Key developments since May 2005: The National Council for Human Rights organized a landmine conference in December 2005―the first major landmine event to be held in Cairo since April 2000. The conference recommended that Egypt reconsider its stance on the Mine Ban Treaty and former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called on Egypt to accede. The ICBL’s Diplomatic Advisor met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and senior defense officials; the Foreign Minister said that Egypt was no longer insistent on the legal question of user responsibility for mine clearance. There were reports of use of landmines by militants in 2005. Media reported that in April 2006, the Ministry of International Cooperation and the UN Development Programme would initiate a demining project; this has not been confirmed. In 2005, there were at least 16 new casualties, and by the end of June 2006, a further 15 casualties were recorded.
The Arab Republic of Egypt has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty. An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended as an observer the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Zagreb, Croatia in November-December 2005, where he reiterated Egypt’s oft-stated opposition to the treaty because it does not “acknowledge or at least provide an effective alternative to the controlled government use of landmines for national border security purposes, against inter alia, threats of infiltration by terrorists and illicit drug and arms trafficking.”[1] At the same time he said, “While we still do not see the Ottawa Convention as a comprehensive solution, we acknowledge and totally agree with the lofty humanitarian motivations which have lead to its realization.”[2]
In addition to the Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Egypt participated in the treaty’s intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2005 and May 2006.
On 8 December 2005, Egypt was one of only 17 countries that abstained in voting on UN General Assembly Resolution 60/80, calling for universalization and full implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty. It has abstained on similar resolutions in previous years.
The National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), an institution established by a presidential decree, organized a two-day conference on mine clearance and development on the northwest coast of Egypt on 27-28 December 2005. It was the first major landmine event to be held in Cairo since a regional meeting in April 2000; it was co-sponsored by the UN Development Programme (UNDP). During the opening ceremony the president of NCHR, Boutros Boutros-Ghali (the former UN Secretary-General), called on all countries that have yet to join the Mine Ban Treaty to do so, and said, “I wish to see Egypt as a State Party.”[3] The opening also included statements from six ministers, the Italian ambassador, the governor of Matrouh, and the President of the People’s Assembly. Three ICBL representatives—Diplomatic Advisor retired Ambassador Satnam Jit Singh, Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch and Landmine Monitor and Ayman Sorour of Protection (an Egyptian NGO)—gave presentations during the conference.
The conference concluded with recommendations that called upon Egypt to reconsider its stance toward the Mine Ban Treaty and also urged the international community to assist with landmine clearance in Egypt without specific conditions.[4] The final declaration of the conference, called the Cairo Declaration, stated, “Most importantly, the international community, including the nations who planted landmines, must undertake strong initiatives towards landmine clearance. It should be noted that landmine clearance is necessary in order to preserve basic human rights, whether on the individual or the collective level.”[5]
While in Cairo, Ambassador Singh also met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Ali Ahmed Abou Elgheit, and with senior officials from the Ministry of Defense. The Foreign Minister indicated that Egypt was no longer insistent on the legal question of user responsibility, but of course wanted the countries that used mines in Egypt as well as others to come forward to help Egypt to resolve the problem. He noted that major producers and users of mines were still outside the Mine Ban Treaty.[6] In the first high level engagement of the ICBL with senior military officials in Cairo, they indicated they would “carefully study” the issue to see what could be done about it.[7]
At the beginning of the conference, the ICBL issued a press release calling on Egypt to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty, to enact a law to ban production and trade in antipersonnel mines, to expand its mine action activities, to submit a voluntary Mine Ban Treaty Article 7 transparency report, and to vote in favor of the annual pro-ban UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution. Protection, with ICBL support, brought four mine and unexploded ordnance survivors to the Cairo conference.[8] ICBL representatives also undertook a field mission to the affected northwest governorate of Matrouh.
Egypt signed the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in 1981, but has not ratified the convention or any of its protocols. It attended the Seventh Annual Meeting of States Parties to Amended Protocol II in November 2005.
At the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in November 2004, Egypt’s Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister stated that, “the Egyptian government has imposed a moratorium on all export and production activities related to anti-personnel mines.”[9] This was the first time that Egypt publicly and officially announced a moratorium on production.[10] This statement, combined with the apparent lack of any production activities for many years, led Landmine Monitor to remove Egypt from its list of antipersonnel mine producers last year. However, Landmine Monitor is still not aware of any official decrees or laws by the government to implement prohibitions on production or export of antipersonnel mines.
