STORY: Improvised Explosive Devices continue to pose a

grave threat to civilians in Somalia

TRT: 3:18
SOURCE: UNSOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
RESTRICTIONS: This media asset is free for editorial
broadcast, print, online and radio use. It is not to be sold
on and is restricted for other purposes. All enquiries to
thenewsroom@auunist.org
CREDIT REQUIRED: UNSOM PUBLIC INFORMATION
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH/SOMALI/ NATSOUND
DATELINE: 4th April, 2018 Mogadishu.

Shot list

1. Wide shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness
and Assistance in Mine Action
2. Med shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness
and Assistance in Mine Action
3. Close up shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine
Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action
4. wide shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness
and Assistance in Mine Action
5. Med shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness
and Assistance in Mine Action

6. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Peter de Clercq, UN Secretary-General’s Deputy Special

Representative for Somalia and Resident Humanitarian Coordinator

“Each year, 75 children are killed or injured by mines and explosive remnants of war
in this country. And the impact on lives and livelihoods therefore is devastating.
Many, many more people are killed through these Improvised Explosive Devices
along Somalia’s roads and across its cities, and we of course recall the horror of the
14th of October terrible explosion. It’s not just one of the worst in Somalia’s history.
It’s the worst in Somalia’s history, but it’s also one of the worst on this continent,”

7. Wide shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness and
Assistance in Mine Action
8.Med shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness and
Assistance in Mine Action

9. SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Peter de Clercq, UN Secretary-General’s Deputy Special

Representative for Somalia
“Somalia’s National Development Plan for 2017-2019 also recognises unexploded
hazards as a risk that’s impeding growth and development in this country. Scaling up
the Mine Action programme can play a key role in providing jobs in rural areas and
to improve livelihoods by making roads passable and allowing for the movement of
goods and people. And of course for access to land for farming and pasture.”
10.Wide shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness and
Assistance in Mine Action
11.Med shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness and
Assistance in Mine Action

12.SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) Alan McDonald, Head of UN Mine Action Service in

Somalia

“There is no doubt at all that the explosive remnants of war, of unexploded

ordnance and landmines, are being used as the material to build IEDs. So there is a
linkage here. The biggest problem or massive problem that Somalia has, obviously,
which is causing devastation is the IED threat, and basically if we can remove the
unexploded ordnance and remove the landmines, we will remove some of the
elements of that threat.”

13.Med shot, guests listening to speeches

14. Close up shot, a guest listens to speeches

15. SOUNDBITE: (SOMALI) Abdulkadir Abdulle Hooshow, Director General of the

Somalia Explosive Management Authority (SEMA)

“There is no proper investment in efforts to dispose of mines in Somalia and there is

insufficient stakeholder coordination. There is also insufficient international funding
for landmine disposal programmes and poor training. Members of Parliament still
have not yet passed the law establishing SEMA.”

16. Wide shot, guests at the event to mark International Day for Mine Awareness
and Assistance in Mine Action

STORY

Improvised Explosive Devices continue to pose a grave threat to civilians in

Somalia

Mogadishu, 4 April 2018 – Marking the International Day for Mine Awareness and
Assistance in Mine Action, a top United Nations official in Somalia today highlighted
the danger posed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to the country’s civilian
population.

In his remarks at an observance event in the Somali capital, the Secretary-General’s

Deputy Special Representative for Somalia, Peter de Clercq, drew particular
attention to the threat posed to children by landmines and explosive remnants of
war (ERW) left behind after years of conflict.

“Each year, 75 children are killed or injured by mines and explosive remnants of war
in this country. And the impact on lives and livelihoods therefore is devastating,”
said Mr. de Clercq.

“Many more people are killed through these improvised explosive devices along
Somalia’s roads and across its cities,” he added.

Years of armed conflict in Somalia have resulted in widespread contamination with

ERW and landmines, as well as a steady rise in the use of IEDs – the latter remain the
deadliest threat to lives in the Horn of Africa country and were responsible for killing
and injuring more than 1,400 civilians last year, according to the UN Mine Action
Service (UNMAS).

More than 900 people were killed and injured by the devastating IED explosion that
occurred in Mogadishu on 14 October 2017, which Mr. de Clercq described as “one
of the worst” IED bombings to ever occur in Africa.

The theme for this year’s observance of the international day is “the role of mine
action in advancing protection, peace and development,” underscoring the obstacle
that IEDs, landmines and unexploded ordnance represent to the country’s economic
growth and development.

“Scaling up the mine action programme can play a key role in providing jobs in rural
areas and improving livelihoods by making roads passable and allowing for the
movement of goods and people,“ Mr. de Clercq, who also serves as the UN
Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, told those gathered at the event, which
included representatives from the Somali authorities, civil society and international
community.

Also addressing the observance, the Head of UNMAS in Somalia, Alan MacDonald,
stressed the importance of removing all unexploded ordnance and landmines, the
contents of which are often used to assemble IEDs.

“The explosive remnants of war, of unexploded ordnance and landmines, are being
used as the material to build IEDs. The biggest problem that Somalia has is the IED
threat, and if we can remove the unexploded ordnance and the landmines, we will
remove some of the elements of that threat,” Mr. McDonald said.

In his remarks today, the Director General of the Somalia Explosive Management
Authority (SEMA), Abdulkadir Abdulle Hooshow, called for more donor support for
mine disposal initiatives in the country. He said his agency has developed a national
mine action strategy to guide mine disposal programmes for the next three years.
“There is no proper investment in efforts to dispose of mines in Somalia and there is
insufficient stakeholder coordination. There is also insufficient international funding
for landmine disposal programmes and poor training,” said Mr. Hooshow.

When it declared 4 April of each year as the International Day for Mine Awareness
and Assistance in Mine Action in 2005, the UN General Assembly also called for
continued efforts – with the assistance of the United Nations and relevant
organizations – to foster the establishment and development of national mine-
action capacities in countries where mines and ERW constitute a serious threat to
civilian populations, or an impediment to social and economic development at the
national and local levels.

Somalia is a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,

Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines, which requires countries to
destroy all such landmines by October 2022.