• Overseen by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, the Masam initiative continues to remove deadly devices

Arab News

RIYADH: A Saudi-led humanitarian project in Yemen has seen a milestone 400,000 landmines and unexploded ordnance cleared in more than five years.

Overseen by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center, the Masam initiative continues to remove deadly devices laid in the war-torn country by the Iran-backed Houthis.

Operations have been taking place in Marib, Aden, Jouf, Shabwa, Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahij, Sanaa, Al-Bayda, Al-Dhale, and Saada.

The scheme also involves the training of local demining engineers and provides them with modern equipment. In addition, it offers support to Yemenis injured by the devices.

In June 2022, the project’s contract was extended for another year at a cost of $33.29 million.

Masam project managing director, Ousama Al-Gosaibi, said: “It is a very honorable and promising figure and an unprecedented result that we are proud of as a humanitarian project, not only on the Yemeni level, but also on the global one, especially if we take into consideration the conditions of demining and the unfamiliar nature of mines that Yemen is going through.

“It has contributed to restoring life to normal in several Yemeni regions, where people can today enjoy a safe life away from the threats of mines. It has also saved the lives of many innocent people.

“Masam is a project of life, a project of struggle, aiming at laying the foundations of a safe life from mines in Yemen. Such a project harnesses its field, technical, and media energies for this noble goal, and will spare no effort for that at all.

“The figure 400,000 is the title of our success, and it is an incentive for us to move forward in our greatest achievements, our ultimate goal, and our pursued promise; a Yemen without mines,” he added.

Al-Gosaibi pointed out that under the project more than 46 million square meters of land in Yemen had been cleared of ammunition, mines, and explosive devices.