Devil's Garden is home for thousands of Bedouin farmers β and millions of unexploded Second World War mines. For the veterans who marked the anniversary on Saturday at a ceremony at the El Alamein War Cemetery, where 7, Allied troops are buried, the battle is a proud, poignant memory. But for thousands of Bedouin Arabs who live and farm in the desert around El Alamein, the story is not over.
About three hours' drive west of Cairo, south from Egypt's Mediterranean coast, is a vast expanse once called the Devil's Garden. Laced with millions of unexploded bombs, its sands remain one of the world's biggest minefields; a lethal legacy of the Second World War, when Britain and her allies fought a tank war to prevent Egypt, and the rest of the Middle East, falling into Nazi hands. Since , hundreds of Bedouin have been killed and thousands injured by some of the 16 million shells and landmines dotted around the desert.
Official figures point to a total of more than 8, casualties, though this is a conservative estimate, given that records began only in The number of victims rises every year. This year, 17 people have been maimed, many losing arms and legs, after stumbling across bombs in and around the Devil's Garden. Seven decades ago, as the battle to repel Hitler was raging across the Western Desert, many Egyptians, angered by Britain's colonial presence, hoped a Nazi victory might bring them independence.
The British prevailed, but for Bedouins like Abdullah Salah β one of survivors of landmine explosions β today's anniversary is a stark reminder of how distant history still impinges on the present. He was blinded in one eye and had his right leg blown off after stepping on a mine in Fayez Ismail, who also had his leg blown off by a mine, said the West should do more to help. Some assistance has been forthcoming.
An Egyptian demining programme, established in collaboration with the United Nations Development Fund, has received donations of hundreds of thousands of pounds from Britain, Germany and a number of other nations involved in the war. Some of the money was spent on supplying hundreds of artificial limbs, while much of the rest went towards demining equipment.
