Yemen is among the world's most mine-contaminated countries, joining countries such as Afghanistan, Angola, Somalia and Cambodia where the devices have maimed civilians for decades, strewn across the land in the course of long, bloody conflicts.
Long after the war that has already spanned eight years is over, children will still be in danger of losing a limb or their lives while playing with or stepping on a remnant of the continuing conflict.
Based on demining figures alone, the scale of contamination is up to one million landmines, says the Saudi Project for Landmine Clearance (Masam).
Eman is a mother of seven, living in a stone hut with her extended 11-member family in Mowza on Yemen’s Red Sea Coast.
After she was displaced by intense fighting, she returned home two years ago to find herself living, quite literally, in a minefield even after the skirmishes had subsided.
“To get water from the well, to collect firewood, to graze our animals, to do anything we need to do to survive, we have to cross the minefield,” she told the Danish Refugee Council in February.
“Every day I have to make the choice: to risk death by a landmine or to die of thirst.”
Eman said she knew of the deadly devices because her children had found them while playing nearby.
“We don’t allow the children to go out anymore. We are scared for them. We live in fear.”
Since the Houthi takeover of Sanaa in 2014 and the subsequent intervention by the Saudi Arabian-led coalition, the rebel group has notoriously used landmines, which have a massive impact on children.
Anti-personnel mines, designed to injure and main, were banned under a 1997 UN convention.
A UN report in 2019 showed that a quarter of all deaths from these weapons were children. Landmines, IEDs and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in the form of grenades, aircraft bombs, missiles or rockets killed more children in the first five months of that year they did in all of 2018.
“Landmines have been responsible for the most child casualties, at 48, with a mortality rate of 40 per cent, followed by UXO, in which one in five children to have been injured have died. IEDs have caused the fewest child casualties but 67 per cent of these have died from their injuries,” the report said.
More recent and accurate figures are hard to come by, monitoring and humanitarian groups have said.
Awareness brochures designed specifically for children are distributed by local and government organisations in Yemen.
In Yemen’s western governorate of Taez, a dilapidated building once overrun by the Houthis in 2018 has become a makeshift school for a dwindling number of pupils.
Perched on a hillside, there is a long, single, narrow road leading to the building.
Humanitarian Policy Adviser for the Danish Refugee Council, Cherry Franklin went on a visit there in February.
“For 30 minutes, we drove on a dirt path right through a minefield. Only stones painted red indicated where the mines are,” she told The National.
Headmaster Abdul said only half of his original 240 pupils now attend class.
“When the Houthis retreated from this area, they left mines everywhere. We know the road to the school is safe but it’s hard to stop the children from wandering from the path,” he told Ms Franklin.
“Last year we found two landmines just inside the school gates, in the yard where the children play.”
Builders repairing a nearby mosque were killed when their car drove over a landmine outside the school, he said.
Now, Abdul runs the school by himself along with two volunteers.
“We just want things to get back to normal so that children can come to school and learn. All the children here have hopes and dreams for the future – they’re ambitious. Some want to be teachers, some want to work in the government, others want to be doctors but to do that they need education and a safe place to learn,” he said.
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
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Tamkeen's offering
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- Option 2: 50% across three years
- Option 3: 30% across five years
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What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Total eligible population
About 57.5 million people
51.1 million received a jab
6.4 million have not
Where are the unvaccinated?
England 11%
Scotland 9%
Wales 10%
Northern Ireland 14%
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'
Rating: 1 out of 4
Running time: 81 minutes
Director: David Blue Garcia
Starring: Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham
Eyasses squad
Charlie Preston (captain) – goal shooter/ goalkeeper (Dubai College)
Arushi Holt (vice-captain) – wing defence / centre (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Olivia Petricola (vice-captain) – centre / wing attack (Dubai English Speaking College)
Isabel Affley – goalkeeper / goal defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Jemma Eley – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Alana Farrell-Morton – centre / wing / defence / wing attack (Nord Anglia International School)
Molly Fuller – goal attack / wing attack (Dubai College)
Caitlin Gowdy – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai English Speaking College)
Noorulain Hussain – goal defence / wing defence (Dubai College)
Zahra Hussain-Gillani – goal defence / goalkeeper (British School Al Khubairat)
Claire Janssen – goal shooter / goal attack (Jumeriah English Speaking School)
Eliza Petricola – wing attack / centre (Dubai English Speaking College)
The specs: 2018 Ford F-150
Price, base / as tested: Dh173,250 / Dh178,500
Engine: 5.0-litre V8
Power: 395hp @ 5,000rpm
Torque: 555Nm @ 2,750rpm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 12.4L / 100km
