Western Sahara: Determined. Sahrawi women risk their lives to clear ancestral lands of mines
RT Documentary
Publicado el 17 dic 2017
Western Sahara is one of the most heavily mined territories in the world following decades of conflict with its neighbours. Despite a 1991 ceasefire, most Sahrawis still linger in refugee camps in Algeria because it is too dangerous to live there. Now, some brave young women have taken it upon themselves to clear their ancestral lands of landmines so their people can return.
‘Our cameraman started calling home and say goodbye in case we got shot’
“Two days after we finally got to Western Sahara, locals received intel a terrorist group was planning to kidnap us,” says RT Documentary’s own Marina Kosareva. The incident happened on a trip to Western Sahara where they filmed female deminers. “We were in the middle of nowhere with nothing around except for a UN base a few kilometres away. I remember the guards counting bullets and the cameraman calling his relatives just in case it all went south. In the end, a decision was made to get us out of there at the crack of dawn with enforced security. It was a nerve-wracking five-hour drive in the deserts of Western Sahara and Mauritania, but it ended well.”
Watch the film Western Sahara: Determined to feel the intrigue behind it.