Egypt is likely to have a large stockpile of antipersonnel mines, but details of it are considered a national security secret.
In August 2005, Egyptian security forces launched a vast operation in the Jabal Halal region against militants thought responsible for attacks that killed dozens of civilians in tourist areas in October 2004 and July 2005. It was reported in October 2005 that two police officers had been killed and two dozen wounded after stepping on “explosive devices” during the operation.[11] Several August 2005 press accounts said the police indicated that the militants had begun mining approaches to their hideouts, using “hard-to-detect landmines,” which had already caused several casualties.[12]
On 23 May 2006, the Ministry of Interior stated that the explosives used by suicide attackers in Sinai (at Dahab and Algoura) in April were collected from mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) in the Sinai Peninsula.[13]
In Egypt, mines and ERW, mostly unexploded ordnance (UXO), are a legacy of World War II and the Egypt-Israel wars of 1956, 1967 and 1973. The mine and ERW problem significantly affects Egypt’s Western Desert region, the Sinai Peninsula and areas near the Suez Canal and Red Sea coast.[14]
As stated in a document that was circulated at the First Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty and as reported by media following the Landmines Conference held in Cairo on 27 and 28 December 2005, “Egypt is one of the most heavily-mined regions in the world,” with an estimated 20 million mines and UXO “dispersed in an area of about 287,000 hectares [2,870 square kilometers].”[15]
Egyptian sources had previously estimated that 16.7 million landmines affect 2,480 square kilometers in the Western Desert area (from Alexandria to the Libyan border and 30 kilometers deep from the Mediterranean coastline) and 5.1 million landmines affect 200 square kilometers in the east of the country (the Sinai Peninsula and the Red Sea coast). Other Egyptian officials have observed that only 20 to 25 percent of these devices are actually landmines, the remainder being UXO.[16]
At the Cairo Landmines Conference held in December 2005, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, president of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights said, “the existence of large numbers of landmines in the northwestern coast impedes development and causes serious health and environmental damage.” Other officials complained that the mines, spread over vast desert areas, continue to contaminate land needed for agriculture and development.[17] Over the past 60 years, mines and UXO in both Sinai and the Western Desert are thought to have impeded development projects that could have addressed Egypt’s growing population problem, as well as provide land for tourism, agriculture, and for processing gas and oil. Government researchers estimate that approximately 3 million feddans (12,600 square kilometers) of the northwestern coast and inland desert area are suitable for cultivation and pastures. One billion cubic meters of underground water reserves are made inaccessible by the presence of mines and ERW, and similar inaccessibility exists for roughly 4.8 million barrels of petroleum and 13.4 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.[18]
Boutros Boutros-Ghali also claimed that the presence of mines and UXO in the region represented a human rights violation.[19] A previous document reported a “human cost” standing at 700 deaths and 7,600 injuries.[20] The majority of victims are rural and are injured while shepherding livestock. Rural communities regularly find UXO, but do not report it due mainly to fear of the police and army and a lack of communications infrastructure.[21]
There is no national mine action authority in Egypt. However, a National Committee to Develop the Northwest Coast and Mine Clearance was created in April 2000. Since April 2004, the Committee has been under the responsibility of the Ministry of International Cooperation.[22]
In early April 2006, media reported the launch of a Demining for Development Project created by the Ministry of International Cooperation in collaboration with UNDP that aims “to expand communities in the unused desert.” The first phase was expected to start in the coming weeks.[23] Ambassador Marwan Badr from the Ministry of International Cooperation indicated that the media were referring to Egypt’s 20-year plan developed in 2003 by the National Committee to Develop the Northwest Coast and Mine Clearance.[24] The National Plan for the Development of the Northwestern Coast was prepared by the Ministry of Planning in cooperation with UNDP support. In 2005-2006, the government investigated procurement of mine detection equipment and demining machines, and an organizational structure was prepared. Discussions between the UNDP country office and the Ministry of International Cooperation on support for an investment initiative on a demining project were ongoing.[25]
The four priority zones earmarked for development on the northwestern coast were El Hammam/El-Alamein/El-Dabaa, Fouka/Marsa Matrouh/Om El-Rekhm, Sidi barrani/El-Salloum and Siwa.[26] The area around El-Alamein is believed to be the most contaminated region in Egypt, containing an estimated 12 million landmines and UXO. Under the proposed project, the Egyptian armed forces are to conduct demining operations with the assistance of donors and partners. UNDP was reported as having noted the need for appropriate technical and logistical training and capacity-building, including information management and quality management of mine clearance, to ensure that demining is done “efficiently.” Ambassador Marwan Badr declared that the undertaking would require cost-efficient and safe technology.[27]
Funding for the demining operations was estimated at US$250 million, which the government predicts is only 2.5 percent of the total expected investment in the area. The government was expected to contribute a third of the cost, with the private sector providing almost half. Foreign direct investments were estimated to make up roughly 14 percent of the total cost and development partners would contribute 5 percent.[28]
In 2002, the US Agency for International Development and the demining company RONCO conducted an assessment mission. From 1999 to 2003 Egypt was included in the US humanitarian demining funding program. However, it is not known what funding was disbursed or how it was used. In 2004, the German Federal Ministry of Defense provided an in-kind donation of metal detectors (estimated value €299,550, or about $370,000).[29]
No surveys or assessments were reported to Landmine Monitor in 2005-2006.
