Moussa: Egypt in communication on landmines
Egypt, Politics, 2/14/2000

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa told ArabicNews.com today that Egypt is in permanent communication with all the international fronts and countries concerned with landmines to ensure the removal of the mines existing in the Egyptian lands.

Moussa added that he called for revitalizing the work of the different countries and the concerned fronts to remove the mines, saying that Egypt will resume its endeavors with the countries capable of giving support on this matter.

The landmines were planted in Egyptian desert during World War II and Egypt is considered the most mine-affected country in the world with more than 22 million landmines planted in Egypt's desert, including 17 million left behind in the Western Desert after World War II (caused by Italy, Germany and Britain).

The cost of removing these landmines is estimated at about $250 million. The assistance which Egypt has so far received so far from the international community and states involved in el Alamein battle during World War II only represent half percent of the total cost of removing these mines.

Moussa said that Egypt has not yet joined the Ottawa Treaty that bans anti-personnel landmines because it has many shortcomings; mainly it ignores the responsibility of the states that planted the mines on others land in helping removing them. The Treaty does not provide any assistance and ignores the right of countries to self-defence and to secure their borders, he said, adding that Egypt seeks together with a large mumber of countries participated in the Disarmament Conference in Geneva to draft a new treaty that deals with the problems of mines and avoid negative aspects of the Ottawa Treatuy.

Concerning the duties of the major countries which fought on Egypt's land in performing their responsibility toward removing the mines in Egypt, Moussa said this subject will not be tackled with screaming or accusations but with understanding of how to handle it, which Egypt currently does.

Meanwhile,

Osama el-Baz, the Egyptian Presidential advisor, highlighted the increasing importance of Egypt's deserts for the country's development drive, adding that Egypt is in need to utilize every inch of its soil planted with landmines. He pointed out that removing landmines will pave the way for developing more lands.

Meanwhile, Moussa meets with the visiting UN Mission on February 19. The UN Mission arrived in Cairo on Thursday on a ten-day visit to Egypt where which it meets with senior officials in Cairo and visits El alamein area to get acquainted with the the scale of the problem and efforts exerted by the armed forces to remove the landmines and write down a report.

Previous Stories:
  Egypt's Call to hold anti-terroism conference meets world support   (1/17/2000)
  International committee arrives in Cairo for the problem of the land mines   (1/15/2000)
  Italy to contribute to clearing Egyptian Sahara of mines   (8/5/1999)

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