YEMEN CLEANS 1.7 MLN SQ. METERS OF MINEFIELDS IN 2008

Translated by: Fadwa al-Ariki

Revised by: Mahmoud Assamiee

SANA'A, Nov. 01 (Saba) – An official report has revealed that Yemeni government-run National Mine Action Program (NMAP) had discovered and cleaned last year 72 minefields of 1.7 million sq. meters throughout the country.

According to the report on the government performance for 2008, the program's teams removed and destroyed nearly 129 landmines and 76 unexploded ordnances (UXO) in addition to surveying more than 129 minefields of 2.47 million sq. meters in a number of Yemen's provinces.

The NMAP was designed to help the country in effectively addressing humanitarian and development problems caused by, or associated with, landmines and UXOs, while boosting the economy through the revitalization of previously unusable land for agriculture and livestock.

"During the period 1999-2008, the total area of mine-free land reached 19,4 million sq. meters", the report numbered, adding that the NMAP worked also hard to ensure citizens safety in the more mine-affected Yemeni governorates of Ibb, Lahj, Taiz, Dalei and Bida'a through determining accurately the mine-affected areas and installing visible warning signs within a 2.5 million sq. meters area.

During the same period, the NMAP's mine risk education has benefited more than 210,541 people at 132 villages of seven governorates of the country.

The most important results of the NMAP were to train the national cadres for various technical and administrative skills and experiences of dealing with landmines and UXOs.

The report noted those cadres got nearly 20 training courses held in the country and abroad in 2008 comparing with 73 training courses during 1999-2008.

"The government offers annually $ 3 million to support the NMAP activities in addition to financial and technical support provided by donors and regional and international organizations" said the report.

In 2007, the European Union's contribution to supporting the activities of demining operations of the NMAP was two million euro. The EU support came into effect in accordance with an agreement of participating in financing the third phase of eliminating the mines in Yemen by the end of 2009.

To meet the objective of the Ottawa Treaty, Yemen has committed to use its national human and financial resources in its effort to eradicate and negate the remaining mines and UXOs from the soil of the country. Yemen is working hard to ensure that mine accidents are eliminated or reduced to a negligible rate.

According to the NMAP, a landmine impact survey has identified a total of 5943 landmine-affected communities of Yemen. The total five-year (2004-2009) Yemen Mine Action Programme costs approximately $ 13.320.000.

Over the past 40 years, Yemen has witnessed several conflicts, leaving behind numerous landmines and unexploded ordnances (UXO) that affected around 800,000 people countrywide.

The landmines and UXOs have been planted during different wars, including the seven-year fighting which ended in 1969 between the republicans and the royalists and the war of the liberation of Britain-occupied South Yemen in addition to the 1994 summer war and the newly planted mines by the al-Houthi rebels in Saada province, north Yemen.

The NMAP was ranked among the top 20 UN-supported Mine Action Programmes worldwide. Yemen was also the first country in the world to conduct a UN Certified Landmine Impact Survey.

Inspired by the UN South-South Cooperation initiative and within the framework of the UNDP Mine Exchange Programme (MAX), Yemen is providing technical support to some mine-affected countries in the region.

Yemen has destroyed its national stockpile of anti-personnel landmines in April 2002, in full compliance with the Ottawa Treaty.

Aden and Hodeidah governorates have been declared free of landmines. These activities rehabilitated 12 communities out of the 14 most affected areas.

According to the NMPA, 5,467 mine victims have been registered. Amongst them, 1,001 victims have already received medical assistance. 1000 mine assistance practitioners have been trained.