Mine in Yemen .. A series of death does not stop

Al Jazeera Net - Private

Salem Omar Salem is trying to stay in a wheelchair as he tries to overcome his ordeal in a hospital on May 22 in Aden, the interim capital of southern Yemen, while his wounds were stabbed, mutilated and blindfolded.

The 12-year-old boy, whose parents were killed by an air strike by the Saudi-UAE alliance three years ago, is holding his hand to catch his friend Yahya Omar. He has no one but his friend who has volunteered to help him.

Yahya has to leave the child in the hospital for hours to go to a number of government agencies to complete the administrative transactions, and when the child was back on his own fear of noise caused by hundreds of patients in the general hospital.

Fate is harsh
Yahya told al-Jazeera Net that a landmine targeted Salim and his friends two weeks ago in the Zahari area administratively to the province of Taiz in the west of the country, killing a friend Salem and wounding the other injured, while the orphan child lost his eyes.

"The situation was tragic in the village, and Salim's fate was the most difficult, because he was an orphan and had no family, so the villagers decided to collect a small amount to take him to Aden, and from there we traveled more than 260 kilometers to get to the hospital."

"When we arrived, the hospital refused to receive him. After three days of moving between government agencies, he received him but his eyes were badly damaged, but there is still little hope of improvement," the doctor said.

Over the past few months, civilians have been increasingly affected by the explosion of mines as they return to their homes and villages after the fighting has subsided. Field hospitals in the towns of Al-Khoukhha and Al-Mukha have not stopped receiving mine victims.

"It is a series of never-ending deaths, especially in remote areas," said Mohammed Ahmed, a medical assistant at Al Mukha Hospital. In one village, a civilian exploded and left bleeding for hours. A local surgeon decided to cut off his shattered leg.

"The parents could not take him to the hospital, so they saw that amputation of his leg might be a better solution."

Great toll
There is no updated toll of mine casualties in Yemen, but a source at the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights tells Al-Jazeera Net that more than 1,200 civilians are dead and about 2,500 others have permanent disabilities.

He added that the last toll was in March last, and the number of civilian deaths to 973 in addition to the injury of 1615, since the start of the war in early 2015.

"The province of Taiz is the largest of the country's mine-affected provinces, where 416 civilians were killed and 822 injured," said Arif Al-Qahtani, director of the Mine Action Center.

He adds that the Houthis planted thousands of mines without maps, making it difficult for deminers to do so.

According to the government, engineering teams, in cooperation with the King Salman Relief Center project and international organizations, have disposed of some 45,000 mines, most of which were planted in civilian areas.

Reduced efforts
The cities of the West Coast and towns of open nature have turned into minefields, as the Huthis have planted thousands of mines to prevent the advance of UAE-backed troops to their positions, said government forces officer Abdo al-Kaboudi.

Al-Kubudi adds to Al-Jazeera Net that the Houthis are surrounded by large fields of mines and are planting them indiscriminately. When they withdraw, they remain, including anti-tank mines and personnel.

He says engineering teams of government forces are making mine-clearing efforts, but these efforts remain inadequate. Hundreds of mines have been planted in fields, subways and homes.

The mines are a major challenge in the post-war era, and certainly their removal will need to be discussed in the reconstruction talks when that time comes, said Iaina Delusi, a researcher at the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Studies.

"Those who have influence over the Huthis should encourage them to stop the use of landmines," he said, adding that efforts to clear mines in areas of conflict must continue by governments and non-governmental organizations.

"People are being punished more than twice as the mines do not just explode in their children, but deprive them of growing their fields, and thus lose their source of income and their families," said Claire Haddong, head of Médecins Sans Frontières in Yemen.

It called on the authorities and specialized organizations to strengthen demining operations to reduce the number of civilian casualties.