CAIRO - Sidi Heneish is a quite village in northwest Egypt on the Mediterranean coast. The people of Heneish and nearby villages lead a totally different life from that of their fellow Egyptians who come and stay in the posh tourist resorts across the road. The Bedouin villagers' main occupation is agriculture and shepherding. Their children do not relax on the beaches or the neatly mowed football pitches. The vast desert is where they play their primitive games. However, these Bedouin are threatened every day by the landmines dating from World War II and covering 868,000 acres of desert. The inhabitants of Al-Hamam and Al- Alamein, about 95km west of Alexandria, realise that a mine could explode at any moment. But they have to be stoical about this. Many of them have witnessed dreadful accidents, while some of them have become adept at dismantling mines, selling the copper and using the explosives for fishing. But, if they get injured doing this, they never report it, as they've only got themselves to blame. Abdel-Fatah Saleh Gebril, currently being treated at a hospital in Alexandria for a severe foot injury, is this area's most recent landmine victim. Gebril had no idea that the glass of tea he was brewing after a long day tending his sheep in the scorching heat would cost him dear. Abdel-Halim Saleh, a villager, told Al-Ahram Arabic-language daily that it was quite common for shepherds to walk 30km to collect grass and weeds to make a fire for brewing their tea and cooking their dinner. There are thought to be 22 million landmines on the North Coast and in Sinai, accounting for 22 per cent of the world total. They are hampering agricultural and industrial development. Since the 1990s, the Egyptian Government has been seeking the assistance of other countries and international organisations to demine the desert. The Armed Forces have so far cleared 31,000 acres of desert, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The Arab Society for Serving Mine- Affected Areas, a non-governmental organisation, has established a centre at Al-Alamein, which witnessed a famous battle back in 1942 where the Allies crushed the Axis' hopes of occupying Egypt. The centre supports landmine victims, helping rehabilitate them psychologically and physically. Experts say that many mines have moved because of the action of wind and rain, contaminating low-lying land which was previously mine-free. Hussein Muftah, the field co-ordinator of the Executive Demining Secretariat affiliated to the Ministry of International Co-operation, says that some of the victims get what is known as a security pension, while others get as little as LE160 per month and some get nothing at all. He explains that the Ministry of Social Solidarity doesn't grant mine victims a security pension unless an explosives expert writes a report at the site of the accident and when it happens. “This condition is ridiculous, as it means a badly injured victim has to wait unaided at the scene of the accident, until an expert arrives to compile a report,” Muftah said. “In my opinion, a police investigation should suffice when someone needs asecurity pension.”