An assessment mission in 2000 by the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) reported that marking of minefields and mine-suspected areas is extremely limited in the Western Desert and eastern region, or often in need of repair.[30]
No official information on mine clearance activities has been made available. An Egyptian army engineer corps mine clearance unit is stationed in El Alamein but did not conduct mine clearance in 2005.[31] Commercially-funded projects have previously cleared land to facilitate the development of the petroleum and tourism industries.[32]
Egypt provided a demining company as part of UN peacekeeping operations in Sudan. After the UN Mine Action Office in Sudan (UNMAO) conducted pre-deployment visits in 2005, it was agreed that the demining company would need further training, and equipment would be required to conform to Sudanese technical standards and guidelines.[33] By May 2006, the Egyptian demining battalion had deployed to Sudan and had received full accreditation.[34]
In 2005, there were at least 16 new mine/UXO casualties in three incidents, including two killed and 14 injured.[35] Only two of the casualties were civilians. This represents a significant increase in casualties overall, but a de facto decrease in civilian casualties compared to 2004 when at least 10 civilians were injured, including five children.[36]
In 2005, one man was injured by a mine while herding his animals in al-Dab’aa region in the Western Desert.[37] In the other incidents, two policemen were killed and 12 policemen and one civilian were injured in landmine explosions while tracking bombing suspects on al-Halal mountain in the Sinai Peninsula.[38] The first incident, on 24 August, seriously injured three policemen and their Bedouin guide, as their armored vehicle drove over a landmine. On 25 August, a landmine killed two security officials and injured nine police officers as they were inspecting the scene of the first incident.[39] On 15 August 2005, an improvised explosive device slightly injured two Canadian members of the Multinational Forces and Observers, near their base in al-Gourah.[40]
On 12 March 2005, an Egyptian was killed in a grenade explosion in a residential area in Kuwait. The Russian-made grenade was part of a stock of twenty five grenades and five small arms left by Iraqi forces in an old building.[41]
Casualties continued to be reported in 2006, with fifteen new casualties in seven mine/UXO incidents, including nine killed and six injured, as of 27 June 2006. In March, one civilian was injured in a mine incident in the Western Desert, while crossing the border with Libya. Another man was killed in a UXO incident in Ra’s al-Hikma, Matrouh governorate. In April, one youth was killed and another seriously injured in Cairo when they were playing with UXO they had brought with them from Ain Suhna. In May, four people, including two 15-year-olds and an 18-year-old, were killed and one injured when UXO they had bought as scrap metal exploded in their car repair shop in Kafr Higazy, Giza governorate. Also in May, a man lost his right leg in a mine incident in al-Saloum, Matrouh governorate.[42] On 26 June, three people, including two police officers, were killed and two seriously injured in two mine incidents near Dahab, on the Sinai Peninsula. The first incident occurred when a bulldozer hit a landmine presumed to be from the 1967 war, killing the driver. The second explosion occurred when a military demining team arrived at the site, killing two police officers and injuring two soldiers.[43]
There is no comprehensive data collection mechanism in Egypt and mine incidents are likely to go unreported, especially among the nomadic Bedouin tribes in the Western Desert. Officials told Landmine Monitor that they do not have information on new mine casualties.[44] However, during a training workshop organized by the UN Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) in April 2006, Egypt stated that it had a database of casualties and that the ministries of defense and international cooperation keep track of the number of casualties through their own databases.[45]
The total number of landmine casualties in Egypt is not known. In February 1999, it was reported that landmines had claimed 8,313 casualties (696 killed and 7,617 injured); 5,017 were civilians. In 2006, UNDP reported that since the end of World War II, approximately 8,000 people have died as a result of landmines in Egypt’s north coast and Western Desert alone.[46]
Landmine Monitor recorded at least 103 mine/UXO casualties in Egypt between 1999 and April 2006.[47]
In 2006, Egypt’s decennial national census was scheduled to take place. Measures were undertaken to improve the data collected through the census, including cause and type of disability, economic activity and employment status, with the aim of correcting the significant under-reporting on disability in the 1996 census. The census already records both upper and lower limb loss, as well as visual and hearing impairment.[48]
During a field mission, ICBL asked the governor of Matrouh to establish a free of charge telephone number to report the finding of mines and UXO, as well as mine/UXO incidents.[49]
