Egypt is not only polluted with mines and potentially explosive remnants of World War II in the Western Desert, but also in the Sinai Peninsula and Eastern Desert. Some 17 million landmines were left in the western desert and another 5.5 million in Sinai and the eastern desert, the State Information Service (SIS) said in a 2009 report. The existence of the unexploded mines in the western desert has greatly affected citizens, leading to more than 150 casualties and many amputee victims. A joint project between the UN development programme (UNDP), the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, and the Egyptian cabinet helped clear about 155 sqkm in the western desert in 2014. Through manual and mechanical clearance, the land was released from scrap landmines, scrap unexploded ordnances (UXO), and scrap metal.

Source: Daily News Egypt October 22, 2016 15:45 UTC