Landmines block humanitarian aid delivery in war-torn Yemen: UN

By Mohammed Sameai

SANAA, Yemen (AA) – The United Nations warned that landmines and explosives impede the arrival of humanitarian aid in war-ravaged Yemen.

“Millions of landmines and ERW [explosive remnants of war] have contaminated the country, rendering many residential neighborhoods uninhabitable or dangerous,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement.

The UN office said ERW were responsible for the death of 121 civilians in the first quarter of 2023.

“Funding shortage has limited the capacity of UNDP [UN Development Program] to provide much-needed support in the future,” it added.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. The situation escalated when a Saudi-led military coalition entered the war in 2015 to reverse Houthi military gains and reinstate the Yemeni government.

According to Yemeni official reports, landmines have claimed the lives of thousands of civilians in several provinces since 2015.

Human rights organizations and government agencies accuse Houthi rebels of planting more than two million landmines, while the Shia group accuses the government forces of planting mines and explosives.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi