Humanitarian Demining in Egypt: A Half-Century Struggle

Authors

Timothy Kennedy, UXB International, Inc.Follow

Abstract

Over the years and with limited resources, Egypt has demonstrated a strong commitment to eradicating the landmine threat through its dedicated Army Corps of Engineers demining campaign. Since 1948, with limited financing and direction, they report clearing approximately 31 percent of the total mined areas and 51 percent of the mines or UXO. These clearance operations have been costly—Egypt expended over $91 million (U.S.) in national funds and lost over 200 deminers. Competing priorities and dwindling financial resources imposed a halt to active HD operations in 1998. Egypt requested U.S. government HD assistance, and the U.S. Central Command developed a support strategy that addressed Egypt’s training requirements while recognizing and complementing the huge HD efforts made by its Corps of Engineers and several non-governmental agencies. Two mutual Egypt-U.S. goals are to help Egypt integrate its HD functions into a civilian-led national mine action center and to ensure that its survey and clearance methods comply with internationally recognized standards.

Recommended Citation

Kennedy, Timothy (2001) "Humanitarian Demining in Egypt: A Half-Century Struggle," Journal of Mine Action : Vol. 5 : Iss. 3 , Article 19.
Available at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/cisr-journal/vol5/iss3/19