Project Masam’s demining Team 22 has today (14 June 2024) launched an awareness campaign regarding the danger of explosive devices and remnants of war in strategic areas of Yemen’s third largest city Taiz, which has been under siege by the Houthi militias since April 2015.
The siege, which opposes the Houthis to Yemeni forces, has left the city divided into two, with each warring party in control of parts of the city and its surroundings.
The new awareness campaign focuses on the vital main road, Al-Tashrifat, which connects the Republican Palace to the Salah District in Taiz Governorate. This road serves as a crucial artery for transportation and commerce in the city.
In Yemen, Project Masam regularly carries out awareness campaigns and Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE, used rather than the traditional mine action term, mine risk education (MRE)) as part of its initiatives aimed at raising community awareness of the dangers of mines, and targets populations of all ages and gender. EORE helps reduce the risk of injury from explosive ordnance such as landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Prior to this campaign, demining Team 22 participated in opening the road and removing all landmines and IEDs planted by the Houthi militia at the zero-border point.
It is worth noting that this road has been reopened and is now being used by civilian vehicles.
Continued clearance efforts in Yemen
Project Masam’s demining teams’ efforts have led to the clearance of significant areas of Yemeni territory of explosive devices.
Managing Director Ousama Algosaibi announced that the demining teams removed 446,112 explosive devices since the project’s launch in mid-June 2018 until 7 June 2024. Algosaibi added that since the beginning of the project, the teams have removed 144,457 anti-tank mines, 6,537 anti-personnel mines, 287,073 unexploded ordnance (UXO) and 8,051 IEDs.
Algosaibi further mentioned that the demining teams cleared 57,115,259 square metres of Yemeni territory, which were previously laid with mines and IEDs, and littered with UXO.
