cause of civilian casualties in Yemen’, and the world needs to act swiftly
Landmines are indiscriminate killers.
While a six-months United Nations (UN)-brockered truce in Yemen may have helped with substantially reducing the number of casualties and internal displacement in Yemen (a 54.3 per cent drop over the period according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs — OCHA), explosive threats continue to kill and injure, almost daily.
Last week, two teenagers were killed by a landmine south of Al-Hodeidah — a flashpoint in Yemen’s ongoing war.
Hayel Mohsen Zaid Mu’sali, 14, and Fouad Ali Mohammad Mu’sali, 15, were reportedly riding a motorcycle on their way home from their workplace in the coal industry south of the Al-Faza area in Ad-Durayhimi district on November 1 when they detonated a landmine.
The boys were killed on the spot.
Unfortunately, this is not a rare event on Yemen’s west coast. Two other civilians were wounded in the same week including an elderly man, who was injured in Al-Mina district in Al-Hodeidah.
The story repeated itself in Yemen’s central energy-producing Marib region. A civilian was wounded in Jabal Murad district this week while an unidentified civilian was killed a nd another injured in a landmine explosion in the Al-Mahjaza area in Serwah district.
These accidents came as the OCHA in Yemen announced landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) have now emerged as the major cause of civilian casualties in the war-torn country.
In a report, the OCHA’s office in Yemen said that it had found that 343 civilians had been killed and injured by explosive threats in the last six months, during the UN-brokered ceasefire.
The UN-brokered truce went into effect on April 2 and expired on October 2 after the Houthis refused to extend it.
“Due to the peace treaty, the Houthis have moved out of areas and have left mines, UXO and IEDs behind,” Gus Maartens, Project Manager for Masam, a humanitarian landmine clearance project operating in Yemen, said.
“But due to the current security in certain areas, Masam demining teams cannot get into these areas to clear them. We have received reports of the local population moving back into these areas as these were their villages and homes.
“Due to the local population not receiving any Mine Risk Education accidents happen.”
In its latest update, OCHA warned that landmines and unexploded ordnance explosions continue to inflict heavy losses on civilians in Yemen.
Despite an overall reduction in civilian casualties during the truce, the number of people injured or killed by explosive remnants of war (ERW) increased by 38 per cent, OCHA’s office in Yemen said.
“Mines and UXO emerged as the major cause of civilian casualties between April and September 2022,” the OCHA tweeted on November 4, adding that landmine explosions resulted in 95 deaths and 248 injuries.
The majority of ERW casualties have occurred in heavily contaminated area of Yemen — notably Al Hodeidah, Ta’iz, Sa’dah, Marib and Al Jawf, with Al Hodeidah seeing exponentially higher numbers — according to the Civilian Impact Monitoring Project (CIMP).
In a report, the CIMP — an open and unverified source — said that landmine incidents have been responsible for the highest numbers of ERW casualties since the start of 2018, at 1,217, accounting for 69 per cent of the total, followed by 411 civilian UXO casualties, and 135 improvised explosive device (IED) casualties.
But the total number of deaths and injuries caused by landmines may be severely under-reported, according to Maartens.
“In certain areas to the south and west of Marib, I am sure that the number of mine accidents is higher but has not been reported as these areas are still under the control of the Houthis.”
Since September 2021, when the Houthis tried to overrun Marib they took over villages to the south in Shabwah Governorate and planted a large number of anti-tank mines and IEDs to defend their positions, Maartens explained.
“We even encountered a large number of anti-personnel mines in higher areas to defend Houthi positions. When Yemeni forces were able to re-capture these areas, Masam was able to move in behind them and clear those areas.”
Between September 2021 and November 2022, Masam — which has been operating in Yemen since mid-2018 — said it was its “biggest year” in terms of the number of explosive threats cleared.
In December 2021 and January 2022, Masam’s 32 Marib and Aden teams removed a staggering 24,538 explosive items, for instance. In December, the teams cleared 73 anti-personnel landmines, 5,017 anti-tank mines and 117 IEDs. A month later, these numbers jumped to 237 anti-personnel landmines, 9,369 anti-tank mines and 574 IEDs.
Masam’s Team 3 alone located and removed one UXO and 320 anti-tank mines in the first week of January 2022, while Team 5 located and removed 111 anti-tank mines, 105 anti-personnel mines, and 12 IED during the same period.
“This was due to areas being re-liberated by Yemen’s Army forces. Masam teams were able to move into these areas and clear them of items. But these areas are not very big and teams have not been able to clear them entirely due to some of the areas still being occupied by the Houthis and the security is still not safe for our teams to work there.”
Additionally, Maartens said, previously cleared areas have been re-mined between the period of September 2021 and February 2022. At the end of February 22, it was estimated that 75 cleared areas have been re-mined by the Houthis, according to the Executive Center for Mine Action (YEMAC).
Given the fact that the use of anti-personnel landmines is banned under international humanitarian law, these figures make for a grim picture of Yemen today.
Warnings by the international community are a welcome step to reducing and eliminating new victims of landmines, but the truth is that more needs to be done to eradicate this threat.
“As the Houthi forces are pressed back, a large number of mines, UXO and IEDs are left in the path of civilians returning to their villages,” Maartens said. “This then increases Masam’s responsibility to clear these areas as quickly and safely as possible. Due to the extent of the area needing to be cleared, this process will take quite some time.”
Governments need to step up. First, they must support mine action in all of Yemen and renew their commitment to assist the parties and mine action authorities.
Secondly, the international community must pressure the Houthi militia to hand in any existing minefield maps to aid mine action programmes operating in Yemen. This will facilitate the process of accessing, clearing, and disarming landmines, which will invariably contribute to reducing the number of civilian casualties.
Thirdly, the international community must double up on its support and funding of local civil society organisations and landmine clearance projects, who have the vital role of educating local communities about the danger of landmines and how to avoid them, as well as reporting victims.
“Mine Risk Education (MRE) needs to be implemented in all areas as this will save lives: adults and children can be informed about what to look out for and that they should not touch these items,” Maartens explained.
While Masam carries out MRE activities which seek to reduce the risk of injury from landmines and ERW by raising awareness and promoting behavioural change, including public information dissemination, education and training, and community mine action liaison, the international community must support local projects and organisations to ensure they reach the greatest possible number of people with potentially life-saving information.
“The lack of mine risk education in the country is a big problem and a weak link in the ability of mine clearance operations.”
By Elsa Buchanan