There are several national and international organizations working on disability issues, but there is only one known organization working on mine/UXO survivor assistance. Peace Gardens is an NGO based in Marsa Matrouh working on landmine survivor support, focusing on equal rights for landmine survivors and lobbying for a survivor assistance section in Egypt’s 20-year development strategy of the northwest coast, coordinated by the National Committee for Development and Demining at the Ministry of International Cooperation. Peace Gardens proposes to establish a special fund for mine/UXO survivors by charging, for example, EGP0.50 (about US$0.09) for every meter of investment in the northwest coast. The Ministry of International Cooperation stated that, “The strategy has addressed the issue of landmines comprehensively. Although the focus is overall development, the humanitarian aspect has not been neglected.” The development strategy reportedly includes the construction of specialized medical and rehabilitation centers for mine/UXO casualties.[50]
Health services differ for civilian and military casualties. Civilians have no access to military hospitals, rehabilitation facilities or veterans’ associations. The largest police hospital is located in al-Agouza, Cairo. The Armed Forces Hospital in al-Ma’adi, Cairo deals with military casualties and is believed to have the best services in the country.[51] The Ministry of Health, through emergency departments located in every hospital, handles emergency medical care for civilians. However, emergency services remain inadequate for civilians in the mine-affected areas. In Cairo, there are modern facilities, such as the al-Salaam Hospital and the French wing of the government-run Kasr al-Aini Hospital, while in the mine-affected areas it is difficult to find modern equipment or trained staff.
In the Western Desert, the Matrouh General Hospital and smaller hospitals in Sidi Barani and al-Saloum reportedly all have ambulance services but the capacity of the medical staff varies greatly. People with severe mine injuries are often transferred to the University Hospital in the Alexandria governorate after receiving initial medical attention in the local hospital, but distances can be 300 kilometer or more.[52]
In 2005, the Center for Development Studies carried out a project, funded by the World Bank, to upgrade the existing services for children with disabilities, including a comprehensive training program for the staff of the Ministry of Social Solidarity.[53] This was part of the Social Protection Initiatives Project of the World Bank to mainstream health for the disabled in community-based health services in Egypt. The project was implemented in Ministry of Health hospitals in Alexandria, community clinics managed by NGOs in the remote Bedouin communities of the mine-affected governorate of Matrouh and in primary healthcare units in 6 six rural communities in the Nile Delta.[54]
The Muslim Brotherhood supplements the government and private health system with healthcare centers, especially in impoverished areas. The Brotherhood runs twenty two hospitals with better quality services than its government equivalents but cheaper than private clinics. Additionally, the Muslim Brotherhood has a variety of social, educational and vocational training services. Funding comes from the traditional Islamic zakaat system or compulsory alms.[55]
The largest rehabilitation center is the Armed Forces Center for physical rehabilitation in Cairo. Some government hospitals provide rehabilitation services free of charge, and national medical insurance or private medical insurance usually covers other costs, including for assistive devices, for those people with insurance. There are several prosthetic workshops run by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Solidarity, NGOs or commercial operators, but these are mainly located in large cities. There are reportedly insufficient physiotherapists and technicians to meet the needs, and the costs of services are rising, while the social and/or financial support available is limited.[56]
In the Sinai Desert, the Multinational Forces and Observers have outpatient clinics in both South and North Camp; the latter camp also provides physiotherapy treatments, and, as of November 2005, the construction of a physiotherapy clinic in the South Camp started “in light of the reevaluation of the criteria of outside referrals and the availability of specialty care outside the MFO.” The facilities assisted more than 9,000 patients and conducted 2,700 physiotherapy sessions.[57]
In November 2005, the Embassy of Japan inaugurated the upgraded rehabilitation center run by the Egyptian Red Crescent Society in Cairo, for which it had provided $39,356 in August 2004. The center assists about 500 people per month.[58]
The Egyptian Federation for Handicapped Welfare Organizations groups more than 300 organizations, but does not include any mine/UXO survivors’ organizations or organizations that target mine/UXO survivors, their families and communities. The Federation is planning to organize a disability seminar in Cairo from 5-7 December 2006.[59]
Other organizations dealing with people with disabilities are CARE and the Hospital Day Association. Organizations dealing with socioeconomic reintegration of vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities, are the Italian Cooperation in Egypt, the Social Fund for Development and Agriculture Cooperative Development International-Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance.
