Monday Commentary

LINKS Europe has announced that it will continue with its campaign Landmine Free South Caucasus in the period October-December 2026. This campaign has been ongoing since 2018 and is implemented in co-operation with partners in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The contamination from landmines and other remnants of war is a heavy legacy from the decades of conflict that the region has experienced. Big areas are not available for agriculture and other economic use, but worse of all is the killing and the maiming of people that occurs on a nearly daily basis, as despite warnings and precautions, the inevitable happens. Incidents involving landmines occur regularly. Landmines, and other remnants of war, cast a shadow over life, over the hope of those who aspire for a new beginning and impede progress. For many, the landmine threat means that for them the conflict is not over yet. When LINKS Europe launched the Landmine Free South Caucasus campaign in 2018 it envisaged a collaborative regional effort to eradicate landmines. At the time this was a far cry. Armenia and Azerbaijan were still engrossed in a bitter conflict. But LINKS Europe persisted, and the campaign gained momentum. In 2026 things are different. Peace is on the agenda and on the horizon. Landmine clearance is a common goal. But work still needs to be done in order to deal with the problem in a collaborative way. Landmine clearance can and should be a confidence building measure. The campaign has also two other important considerations. It says thank you to deminers. Hundreds of people, working with ANAMA in Azerbaijan, or CHDE in Armenia, and other organisations risk their life as they try to make the land safer. They deserve our gratitude. Another consideration is the impact of landmine incidents on victims. The campaign marks 30th November as the regional day of solidarity with the victims of landmines in the South Caucasus. Listening to the testimony of victims in the LFSC events in the past eight years has been a humbling experience. The Landmine Free South Caucasus campaign has always been a collaborative effort, involving state bodies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Azerbaijan and the Security Council in Armenia, the demining agencies, and many NGOs and civil society organisations in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. For the period 2018-2024 campaign was also a collaborative project with the European Union. We regret that the EU has not joined effort with this campaign this year. This means we depend on the generosity of our partners for funding the campaign in 2026. Landmines cast a dark shadow over the whole Caucasus region. As long as there is a landmine problem peace is incomplete. Let us work together for a Landmine Free South Caucasus!

There are two early 20th-century tunes that mark foreign attempts to occupy and “pacify” Yemen. The Scottish tune “The barren rocks of Aden” marks the mobilisation of Highland soldiers, enlisted to be deployed to the Yemeni port of Aden, that in 1837 became the last colony to be incorporated into the British Empire. The tune talks of the harshness of the terrain, but is celebratory, It was even played as a farewell tune to Sir William Luce at the parade in Sharjah celebrating his end as “British Viceroy” in the Middle East in 1966. The second tune is an Anatolian lament. As Ilker Sezer reminded us this weekend, in his weekly feature on “Turkiye Today”, it “mourns the tragic fate of Ottoman soldiers dispatched to the harsh, remote deserts of Yemen during the fall of the empire, young men who marched away from their villages and never returned home. Most of their names, and numbers, were never recorded. Yet, their fate left a mark on the Turkish psyche.” Subsequent invaders have discovered that Yemen is a grave that cannot be overcome by the strength of modern technology, and that whilst Yemeni society is splintered and divided, building a reliable alliance with Yemeni factions is difficult. These are the harsh lessons facing Saudi Arabia, as the Kingdom faces its biggest challenge in its modern history. The leadership of the Kingdom now has to respond decisively. At stake is their very credibility. This is likely to be a long and messy conflict. Saudi military objectives need to be focused: to box in the Houthis rather than destroy them. This is likely to include: (a) regaining territory lost on the Red Sea coast; (b) control over Bab el Mandeb Strait; (c) some kind of cordon sanitaire on the Saudi-Yemeni border; and if things go well (d) the capture of Sanaa. All this would not eliminate the Houthi problem, but it will contain it. In the end the Saudis will have to continue managing Yemen with a mixture of carrot and stick. For the moment, the stick is likely, but the carrot cannot be forgotten either. (click the image to read the Monday Commentary in full)