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One can be as eloquent as Shakespeare or Lord Byron, yet he won’t find the words to describe the pain that the mines inflicted on the Yemeni people and their lives, but, the best who can describe this tragedy and can really express the right feelings about the mines are the invisible soldiers who work relentlessly day and night to find and destroy them to save the people there from their evil.
The members of Masam’s team are the only beacon of hope in this regard, as they use their expertise and energy, and lead an extraordinary example in sacrifice, to defeat this death that is covered by dust and rocks, and camouflaged in a cunning way in order to cause destruction to the maximum.
If we talk about the expertise and energy that Masam’s workers bring to Yemen, then we surely should mention a great man. A man who led and is still leading a major example to be followed in the field of humanitarian hard work. It’s Dr. Zauba Alrawi, the international expert in Masam. The following interview he gave to Masam’s media office, shows the depth of his expertise and hard work in the field of fighting the traps of death.
Dr. Zauba Alrawi diagnosed in the first place the issue of mines in Yemen as talked about its causes by saying: “Yemen is the land of Arabs, and every Arab holds it dearly in his heart. Yemen is the land of faith and wisdom, but unfortunately, many countries interfered in its affairs and especially the dangerous snake (Iran), which spread its poison in the Arab and Islamic worlds, plunging them in a sea of trouble, and the main evidence of that is the propagation of mines and deadly devices that we see in Yemen”.
Dr. Zauba Alrawi described the bogeyman of mines with these expressive words: “Mines are a lurking death, and a certain harm in Yemen. The problem is that the common Yemeni people are the ones who are suffering from this danger. The innocent Yemenis who go out to earn their living at all the times, then their infrastructure is destroyed and their schools are shut. There is no safe place that wasn’t polluted with a mine or a trap or an unexploded ordnance or another harmful tool of destruction”.
Facing this tragic situation in Yemen, Dr. Alrawi considered that Masam project is like the only beacon of hope that protected Yemen from this dangerous ordeal. He said: “Project Masam is solely humanitarian, it doesn’t interfere in politics. All that the project cares about is to succeed in its mission, with a great humanitarian spirit. Masam has worked for the last two years in coordination with the National Mine Action Program, to free the liberated lands from mines in order to enable the citizens to return to their normal lives and jobs”.
He added in details: “Masam works in the regions that were liberated militarily, and works hard to free them from all kinds of pollutants, such as: mines, explosives, explosive devices etc.. We are very happy because the successful work of Masam led to strengthening the trust of His Majesty, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, by renewing for a third year the contract of project Masam in Yemen, to achieve the same humanitarian work, in the same way, pace of success and great accuracy”.
In addition to that, Dr Alrawi talked about the huge sacrifice that Masam’s team made while working on succeeding in its humanitarian mission that aims to achieve: a “Mine Free Yemen”. He said: “Despite all the safety precautions and respect of accurate standards in mine clearing operations, accidents sometimes happen to our de-miners, due to the circumstances surrounding the mine, the device or natural conditions. We are very proud of our martyrs who gave their lives to serve Yemen and save the Yemenis from the invisible death”.
The international expert Dr Zauba shed a light on the project’s commitment to full transparency in its humanitarian mission, as he indicated by saying: “We announce the numbers of cleared mines only after we document and examine them thoroughly, in the context of our total care about the credibility of the General Management”.
Dr Alrawi concluded by saying: “I would like to send two messages: the first one is addressed to the people who plant these pollutants, and I say to them: Fear God for your sake, Yemen’s sake and your innocent civilian brothers. What you are doing is a huge mistake, because we found mines where no military men go, such as: farms, gardens, near the wells, springs, on top of the mountains, valleys, on beaches that are not suitable for maritime landing and are used only for fishing. Fear God, as he sees what you are doing”.
As for the second message, he said: “My second message is to all my brothers and dears in our precious Yemen, I ask you not to touch or get close to these mined pollutants; these are not toys.. They are tools of death and absolute harm. Many accidents took place, unfortunately, and the victims were children and families.. Houses were destroyed.. I call upon everyone to inform the nearest police center when you find any suspicious object, then they will inform us and we will take the necessary measures to clear them in an accurate and safe way, to guarantee the safety of all”.