22 million mines endanger lives in North Coast, Sinai
The north coast strip between the Egyptian city of Alamein and the Libyan border, which is rich in natural resources that the country badly needs, cannot be developed because of an estimated 22 million landmines in the area, according to the United Nations (UN) office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs.
Many of the landmines, which can maim and kill when exploded, are left from World War II and the Egypt-Israeli wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973, according to a report by The Landmine Monitor, a publication of International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
A source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who declined to give his name because he’s not authorized to speak to the press, explained that there are approximately 17 million mines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) in the North Coast in Egypt and about 5.6 million in Sinai and the Red Sea.
“Landmines displace people, inhibit the use of land for production, and harm the social infrastructure. They have immense medical, social, economic, and environmental consequences,” said Maki Habib, a mechanical engineering professor at AUC.
Statistics from the Egyptian State Information Service show that nearly 8,000 people were victims of landmines over the past 25 years, including 3,200 dead and almost 5,000 injured.
To work on the problem, the American University in Cairo (AUC) hosted the seventh International Advanced Robotics Programme (IARP) workshop on March 28 – 30, in which specialists from more than 20 countries discussed the possibility of mechanical and robotic assistance in humanitarian de-mining and similar risk interventions.
Researchers in the conference discussed de-mining in relation to Egypt, looking for ways to facilitate research and technical support by applying new technologies.
“Egypt has a growing population and there is a need for residential areas now,” said Maki. “Humanitarian de-mining is a critical first step for reconstruction of post-conflict countries and it is necessary to remove every single mine or UXO reliably and safely.”
“Egypt does not have access to any maps of the landmine locations. The task is difficult and costly and Egypt needs support from the international community,” said Gamal Sultan, political science professor.
“The problem with mechanical de-mining is that the mine explodes, [but] it is not deactivated, so the land is no good for agriculture. Robots can be used for deactivation, but this is an evolving technology which is expensive now,” explained Maki.
Manual de-mining, a conventional de-mining technique in which the mine is detected by a human and manually removed, is also costly and time- consuming as well as risky.
“Some countries are contributing slowly to the de-mining process, but the usage of military techniques to check for mines is simply unacceptable,” said the source in the foreign ministry.
According to the report by the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs, a $10.86 billion project known as the Support to the Northwest Coast Development Plan and Mine Action Program was signed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Egyptian Ministry of Planning in Nov. 2006. However, the five- year plan was halted because of budget constraints.
Some AUC students have already begun to approach the issue from a practical standpoint.
“During the Model United Nations (MUN) development program, we went to Alamein to give artificial limbs to people who were affected by the mines,” said Sara Thakeb, a political science junior. “There should be awareness about the subject, but de-mining is costly and time-consuming [and] there are other priorities. If it is hard for developed countries to de-mine, how hard would it be for us?”
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