Yemen: MASAM Project Clears 1,353 Houthi Landmines in 1st Week of September

Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)
Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)
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Yemen: MASAM Project Clears 1,353 Houthi Landmines in 1st Week of September

Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)
Yemen is a signatory to the international Mine Ban Treaty but the deadly munitions still pose a major threat (AFP Photo/KARIM SAHIB)

The project ran by King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) for clearing MASAM Houthi landmines in Yemen managed to remove 1,353 landmines during the first week of September 2020.

This operation cleared 18 antipersonnel mines, 277 anti-tank mines and 1,049 unexploded ordnance.

Since the beginning of the project, as many as 183,581 mines, planted by the Houthi militias, have been dismantled

Houthis plant landmines in schools and homes and try to hide them in different forms, colors and methods, which killed and caused serious injuries to a large number of people.



Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
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Sudan’s Ruling Council Reshuffles Cabinet amid Brutal Conflict

A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)
A damaged building in Omdurman, Sudan, 01 November 2024 (issued 04 November 2024). (EPA)

Sudan's army leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, at war with paramilitaries, has announced a cabinet reshuffle that replaces four ministers including those for foreign affairs and the media.

The late Sunday announcement comes with the northeast African country gripped by the world's worst displacement crisis, threatened by famine and desperate for aid, according to the UN.

In a post on its official Facebook page, Sudan's ruling sovereignty council said Burhan had approved replacement of the ministers of foreign affairs, the media, religious affairs and trade.

The civil war that began in April 2023 pits Burhan's military against the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries under the command of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

Since then, the army-aligned Sudanese government has been operating from the eastern city of Port Sudan, which has largely remained shielded from the violence.

But the Sudanese state "is completely absent from the scene" in all sectors, economist Haitham Fathy told AFP earlier this year.

The council did not disclose reasons behind the reshuffle but it coincides with rising violence in al-Gezira, south of the capital Khartoum, and North Darfur in Sudan's far west bordering Chad.

On Friday the spokesman for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said he condemned attacks by the RSF on Gezira, after the United States made a similar call over the violence against civilians.

Among the key government changes, Ambassador Ali Youssef al-Sharif, a retired diplomat who previously served as Sudan's ambassador to China and South Africa, was appointed foreign minister.

He replaces Hussein Awad Ali who had held the role for seven months.

Journalist and TV presenter Khalid Ali Aleisir, based in London, was named minister of culture and media.

The reshuffle also saw Omar Banfir assigned to the trade ministry and Omar Bakhit appointed to the ministry of religious affairs.

Over the past two weeks, the RSF increased attacks on civilians in Gezira following the army's announcement that an RSF commander had defected.

According to an AFP tally based on medical and activist sources, at least 200 people were killed in Gezira last month alone. The UN reports that the violence has forced around 120,000 people from their homes.

In total, Sudan hosts more than 11 million displaced people, while another 3.1 million are now sheltering beyond its borders, according to the International Organization for Migration.