DUBAI: Yemen has one of the world’s highest rates of contamination with landmines and other deadly explosives, the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned, nine years after the start of the brutal civil war.

The impoverished Arab nation, plunged into conflict when Iran-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital in September 2014, is among the three worst affected countries, the ICRC said.

Experts estimate that at least one million mines have been planted during Yemen’s years of turmoil, causing a daily hazard along with unexploded shells and other military detritus.

“When it comes to weapon contamination, with Afghanistan and Iraq, Yemen is among the three countries most affected by this,” Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s Near and Middle East regional director, said.

“It is really devastating and has a very important impact on people, their safety, and also their

livelihood.” According to the UN-linked Civilian Impact Monitoring Project, landmines, unexploded shells and other leftovers from fighting caused 1,469 civilian casualties over the past five years.

“The presence of unexploded ordnance is just massive,” said Carboni. Twenty per cent of livestock owners living close to frontlines reported explosives contamination on their land

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2023