The Ministry of Social Solidarity agreed to provide EGP3,000 ($514) in compensation to all police and civilian survivors of the mine incidents at al-Halal mountain in Sinai. The governorate of North Sinai hired some of the survivors as administrative staff.[60] However, most civilian survivors in the Western Desert reported not receiving any pension, whereas some received a pension of approximately $10 per month.[61]
Four mine survivors participated in the International Conference for Development and Landmine Clearance in the North West Coast on 27 and 28 December 2005, organized by the National Council for Human Rights. Landmine Survivors Network made a general statement on the rights of mine/UXO survivors and people with disabilities.[62]
There is a lack of awareness regarding disability and services for people with disabilities.[63] There are no laws prohibiting discrimination against people with physical or mental disabilities in education, access to healthcare or the provision of other state services. Law 39 of 1975 (The Social Integration Law), amended by the Unified Labor Law of 2002, provides that five percent of jobs are designated for people with disabilities.[64] In March 2006, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics announced that there are 2,000 vacancies in government administrations for people with disabilities in accordance with this legal framework. The Minister of State for Administrative Development declared in the People’s Assembly that more than 24,000 people with disabilities have been employed in the last three years, adding that, “when general unemployment is high, it affects the disabled as well, but that the five percent regulation could be increased if the law was changed.”[65] During its field mission, ICBL asked the governor of Matrouh about job opportunities for mine/UXO survivors and people with disabilities; the governor stated that there were 300 vacancies in the governorate but that no one with a disability had applied.[66]
The government, led by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, made efforts to address the rights of people with disabilities and reportedly worked closely with UN agencies and other international aid donors to design job-training programs, and to increase public awareness through the media and the education system. However, there remains discrimination against people with disabilities, resulting in a lack of integration into society.[67]
In June 2005, the Minister of Social Affairs reportedly stated that the ministry had allocated EGP31 million ($5,314,881) to fund rehabilitation programs for persons with disabilities over the next five years.[68] Due to the transition of the Ministry of Social Affairs into the Ministry of Social Solidarity after the November-December 2005 parliamentary elections, it was unclear what concrete activities have been established and what results have been achieved.
[1] Statement by Hossam Eldeen Aly, Director, Disarmament Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sixth Meeting of States Parties, Zagreb, 28 November 2005, pp. 2-3.
[2] Ibid, p. 3.
[3] Statement by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, President, NCHR, Cairo, 27 December 2005 (notes taken by the Landmine Monitor researcher).
[4] “Recommendations of Cairo Conference,” Cairo, 28 December 2005.
[5] “Cairo Declaration,” Cairo, 28 December 2005.
[6] Email from Amb. Satnam Singh, ICBL Diplomatic Advisor, 28 December 2005, regarding his meeting with the Foreign Minister in Cairo on 27 December 2005. For many years, Egypt had objected to the Mine Ban Treaty because it did not require past users of landmines to accept responsibility to clear them.
[7] Email from Amb. Satnam Singh, ICBL Diplomatic Advisor, 29 December 2005, regarding his meeting with Maj. Gen. Hussain Mahmoud Hussain, Senior Advisor to Chief of Armed Forces and two Brigadier Generals, Cairo, 29 December 2005.
[8] Protection carried out a training of journalists on the mine issue in September 2004, which was supported in 2005 by Canada with US$22,838. See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 699.
