REFILE: As Marib desert blooms, Bedouins reclaim ancestral grazing grounds facing deadly landmine threat

Record ID: 1983549

  • Title: REFILE: As Marib desert blooms, Bedouins reclaim ancestral grazing grounds facing deadly landmine threat
  • Date: 14th March 2025
  • Summary: MARIB, YEMEN (FEBRUARY 27, 2025) (REUTERS) (MUTE) DRONE FOOTAGE OF CAMELS WALKING IN DESERT DRONE FOOTAGE OF CAMELS WALKING NEAR TENTS DRONE FOOTAGE OF CAMELS WALKING IN DESERT MARIB, YEMEN (FEBRUARY 17, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CAMELS IN DESERT CAMEL HERDER, SALEH AL-QADRY, WALKING WITH CAMELS QADRY CALLING CAMEL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) CAMEL HERDER, SALEH AL-QADRY, SAYING
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: climate houthi landmines marib nomads yemen
  • Location: MARIB, YEMEN
  • City: MARIB, YEMEN
  • Country: Yemen
  • Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001669906032025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:The once-barren Marib desert in central Yemen has sprung back to life with grass, local Bedouin tribes say. But this green transformation has come with a deadly threat as the surrounding desert is littered with landmines, forcing tribes and camel herders to navigate the landscape as they return to their ancestral grazing lands.
    After years of being displaced or confined to smaller areas due to war and environmental degradation, these Bedouins are now able to reclaim their traditional way of life, but they must remain vigilant to the constant danger, they said.
    "Landmines are our first problem in war areas, near the Houthis," says camel herder Saleh al-Qadry, as his herd roams the desert. "It has forced us to be displaced from the land we used to graze in. We left those areas, we settled down in this land, and now, praise be to God, we are far from the conflict zones and far from the Houthis and the frontlines," he added.
    The UNDP has reported in 2023 that landmines and explosive remnants of war pose a serious risk to millions of people across 19 of Yemen’s 22 provinces.
    According to the Landmine Monitor 2024 report, Yemen was among the countries with the most recorded total landmine casualties in 2023, with 499 reported casualties.
    Landmines laid by Houthi forces and other parties to the conflict continue to kill and injure civilians, even in areas where active hostilities have ceased, Human Rights Watch said in May 2024.
    This is preventing the Bedouins from accessing pastures.
    "All the nomads who were close to the minefields and combat zones have recently migrated northward out of fear of renewed confrontations and mines, and have moved beyond the asphalted road," camel herder Ogaim Suhail said. "Whenever one of the animals heads south, a mine explodes under it," he added.
    Abed al-Thawr, an official at the Houthi Defence Ministry, told Reuters the Houthis were not responsible for planting mines in Marib province, which he said had been placed there by mercenaries, the term the Houthis use for their civil war foes. He said the mines were planted to slow a Houthi advance there.
    A report by the local human rights organization Mwatana documented 537 incidents of landmine use from January 2016 to March 2024, with 96% attributed to the Houthi group.
    Around 70% of Yemen's population relies on agriculture, which is heavily dependent on the country's dwindling water resources, threatening local livelihoods. However, the rising precipitation observed last year has significantly boosted soil moisture levels, providing a beneficial impact on the crop and pasture situation.
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