1,045 Mines Cleared in Yemen Last Week, Project Masam Announces
The operations room of Project Masam, a humanitarian landmine clearance project launched by Saudi Arabia in 2018, announced on Sunday that project teams had cleared 1,045 mines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and explosive devices in Yemen last week, bringing the total number of explosives removed from early January up to 3,534.
The mines and explosives removed last week included 896 UXO, 131 anti-tank mines, 15 anti-personnel mines, and three other explosive devices in the provinces of Dhalea, Shabwa, Hodeidah, and Taiz.
Last month (December 14, 2022 to January 20, 2023), Project Masam teams cleared around 49 acres of land in Yemen, bringing the total area cleared since the beginning of the project to around 10,722 acres, or 16.8 square miles. A total of 383,193 mines laid by Houthi forces have been cleared since the project was launched.
Project Massam is implemented by the UN Development Program and funded by a number of international donors, including the EU, UK, US, Germany, Japan, and the Netherlands. It concentrates on the governorates of Aden, Abyan, and Lahj. These areas were heavily affected by the conflict and still pose a significant threat to the safety of local communities. Project Masam is working to clear these areas so that people can safely return to their homes and begin rebuilding their lives.
The project employs teams of trained deminers who use specialized equipment to locate and safely remove landmines and UXO. In addition to clearing landmines and UXO, the project also provides risk education to local communities to help them understand the dangers of these weapons and how to stay safe.
More than 1 million landmines have been laid since the outbreak of the civil war in late 2014, when the Houthi militia took control of several northern provinces and forced the Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa, according to pro-government demining experts in Yemen.