[9] Statement by Amb. Heba Elmarassi, First Review Conference, Nairobi, 2 December 2004.
[10] Egypt told a UN assessment mission in February 2000 that it ceased export of antipersonnel mines in 1984 and ended production in 1988, and several Egyptian officials over the years had also told Landmine Monitor informally that production and trade had stopped. However, Egypt had not responded to repeated requests by Landmine Monitor to make that position formal and public in writing, thus Landmine Monitor kept Egypt on its list of producers. Egypt reportedly produced two types of low metal content blast antipersonnel mines, several variations of bounding fragmentation mines, and a Claymore-type mine. There is no publicly available evidence that Egypt has produced or exported antipersonnel mines in recent years. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 957.
[11] “Egypt denies Israel claim about al-Qaeda base in Sinai,” Agence France-Presse (Cairo), 10 October 2005.
[12] See for example, “Suspected militants use landmines in new tactic against Egypt’s police on Sinai,” The Canadian Press (Cairo), 27 August 2005.
[13] Ministry of Interior Press Release, 23 May 2006 (translated from Arabic by Landmine Monitor).
[14] “Landmine Conference Highlights Need for Clearance,” IRIN/All Africa Global Media (Cairo), 29 December 2005; “The Problem of Landmines in Egypt,” undated and unattributed document circulated at First Review Conference, Nairobi, 29 November-3 December 2004.
[15] “Egypt seeks to resolve landmine legacy,” Agence France-Presse (Cairo), 27 December 2005; “Landmine Conference Highlights Need for Clearance,” IRIN/All Africa Global Media (Cairo), 29 December 2005; “The Problem of Landmines in Egypt,” undated and unattributed document circulated at First Review Conference, Nairobi, 29 November-3 December 2004.
[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 921-923. For details of mines used in the Western Desert by German and British forces in World War II, see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 958.
[17] “Landmine Conference Highlights Need for Clearance,” IRIN/All Africa Global Media (Cairo), 29 December 2005; “Egypt seeks to resolve landmine legacy,” Agence France-Presse (Cairo), 27 December 2005.
[18] Vivian Salama,“Egypt launches demining program with eye toward development,” Daily Star (Beirut), 7 April 2006; see also Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 697-698.
[19] “Egypt seeks to resolve landmine legacy,” Agence France-Presse (Cairo), 27 December 2005.
[20] “Landmine Conference Highlights Need for Clearance,” IRIN/All Africa Global Media (Cairo), 29 December 2005.
[21] “Report on Activities by ICBL, Cairo Landmines Conference & Matrouh Field Visit, Egypt, 27-28 December 2005,” ICBL, 11 January 2006.
[22] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 698. From its creation until July 2002, it was called the National Committee to Supervise Mine Clearance. See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p. 942.
[23] Vivian Salama, “Egypt launches demining program with eye toward development,” Daily Star (Beirut), 7 April 2006.
[24] Telephone interview with Amb. Marwan Badr, Director, Cabinet of the Minister for International Cooperation, Cairo, 24 May 2006; Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 698.
[25] Emails from Naglaa Arafa, Programme Analyst, UNDP, 28 April and 31 May 2006.
[26] Email from Naglaa Arafa, Programme Analyst, UNDP, 31 May 2006.
[27] Vivian Salama, “Egypt launches demining program with eye toward development,” Daily Star (Beirut), 7 April 2006.
[28] Ibid; letter from Mahmoud El Saeed, Ambassador of Egypt to Canada, 13 June 2006.
[29] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 698.
[30] UNMAS, “Mine Action Assessment Report – The Arab Republic of Egypt,” February 2000, p. 11.
[31] Interview with Doug Ware, Quality Assurance Officer, UN Mine Action Office in Sudan (UNMAO), Khartoum, 19 March 2006.
[32] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 699.
[33] Interview with Paul Heslop, Deputy Programme Manager/Chief of Staff, UNMAO, Khartoum, 19 March 2006.
[34] Interview with Jim Pansegrouw, Programme Manager/Director, UNMAO, in Geneva, 8 May 2006.
[35] Information provided by Protection, based on data it collects through local sources, including hospitals and police notes, Cairo, March 2006, and Landmine Monitor media analysis as of 17 May 2006.
[36] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 699.
[37] Information provided by Protection, Cairo, March 2006.
