Latest news with #demining
Arab News
4 days ago
- General
- Arab News
Saudi project clears 1,689 mines in Yemen
RIYADH: Members of Saudi Arabia's Project Masam removed 1,689 explosive devices from various regions of Yemen last week. The total included 1,632 unexploded ordnances, 50 anti-tank mines and seven anti-personnel mines, according to a recent report. Ousama Al-Gosaibi, the initiative's managing director, said that 497,544 mines have been cleared since the project began in 2018. The explosives were planted indiscriminately and posed a threat to civilians, including children, women and the elderly. The demining operations took place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Saada. The project trains local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. It also offers support to Yemenis injured by the devices. Teams are tasked with clearing villages, roads and schools to facilitate the safe movement of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Arab News
27-05-2025
- General
- Arab News
Saudi project clears 1,504 mines in Yemen
RIYADH: Members of Saudi Arabia's Project Masam removed 1,504 explosive devices from various regions of Yemen last week. The total included 1,459 unexploded ordnance, 40 anti-tank mines, four anti-personnel mines and one improvised explosive device, according to a recent report. Ousama Al-Gosaibi, the initiative's managing director, said that 495,855 mines have been cleared since the project began in 2018. The explosives were planted indiscriminately and posed a threat to civilians, including children, women and the elderly. The demining operations took place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Saada. The project trains local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. It also offers support to Yemenis injured by the devices. Teams are tasked with clearing villages, roads and schools to facilitate the safe movement of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Asharq Al-Awsat
27-05-2025
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Sudan Destroys Nearly 50,000 Explosive War Remnants
At least 14 people have been killed and 36 injured in 50 explosions linked to war debris across Sudan, the head of the national demining authority said, as security teams ramp up efforts to clear tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance. Major General Khalid Hamdan, Director of the Sudan National Mine Action Center, told Asharq Al-Awsat that more than 49,000 explosive remnants have been destroyed so far, including 37,000 large munitions and 12,000 smaller shells. Similar quantities have been collected for disposal in the coming days in Khartoum, while 8,000 mortar rounds were destroyed in Gezira state in central Sudan. Hamdan said Khartoum has emerged as one of the most heavily contaminated regions due to the ongoing conflict, with army engineering units currently removing landmines allegedly planted by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) near the El-Jaili oil refinery, the Salha district in southern Omdurman, and scattered areas in River Nile state. He warned that the actual toll from war debris could be significantly higher in RSF-controlled areas, where access is limited due to communication blackouts and civilians are often unable to report incidents or seek medical help. Seven specialized teams are currently deployed in Khartoum to clear unexploded ordnance from critical infrastructure, including United Nations buildings, government offices and banks, Hamdan said. Additional clearance teams, supported by the Ministry of Defense, are operating in the states of Gezira, Sennar, Blue Nile, White Nile and Kordofan. Hamdan estimated that $90 million is required to fully remove war remnants and reduce the threat posed to civilians across the country. He also said the demining mission has faced serious financial setbacks, particularly following US President Donald Trump's decision to halt foreign assistance. 'The UN's mine action office in Port Sudan was on the brink of closure, and only survived thanks to emergency Canadian funding,' he told Asharq Al-Awsat. Hamdan said the current conflict has made clearance operations more dangerous and complex. 'Before the war, it was easier to identify and isolate hazardous areas. But now, fighting has engulfed heavily populated regions, making awareness campaigns and citizen reporting essential,' he said. He noted that Sudan was close to declaring itself mine-free before the war reignited widespread contamination. 'The war has reversed years of progress. Unexploded ordnance is now scattered across several states, especially in Khartoum, where the fighting first erupted.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Deminers comb Belgian countryside for remnants of Great War
Working with the utmost care, a Belgian deminer wiggled a century-old artillery shell from the soil and deposited it safely in a sandbox in the back of his truck. "This one's an 18-pounder -- there might be a bit of explosive left inside," said Franjo, one of a team of army specialists whose job is to comb the countryside for remnants of the Great War. In the flat fields of northwestern Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of soldiers fell between 1914 and 1918, traces of the conflict are everywhere. Beyond the military cemeteries -- their neat rows of tombstones stretching sometimes beyond the line of sight -- British, German and French shells and munitions are constantly turning up at the surface. The task of tracking and removing them keeps the demining service of the Belgian army -- known as SEDEE in French, DOVO in Flemish -- busy on a daily basis. Founded in the wake of World War I, the service concentrates its activities around the town of Langemark-Poelkapelle, north of Ypres, where it has set up base. Each year its teams respond to more than 2,000 requests from farmers or construction crews to remove munitions -- some spent, but others still live -- after turning the soil to sow crops or lay foundations for a new home. Once removed, the team determines how dangerous the munitions are -- and based on that how to dispose of them, either detonating them outside, or burning them in an oven. "We destroy 200 to 250 tonnes every year," Jacques Callebaut, head of public relations for the deminer service, told AFP. On this morning near Ypres, it took the team under an hour to scoop up a dozen shells and grenades -- snaking along little country roads with their small truck. Franjo -- who asked to be identified by first name only -- and his two teammates navigate with the help of a small pile of printed police emails, mapping all the spots where potential explosives have been flagged. - 'An added danger' - Sometimes landowners try to make their work easier by setting out the shells to be collected from the roadside. The deminers themselves wear thick gloves to handle the rusted relics, which can potentially contain white phosphorus, arsenic or mustard gas -- a chemical weapon causing skin blistering also known as yperite because of its use near Ypres in World War I. "Around 60 percent of the munitions we find contain an explosive load, and around 10 to 30 can also be toxic, which brings an added danger," Callebaut said. When in doubt, they rely on technology -- peering inside the shell with X-rays to spot a smoke cartridge, or using a neuron spectrometer to analyse its various materials. Belgium's deminers have built up a degree of expertise that other countries have come to rely on. "We handle the toxic munitions found in The Netherlands, and a few weeks ago we were called to neutralise a bomb in Norway as they didn't have the equipment to do so," Callebaut said. At the crossroads of the Germanic, French and British empires, Belgium has been a key battlefield since the European Middle Ages -- and famously saw Napoleon's French army defeated by the British at Waterloo, in 1815. It was heavily hit by the two world wars of the 20th century -- but it was the first that left by far the most traces in the land. "World War II shells only turn up from time in time, in cities that came under bombardment," said Corentin Rousman, a Belgian historian. Near Ypres, by contrast, "there was a static front line for four years, with millions of shells on either side," he said. mad/ec/ub/jj
Arab News
19-05-2025
- General
- Arab News
Saudi project clears 1,095 mines in Yemen
RIYADH: Members of Saudi Arabia's Project Masam removed 1,095 explosive devices from various regions of Yemen last week. The total included 1,056 unexploded ordnances, 32 anti-tank mines and seven anti-personnel mines, according to a recent report. Ousama Al-Gosaibi, the initiative's managing director, said that 494,351 mines have been cleared since the project began in 2018. The explosives were planted indiscriminately and posed a threat to civilians, including children, women and the elderly. The demining operations took place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale and Saada. The project trains local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. It also offers support to Yemenis injured by the devices. Teams are tasked with clearing villages, roads and schools to facilitate the safe movement of civilians and delivery of humanitarian aid.
