The Yemeni Prime Minister Dr. Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed has expressed his gratitude towards humanitarian mine clearance Project Masam for its role in removing landmines and other explosive threats in Yemen.
Since the conflict between Yemen’s pro-government forces and Houthi militias escalated in 2014, liberated strategic areas have been left littered with anti-personnel mines and anti-tank mines, along with unexploded explosive remnants of war (ERW). Masam experts have found that the majority of landmines have been planted randomly, and seemingly without maps.
PM: War crimes must be investigated
Speaking on the phone with Masam Managing Director Ousama Algosaibi, Prime Minister Abdulmalik Saeed noted that the internationally banned Houthi anti-personnel landmines have become a threat to people’s fundamental rights to life, liberty and security and are still claiming the lives of civilians – mainly children and women.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Yemen, who returned to Aden in September 2021 for the first time since separatist protesters stormed the presidential palace in March 2021, said landmines are a worrying issue for the government and Yemeni citizens, and reiterated the importance of intensifying international and regional support to avoid the killing or maiming of new civilian victims.
Dr. Abdulmalik Saeed also stressed that parties opposing the pro-government forces, including Houthi militias, who have been indiscriminately planting internationally banned anti-personnel landmines and who have indiscriminately used booby-trapped anti-vehicle mines in violation of the laws of war “must be held accountable for the crimes they perpetrate against humanity and that these crimes that will not fall under a statute of limitations”.
Dedicated to clearing landmines
During the call, the Yemeni Prime Minister also shared his country’s appreciation for Masam team members’ dedication and sacrifices, and expressed his condolences following the death of two Masam demining experts, Ahmad al-Tahiri and Murad Abdulsalam, who were killed in a landmine incident whilst on their humanitarian duty in the heavily contaminated and high-risk Hays District in the Hodeidah Governorate. He also wished a speedy recovery to a third demining expert, who was injured in the incident.
Whilst the Houthis’ use of landmines has been widely documented since at least 2015, the sheer number of landmines planted in recent months has led experts to warn that the armed group’s new tactics could hamper mine eradication in Yemen, as well as pose an increased threat to the safety, health and lives of Yemenis.
On 28 January 2022, Project Masam announced it had cleared its 4,500th anti-personnel landmine in liberated area of Yemen, weeks after the project confirmed it had cleared over 100,000 anti-tank mines since mid-2018.