[38] “Al-Ahram witnesses the attack of mountain caves in Sinai,” al-Ahram (Cairo), 27 August 2005; “Police forces arrive at al-Halal mountain and arrest 36 criminals,” al-Akhbar (Cairo), 28-30 August 2005; “Police siege al-Halal mountain and mine clearance continue,” al-Wafd (Cairo), 29 August 2005.
[39] Jailan Halawi, “Sweep and Siege,” al-Ahram Weekly, Issue 758, Cairo, 1-7 September 2005.
[40] Ibid; MFO, “Director General’s Report to the 2005 Trilateral Meeting,” Rome, 14 November 2005, p. 1.
[41] “Detection of UXO in Hawally,” al-Qabes (Kuwait City), 12 March 2005.
[42] Information provided by Protection, Cairo, March 2006.
[43] “Landmines kill three in Egypt,” Al-Jazeera, 27 June 2006; Salah Nasrawi, “Landmines leave three dead in Sinai,” Independent Online (Cairo), www.iol.co.za, accessed 27 June 2006.
[44] Interview with Amb. Marwan Badr, Ministry of International Cooperation, Cairo, 10 January 2006.
[45] Email from Rosy Cave, UNIDIR, 4 May 2006.
[46] Vivian Salama, “Egypt launches demining program with eye toward development,” Daily Star (Beirut), 7 April 2006.
[47] The figures were cited in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs paper on the Mine Ban Treaty, obtained 5 September 2004; see Landmine Monitor Report 2004, p. 959; Landmine Monitor Report 2005, pp. 699-700.
[48] Bothaina El Deeb, “National Report on Disability Statistics in Egypt 21-23 March 2005,” Central Agency for Public Motivation and Statistics (CAPMAS), Cairo, October 2005, p. 4. According to the 1996 census, 4.8 percent of disabled people had lost one limb or more.
[49] Interview with retired Gen. Mohamed Abd Elhamid Elshahaat, Governor, Matrouh governorate, 31 December 2005.
[50] Hala Sakr, “Changing the mine set,” al-Ahram Weekly, Issue 776, Cairo, 5-11 January 2006. Average exchange rate for 2005: US$1 = EGP5.83268, used throughout this report. Landmine Monitor estimate based on www.oanda.com.
[51] Interview with Ahmed Abdo, Communications Manager, Buppa Insurance, Cairo, 16 April 2006.
[52] Interview with mine survivors in the Marsa Matrouh area, Matrouh, 29-31 December 2005.
[53] Near East Foundation, “Annual Report 2005,” New York, March 2006, p. 13.
[54] World Bank Social Protection Initiatives Project, “Mainstreaming Health for the Disabled in community-based health service delivery models in Egypt,” web.worldbank.org, accessed 24 April 2006.
[55] “Social programmes bolster appeal of Muslim Brotherhood,” IRIN (Cairo), 22 February 2006.
[56] See Landmine Monitor Report 2005, p. 700.
[57] MFO, “Director General’s Report to the 2005 Trilateral Meeting,” Rome, 14 November 2005, pp. 20, 35.
[58] Embassy of Japan, “Inauguration Ceremony of Egyptian Red Crescent Rehabilitation Center,” Press Release 37/2005, Cairo, 23 November 2005.
[59] Email from Ghassan Shahrour, Coordinator, Syrian Campaign to Ban Landmines, Damascus, 16 April 2006.
[60] “Exceptional pension to mine victims at al-Halal mountain in North Sinai,” al-Wafd (Cairo), 5 September 2005.
[61] Interview with mine survivors in the Marsa Matrouh area, Matrouh, 29-31 December 2005.
[62] ICBL, “Egypt and Landmines: ICBL Report & Recommendations,” December 2005.
[63] Bothaina El Deeb, “National Report on Disability Statistics in Egypt 21-23 March 2005, Central Agency for Public Motivation and Statistics,” Cairo, October 2005, p. 3.
[64] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Egypt,” Washington DC, 8 March 2006.
[65] “Employment of 2,000 disabled in administration,” al-Ahram (Cairo), 15 March 2006.
[66] Interview with retired Gen. Mohamed Abd Elhamid Elshahaat, Matrouh governorate, 31 December 2005.
[67] US Department of State, “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices-2005: Egypt,” Washington DC, 8 March 2006.
[68] “Amina al-Guindy: 31 million to rehabilitate disabled,” al-Wafd (Cairo), 21 June 2005.