Saving Western Desert from mines' danger

An Egyptian report said Defense and National Security Committee of the People's Assembly discussed the mines issue in the Western Desert since it would affect the state's plan to develop this area to attract citizens to move to it from big cities. The report prepared by the Committee mentioned that the minefields in the Western Desert cover an area of 248,000 hectares including 16.7 million mines and bombs.

The problem is that it is hard to detect these mines due to some natural phenomena such as floods and erosions that transferred these mines to other districts. This is in addition to the dunes that make it very hard to spot such mines.

The minefields are spread in Al-Alamein, As-Salloum, Sidi Barrani, Marsa Matrouh, Ra's Al-Hekma areas.

The types of these mines vary due to the different troops that were involved in World War II. Undoubtedly, Egypt is the most mine-disadvantaged country since it has 22 million mines out of 102 implanted in 65 countries worldwide according to the estimates of the 1995 Geneva Conference.