By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-09-11

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 (ICRC) has warned, nine years after the start of the brutal civil war.

The impoverished Arab nation, plunged into conflict when the Iran-backed Houthis staged a coup and seized the capital in September 2014, is among the three worst affected countries, the ICRC said.

Analysts 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," said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC's Near and Middle East regional director.

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

A Saudi-led military coalition has been fighting the Houthis since March 2015 in a conflict that has left hundreds of thousands dead from direct and indirect causes such as famine.

According to the United Nations (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 percent of livestock owners living in two areas close to frontlines reported explosive contamination on their land, the ICRC found after conducting a series of interviews last year.

Another ICRC survey of shepherds found that 70% had lost animals to landmines and other explosives.

"The contamination is so important and widespread that you won't be in a position to decontaminate everything," even if the conflict ended today, Carboni said.

Locally made mines

The Houthis have planted landmines in houses, schools and agricultural areas and even around water sources, said Soumia al-Mahmoud, spokeswoman for the Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance (MASAM).

Around 85% of mines "are locally made," al-Mahmoud said.

Between the launch of its operations in Yemen at the end of June 2018 and the end of 2022, MASAM dismantled 379,605 landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), clearing 42,644,021 square km of Yemeni soil.

"Not a single day passes without landmine victims falling in provinces targeted by the Houthis," said National Commission to Investigate Alleged Violations to Human Rights in Yemen (NCIAVHR) spokeswoman Ishraq al-Maqtari.

Landmine victims think that "the roads they're moving on contain no landmines because they don't expect them to be planted near a house, mosque or a farm," she said.

"There are no safe places, especially in the areas that were the scene of armed conflicts or areas that the Houthis are trying to capture," she said, as members of the group surreptitiously lay mines in such areas.

Planting landmines "is an ongoing violation of civilians' rights," she said.

Clearance could take 'decades'

Fighting in Yemen has calmed markedly after a UN-brokered ceasefire came into effect in April 2022; the relative quiet has largely held even after the agreement lapsed last October.

But even if peace prevails, clearing the land of explosives would take many years, Carboni said, adding that it would require resources, expertise and machinery.

"We are talking about, maybe, decades. But again, it's a matter of resources," he said.

"Today, we inform, we train," Carboni added.

"We have sessions with communities where we inform them about the risks related to unexploded ordnance, or if they find remnants of war... they have to inform us so we can organize (clearance) with the various authorities and partners," he said.

"That's quite new for us."

The ICRC is also putting renewed effort into identifying and returning the remains of fighters who have died on each side, Carboni said.

"There are many dead bodies that were left behind, and we really want to work with all parties of this conflict to put more energy and drive into this task," he said.

"We're investing in forensics; we're investing in trying to put all parties around the table."

In May, the Houthis and government forces exchanged the corpses of 43 fighters, the largest such handover so far. A month earlier, they had freed almost 900 detainees.