Egypt battles landmines 75 years after El Alamein

EL ALAMEIN, Egypt: Fighting in the pivotal WWII battle of El Alamein may have stopped 75 years ago but Egypt is now waging another war against a hidden enemy: landmines.

On a recent visit by foreign officials, personnel from the military’s Western Desert Mine Clearance Regiment swept detectors across a stretch of sand as they showcased the painstaking work it takes to remove the deadly legacy left behind by the Axis and Allied troops who wrestled for control along the Mediterranean coast.

An explosion rang out as a remotely controlled vehicle drove over hidden explosive.

Later, two mines were detonated from a distance, sending red and yellow smoke billowing skywards.

The battle of El Alamein is heralded as a crucial victory for the Allies that decisively turned the tide on Italian and German forces in North Africa.

But for locals on the ground, the event that British leader Winston Churchill famously called the “end of the beginning” of the war has left a threat that remains three quarters of a century later.

In a bid to tackle it, the European Union has funnelled some $5.5 million over the past few years after its military cut funding — but despite some 1,000 square km being cleared, huge swathes of territory remain untouched.

The battle “left behind a vast amount of unexploded ordnances that remain a major risk for the population”, Ivan Surkos, the EU’s ambassador to Egypt, said during a visit to mark the 75th anniversary.

“Around 2,680 square km of the land in the North West Coast are estimated to still be contaminated.”

Efforts to combat the scourge of the mines left behind are not just focused on the former battlefields.

Educational programmes supported as well by the United Nations over the past decade have also sought to raise awareness of the threat.

At a demonstration laid on for the visiting delegation of the sort of advice on offer, two boys read a poster hanging in a school with the words “The Hidden Killer” written across it.

Nearby pupils sat in a classroom listening to a student reading from a pamphlet about the WWII battle and the dangers of the mines it left behind.

“Will I pick it up-” asked an official from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). “No”, chorused back the class. “I’ll leave it as it is,” one boy said.

Those conducting the perilous work scouring for mines say that the painstaking searches in the field and projects in the classroom are paying off.

So far in 2017 there has been just one casualty from mines, a decrease from previous years, said General Fathy Mansour, deputy commander of the Military Engineering corps.

“If a deminer detects anything during the search, he pinpoints the area with a red flag,” Mansour said.

The mine is then either removed or detonated where it lies, depending on the type. For some people the project comes too late. Farahat Abdel Atie now works in a centre maintaining artificial limbs that has provided support for some 500 victims of mine blasts over the years.

In 2001, Abdel Atie lost part of his leg while out grazing his sheep — unaware of the danger lurking beneath the ground.