The first phase of a new strategy should be drafted by summer 2007. In November 2006, the UNDP concluded an agreement with the Egyptian government on the development of the northwest coast. It included representatives from so many ministries and authorities, however, that it has since had to be reformed several times and has not really been able to take action. In the year 2000, a National Commission was founded to address the issue. Since things are moving much too slowly for the private sector, which has great plans for the region, some hotels and oil companies have begun to remove buried ammunition at their own expense in order to build access roads to their projects. The Egyptian army did clear some 3.5 million pieces of ammunition out of the desert between 19, but since then a lack of funds has slowed down their efforts – at least that's the official line. It has done little to help the victims to date. As can be observed again and again whenever natural disasters or accidents occur, however, the Egyptian government evidently does not place much importance on its own citizens. A bit more haste would have been advisable, though.Īccording to the NGO "Landmine Monitor," there have been 8,313 mine-related casualties in this region since 1982, including 619 deaths. He refers to the history of his country, which after the Second World War was first busy gaining independence and then tied up in four wars against Israel. "It was a question of costs and priorities," Fathy El Shazly, director of the national northwest coast development program, frankly admits.
It was not until 1982 that the Egyptian government acknowledged the problem. This is a region inhabited primarily by Bedouins, the ones who most frequently fall prey to the leftover ammunition today. But Germany has nonetheless repeatedly offered Egypt humanitarian assistance, by for example handing over old maps showing where the mines are located, or supplying metal detectors.Īn area of 2,800 square kilometers is still contaminated, a thirty-kilometer wide swath between El Alamein, some 60 kilometers west of Alexandria, and the Libyan border. The Foreign Ministry in Berlin asserts that international law does not require Germany to clear away mines deposited in Egypt during World War II. There's no telling where the shifting sands may have carried these mines by now. The troops left behind in the desert some 21 million aircraft bombs, tank shells and landmines. But hardly any of them spares a thought for the victims that the battle is still claiming today. Every fall, veterans from all over the world gather in El Alamein in Egypt to commemorate their fallen comrades. The battle of El Alamein, fought in the deserts of North Africa, lasted from October 23 to November 5, 1942
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