Somalia

The Ethiopian-Somali wars, also known as the Ogaden wars, and more than 20 years of internal conflict has left Somalia heavily contaminated with mines and other explosive remnants of war (ERW).

Unfortunately, landmine and ERW contamination is not Somalia’s only challenge. Dwindling NGO access has hindered humanitarian aid, as well as humanitarian disarmament efforts. These issues are only compounded by huge security challenges, droughts, flooding, and serious health epidemics in Somalia. Mine and ERW accidents recorded so far show more than to 3,200 casualties. However, the numbers are likely to be much higher. In addition to this, casualties are reported from of new, used or emplaced improvised mines (victim-activated improvised explosive devices, IEDs) since 2017. Even though a total understanding of the contamination problem remains unclear, it is believed that one in 10 communities have a problem with mines and ERW.

The Norwegian People's Aid Humanitarian Disarmament programme in Somalia was established in 2013, and consists of one Mine Detection Dog team (MDD) and two Multitasking Teams (MTT). The MTT teams are able to perform survey, manual mine clearance, Battle Area Clearance (BAC), Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), and Mine Risk Education (MRE).