Team:Edinburgh/mapxmlegypt



Egypt <![CDATA[ Egypt is contaminated with mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), especially unexploded ordnance (UXO), from World War II as well as from the Egypt-Israel wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973. Contamination is concentrated on the Western Desert area (from Alexandria to the Libyan border and 30km deep from the Mediterranean coastline) and in eastern areas (the Sinai Peninsula and Red Sea coast). A total of 800,000 people are said to be affected. It is reported that, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, explosives used in a number of criminal acts over the past few years have been taken from mines and ERW in the Sinai Peninsula.

The precise extent of the remaining mine and ERW contamination, however, remains to be more accurately quantified. World War II maps are said to be unreliable owing to mines having moved due to erosion and rain. The joint Egypt/UN Development Programme (UNDP) project document of November 2006 referred to 2,680km2 of contamination, which is more than three times the latest estimate of contaminated area in Afghanistan.

According to UNDP, the location of significant numbers of mines and UXO, especially near urban settlements and potential development areas (Alamein, Dabaa, Matruh, and Sallum), not only impedes development efforts, but also threatens the lives of the local communities. UNDP states that some government sources have suggested that mines and ERW in the Western Desert may deny access to reserves of an estimated 4.8 billion barrels of oil and 379.5 billion m3 of natural gas. Significant areas of agricultural land, considerable mineral resources, as well as a potential for tourism development, are mentioned among the resources to be reclaimed by the National Plan for the Development of the North West Coast and Inland Desert.

In 2007, at least 25 new mine/ERW casualties were caused by blasts from 11 incidents (six involving ERW, four involving mines, and the last caused by an unknown device). Eight people were killed and 17 injured, of whom two needed surgical amputations. One of the injured was a girl; all other casualties were male, including 12 boys (five killed and seven injured).

The casualty rate for 2007 is the highest since 1999 and represented the fourth consecutive year in which the number of casualties increased. In 2006, 22 new mine/ERW casualties were reported in 13 incidents (nine killed, 13 injured). In 2007, there were fewer incidents than in 2006, but the increased number of ERW incidents led to an increased casualty rate (14 ERW casualties in 2007 compared to eight in 2006). For the second year, civilian male casualties constituted the largest casualty group (24 out of 25). In 2005, only two of the 16 casualties were civilian (in 2006, five military/police casualties occurred). The number of child casualties increased significantly to 13, compared to just two in 2006. The predominant cause of casualties was scrap metal collection. Other common causes of incidents remained farming and driving. The lack of mine/ERW risk education is said to be the main reason for increased child casualties.

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