Project Masam landmine clearance in Yemen

What is Project Masam?

Project Masam is addressing the direct threats to the innocent lives in Yemen caused by explosive remnants of war.  It's objectives include:

• The early and rapid clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war from the Yemeni territory.
• Roads will be cleared to allow safe passage of humanitarian goods, including medical supplies.
• Schools and play area will be made safe.
• The Yemeni people will be assisted to effectively address the human tragedy caused by unexploded ordnance, create resilience within communities and empower them to take long term responsibility.
• A mechanism for humanitarian mine action management skills transfer to key personnel will be created.

Landmine clearance in Yemen:

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with the Yemeni Government for the clearance of landmines and explosive remnants of war in Yemen.

This project is implemented with Dubai based Dynasafe Middle East Project Management, with UK company SafeLane Global Ltd providing international trainers and mentors.  

The project is fully funded by the Saudi government through the King Salman Relief and Rehabilitation Centre.

The agreement was signed in March 2018 with training and operations commencing in May 2018.

Project Masam phases:

• Consolidated UXO clearance of all identified high threat areas in Yemen.
• Rapid response/UXO clearance.
• Capacity building of Yemen mine action capability and integration of existing capacity to achieve long term solution and donor objectives.

SafeLane Global provides an international management and technical advisor capacity to support 32 multi task teams (MTTs) four rapid response teams and one improvised explosive device (IED) team to deliver landmine, UXO and IED clearance in Yemen.

Project Masam’s headquarters are located in Maa’rib, with operational teams deployed throughout Yemen, including Maa’rib, Aden, Saana and Ta’az.

The project is operational with 20 x international trainers, mentors and expert advisors and draws on YEMAC staff to field 32 x demining teams; it also employs national support and administration staff from the local communities.  

Overall, the project will field 400+ personnel.

Prior to being deployed to their respective regions and commencing operations, all local MTTs received manual mine clearance and medical refresher training.  This was delivered by SafeLane Global’s project Maa’rib HQ operations team.

The project is currently operating in the West Coast Area: Yakhtal, Mozaa, Al-Wazaiah, Bab Al-Mandab.  The Lahj Province: Kahboob, Karish.  The Shabwah Province: Osailan. The Mar’rib Province: Al-Mujamaa, and the Saa’na Province.

As of 19th March 2019 2,305,429 m² of land has been cleared, and over 48,000 items of UXO including IEDs and mines have been safely removed.

Masam Update 2020

Project Masam is now in its second year and December 2019 saw the project team reach a globally unprecedented number of over 46,000 landmines located and cleared, along with some 4,000 IEDs and 67,000 items of UXO.

The project is being successfully delivered against the backdrop of ongoing conflict.

SafeLane Global is proud to be supporting this forward thinking and humanitarian initiative established by King Salman Bin Abdulaziz.  The removal and destruction of over 117,000 items of explosive ordnance provides immediate benefit to the Yemeni people and prepares the ground for follow on stabilisation and reconstruction efforts.