WWII Landmines Block Egypt’s Access to Oil and Gas
Interesting.......
German “Desert Fox” Erwin Rommel and the British Eighth Army left behind hundreds of thousands of mines and unexploded shells in their North African battles of World War II. The explosive relics are hampering Egypt’s access to untapped oil and gas reserves in the desert.
Egypt is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world. The unexploded ordnance left lying in its desert from World War II battles ranks the country right up there with Afghanistan on this dubious list. Every year, Bedouins and farmers come across unexploded mines and shells, and it’s not uncommon for undiscovered bombs to explode amid retrieved scrap metal.
Some 22 million landmines and unexploded ordnance have lain hidden in the northwest of Egypt since World War II, Fathy El-Shazly, national project director for mine clearance and development at the Ministry of International Cooperation, told United Nations news service Irin.
Many of the mines are near the battlefield of El-Alamein, where the British Eighth Army forced the Africa Corps of “Desert Fox” Erwin Rommel to retreat all the way back to Tunisia. That war and today’s peace lie close together in the no-man’s-land of the desert. Anti-tank mines, anti-personnel mines and unexploded artillery shells block today’s transportation routes.
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured-article/nazi-landmines-block-egypts-access-to-oil-and-gas.html
