Yemen is the country with the highest number of cluster bomb victims in the world, reported the Executive Center for Mine Action during an event in Sana’a, Yemen, on Monday, April 4. The event was organized on the occasion of the International Day for Awareness of the Risks of Mine and Cluster Bombs under the slogan “Mines and cluster bombs are a humanitarian disaster.”
Director of the Executive Center for Mine Action, Brigadier General Ali Safra, stated, “Yemen is the leading country in terms of registering cluster bomb victims in the world, according to the report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the reports of humanitarian and international organisations.”
Safra pointed out that Yemen has been suffering from the problems of mines since 1961, and they have represented a social and economic challenge at all levels.
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“Despite the efforts to get rid of mines that were made through international support, and planning to declare Yemen free of mines in 2017, the six wars in Saada and the Abyan war have worsened the tragedy,” he said.
“The aggression against Yemen since March 26, 2015 has undermined all the efforts of the National Committee and its executive body and the achievements made during the past 20 years, as cluster bombs have spread in all provinces and districts without exception due to their excessive use,” added the brigadier.
Safra informed that the number of cluster ammunitions that were collected and removed from the affected provinces amounted to 3,133,036 ordnances, while the number of raids in which cluster bombs were used reached 2,500.
He pointed out that the Executive Center for Mine Action has monitored and documented the use of 15 types and models of cluster bombs—nine types of US production, two British and four Brazilian types, and three unidentified types of bombs.
Human losses in Yemen due to the Saudi-led coalition’s use of cluster bombs, as of March 30, 2022, amounted to 3,921 civilians, including 119 children, 39 women, and 879 men killed, while 2,884 civilians have been wounded, which include 257 children and 76 women.
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During the past seven years of aggression, cluster bombs destroyed and damaged 155 roads, 11 networks and communication stations, 16 power stations and generators, three ports, 37 water tanks, a water supply network, and 423 homes in Yemen. Cluster bombs have also caused destruction and damage to seven schools and an institute of higher education, 809 agricultural fields, 547 grazing areas, three mosques, five airports, 23 fishing boats, and six bridges. Such bombs have also destroyed and damaged 12 factories, nine commercial markets, 87 vehicles, 180 animal farms, and 15 chicken farms.
Safra informed that Saada province was the region that has registered the highest bombardment using cluster bombs, as it was subjected to 824 air raids targeting 14 districts, leaving 366 dead and 816 wounded. Saada was followed by Hajjah province with 317 cluster bomb-raids targeting six districts, leaving 297 dead and 1,045 wounded, and Sana’a province with 294 raids targeting five districts, leaving 50 dead and 146 wounded.
The use of cluster bombs is illegal under international law and is considered a war crime.
Featured image: A cluster bomb in a field in Yemen. File photo.
(Hodhod Yemen News) by Emad Almarshahi
