Yemen – Masam Demining Project starts in Shabwa following its liberation

Location: Aden -Yemen

Language: Arabic

Duration: 00:03:51

Voice: Natural

Source: A24

Restrictions: A24 Client

Dateline: 20-01-2022

Storyline:

The head of the Masam Demining project, Osama Al-Qusaibi, said, in a press conference held today in Aden, under the slogan “Mine-Free Life,” that the project spread all the teams on the western coast and Shabwa, to work in the areas where the Houthis withdrew leaving minefields.

Al-Qusaibi pointed out the danger and development of the mines laid by the Houthis over the years, which make it tough for the teams to remove them, emphasizing that the materials used in making them came from abroad.

He added that three members of the team were killed in a remote detonation of mines saying that the number of mines planted by the militias in Shabwa needs three years of work to entirely be removed.

Shot list:

• (SOUNDBITE) Osama Al-Qusaibi – Head of Masam Project:

“The mines that we used to remove in 2018 changed in 2019 and became modern and more developed, and the mines that were planted in 2021 are even more devolved than the year before. In Shabwa, we found new big-size mines that we didn’t see in Yemen before. The huge number of explosive devices that were planted on Yemeni lands in the past period is unbelievable, and the technology of their manufacture has developed, while the materials are from outside Yemen. Masam project is not the authority in charge to find the parties that smuggle materials used in these mines in Yemen, our mission is humanitarian, we technically evaluate everything we find on Yemeni lands to determine that these materials used are from abroad not from inside Yemen. We have lost four colleagues during the past two weeks; they did not have the chance to deal with the mine they found, two martyrs were on the western coast and a martyr in Shabwa, the mines exploded before reaching them and this is not the fault of a team leader or the fault of the displaced. The mines today on the western coast and in Shabwa are professionally trapped, and in Shabwa they are remotely controlled, and unfortunately, this is what happened. Shabwa, Bayhan, and Usaylan were about to be declared mines-free areas after three years of work by Masam teams, but unfortunately, the mines still exist and will need another three years of work to be removed.”