Five long years of unremitting efforts and bravery by the team members of Project Masam, who are racing against time to rid Yemen of the landmine scourge, have passed.
The deadly explosive devices, which have been randomly planted in the Yemeni territory in huge numbers and which do not discriminate between military and civilian, are at the forefront of Project Masam’s deminers, as every mine removed by the humanitarian landmine clearance teams saves lives that would have been lost, dreams that would have been crushed and health that would have been wasted.
The challenges are great, the task is delicate, time is tight and the stakes are very high.
All these obstacles have made the mission of Project Masam, a situation of life and death with the deminers risking their own lives to save others as any small mistake or miscalculated step could prove fatal.
Indeed, Masam has made qualitative achievements over the last five years but has also lost some of its most outstanding experts who were killed on duty.
Yet, Masam did not stop its work in Yemen, and today it is continuing its mission to reach a “Yemen without mines” with those lost in mind.
Calls for Nobel Peace Prize recognition
Masam has received local, regional, and international recognition from official bodies, experts, and human rights advocates, who praised the lauded the project’s achievements on the ground.
For his part, Egyptian parliamentarian Osama Sharshar acknowledged Project Masam’s positive role, stressing that this Saudi project deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.
Sharshar, who is also the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian newspaper Al-Nahar, said on a phone call with the Managing Director of the Masam Project, “Project Masam succeeded in saving the lives of millions of Yemenis, at the time when the major powers and the United Nations failed to remove mines and remnants of World War II from El Alamein region, Egypt, despite the Egyptian decade-long calls.”
He continued: “Today, we call on all international human rights organisations to nominate Project Masam to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, as it is a unique humanitarian landmine clearance project at the global level, and we hope that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue to support it and give it the global resonance that it deserves, as there are several countries such as Libya, Syria, and Iraq that still need Masam’s efforts in the domain of landmine and remnant of war removing.”
For his part, Algosaibi thanked Sharshar for his interest in Project Masam and the landmine issue in Yemen, which Algosaibi described as a “thorny, difficult, and complex story,” adding: “We are continuing our humanitarian efforts with the support of the Saudi leadership, which is closely following the project and its efforts, in order to achieve a better life for the Yemeni people.”
Professor of Law Mona Al-Dahdah, also highlighted the humanitarian role played by Project Masam in Yemen and its impressive successes and records, agreeing with what Sharshar said, and adding: “We do not forget that work in the field of demining is very dangerous and it exposes the workers every working day to a fatal injury or permanent disability, but Masam’s ultimate goal is to save the lives of others at the expense of their own lives, and this is an invaluable giving, and indeed the Masam project deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.”
On the other hand, the Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) also praised the Project Masam’s efforts.
It is worth mentioning that the statement issued by the Ministerial Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf at its 156th session, which was held recently, at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Riyadh, referred to the role of the Masam humanitarian project to clear Yemeni territory of mines, given that Project Masam has been able since its launch in mid-2018 to remove more than 400,000 mines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Today, Masam, with all its energy, expertise, equipment, bravery, and sacrifices, is moving towards ridding Yemen of the scourge of landmines, as Algosaibi, announced that the field teams have removed 402.258 mines, UXO, and IEDs since the launch of the project.
Since the beginning of the project, teams have removed 248,842 UXO and 7,806 IEDs, he said. So far, teams have also cleared 139,423 anti-tank mines and 6,187 anti-personnel mines.
Algosaibi said in a statement that the engineering teams of the Masam project have so far cleared 47,011,090 square meters of Yemeni territory that were laid with mines, UXO, and IEDs.
