By Sami Numan
ADEN, Oct 17 (KUNA) -- Yemen is the world's top country with amount of landmines since World War II (WWII) with relentless efforts to demine the killer objects that threaten millions of Yemenis and making their daily life a misery.
Houti militias have planted around a million landmines in random locations since the conflict began in Yemen, and the pro-Iranian group continues to place more mines, according to figures by the Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance (Masam) and The Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED).
The Houthis are using landmines as a defensive mechanism to stop advacement of the Saudi-led coalition-backed legitimate government forces.
The Yemeni government, which is recognized by the international community, said Houthis randomly placed, since mid-2018, thousands of mines in the Red Sea posing threat to international navigation and Yemeni fishermen.
Yemen ratified in 1998 the UN Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction.
There are three entities with a mandate of clearing Yemeni territories from mines: Yemen Mine Action Center (YEMAC), Masam and the Yemeni army.
Yemac and Masam succeeded in removing around 600,000 mines and unexploded ordnance.
Yemac teams are deployed in many areas and have succeeded in clearing more than half a million anti-personnel mines and unexploded ordnance, said Brigadier Amin Al-Oqaili, director of Yemac.
He said 6,000 people, mostly women and children, were either killed or injured by landmines. However, he said he believed the actual number was higher.
"As long as the land is dotted with mines and leftovers of wars, and as long as the Houthi militias continue to plant them, the victims of mines will increase," Al-Oqaili said in a statement to KUNA.
The Houthis, he said, were camouflaging landmines with plastic or fiber class objects so civilians would be "an easy bait." Al-Oqaili said demining teams lost 55 members while 50 others were injured while doing their job. "This is because the Houthis used their camouflaging technique," he added.
He said Yemac encountered many challenges like lack of necessary equipment, communication means, transformation and medical assistance.
The deteriorating economic conditions, he added, delayed payments for Yemac's staff.
The ongoing hostilities, noted Al-Oqaili, was the main challenge facing demining teams.
He urged the UN and international organizations to exercise pressure on the Houthis to provide maps of anti-personnel mines to facilitate demining and ultimately allowing civilians to resume farming.
He urged donor countries and organizations to fund Yemac's demining operations in valleys, villages, mountains, public and private facilities, houses, schools and farms. (end) sns.bs