How to Avoid Being Killed in a War Zone Read online

  If someone is stalking you or you think you are about to be attacked, pretend to be on the phone to the police.

  Confront your stalker loudly. Ask what they are doing. Make sure they know you have seen them and will be able to identify them at a later date.

  Monique Nagelkerke advises: ‘In countries where men feel they can just grab, pinch and say anything they want to a lone woman, be prepared to hit before you get hit, grabbed or pinched. Hold a soft drinks bottle in your hand at hip level when walking the street so that men cannot bump into your hip “by accident”. The bottle can also serve as a weapon. Hit them hard on the hand and shout: “How dare you!” It nearly always works.

  ‘When being hit on or grabbed, look the man sternly in the eye and – if you speak the same language – put on your schoolteacher voice and say: “Would you like your wife/sister/mother to be treated like this?” This has worked well for me in the past.’

  /IF YOU ARE ATTACKED

  Surprise is your first weapon. Your attacker might not expect you to fight, so use every last ounce of your energy and strength, and direct it at his weakest parts – the eyes and genitals.

  Distract him. Throw coins in his face. Spray perfume in his eyes.

  If you are grabbed or assaulted, scream and kick and shout as much as you can in the early stages.

  Use your strongest parts to hit him – your feet, your knees, your elbows, your fists. A palm strike (see below) in the face or nose will hurt like hell.

  Find a weapon in your surroundings. Use anything you can to keep the attacker away – an umbrella, a handbag, a windscreen wiper, a mop, bricks, park benches, walls and railings…anything. Your mobile phone held in your fist and aimed at his temple would hurt him, as would ‘stabbing’ him with pens or bottles. The end of a rolled-up newspaper hurts if it hits an eye. Hold it close to the end and use the last 5 cm or so as an extension of your fist. Use your clothes or a bag cord to strangle, whip or tie him down.

  If you are in your car, use your car as a weapon.

  /SELF-DEFENCE MOVES

  Palm strike

  Use the flat palm of your hand rather than your fist or fingers to strike directly.

  Knee strike

  Hold onto your attacker and aim for his testicles any which way you can. Take him by surprise.

  Punch

  Keep your thumb protected when you punch. Don’t have it inside the fingers or sitting like a lid on top of your fist.

  Elbow strike

  Use your elbow to hit directly. It is less easy to grab and has more force.

  Follow up these moves with hit after hit, cut, crush, break, rip or (if you have no other choice) bite…whatever it takes. Once you have the advantage, use it and don’t give up till you can make your escape.

  /RAPE

  There is no knowing what position your attacker will get you in, but these four pieces of advice can be used in most situations.

  Stab his hands with any weapon you can find. Bite them if necessary.

  Put him off balance in any way you can and follow this up with violent strikes directed at his weakest parts.

  Try to bend your knees and place them or your feet between you and your attacker to keep a distance. If you can do this, use the chance to kick him away.

  If you are physically overcome, use your last weapon – appeal to his emotions.

  Samantha Bolton told me some encouraging stories about the effectiveness of this last technique:

  ‘I know two women who have talked their way out of a rape. One Canadian aid worker was attacked by some young Croat soldiers. She stayed calm and appealed to them: “Look at me. I am blonde, like your sister.” So they backed down.

  ‘Another woman, much older than her attacker, started slowly to stroke his head when he was on top of her, telling him it would be all right, that she knew how hard the war was. It reminded him of his mother, he started crying and stopped the attack.

  ‘And if they are going to rape you anyway, follow the example of a nurse who was attacked in the DRC. She told her attackers that she had Aids and gave them condoms to wear. It probably saved her life, though not from the attack.’

  In the British Royal Marines they force you to run 10 kilometres before you learn self-defence. The message being that it is always best to run before getting into a fight. You are relying on the fact you are stronger than the other person. Avoid fighting somebody at all costs. Dr Carl Hallam

  12/ Surviving Landmines, Ieds and Chemical Perils

  Sometimes I can’t control myself when I work in a war zone. I feel ready to die for the job. It’s not work – it’s making history. Leith Mushtaq

  Ralph HAssall is a friend and former employer of mine at the Baghdad Bulletin newspaper in Iraq. He has since become a specialist in disaster management, but his main area of expertise is landmines, and he has worked in a number of mine action programmes around the world. He’s a truly independent spirit with a hidden love of sensible jumpers. And that’s what shines through in his advice below.

  He explains that mines planted during wartime are not the only problem. Areas where unexploded weapons have fallen may be unmarked.

  /EXPLOSIVE REMNANTS OF WAR

  Conflict areas will invariably be littered with explosive remnants of war (ERW), which includes landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO). The latter refers to weapons systems that have been deployed on the battlefield but did not activate as intended. It includes ammunition for light weapons, artillery shells, mortars, grenades, fuses and rockets. UXO can detonate if disturbed, unleashing the full lethal force that it was intended to deliver.

  Cluster munitions are also a prevalent menace. These are air-dropped or artillery-fired weapons that disburse hundreds of smaller submunitions over an area. They are usually designed to detonate on impact with the ground. Each cluster weapon can carry up to 2000 small bomblets, but they have a failure rate of up to 10 per cent, so can leave a sizeable and explosive contamination problem for years to come.

  Even just a short time after a conflict, cluster munitions that scattered but did not detonate can become buried under sand or vegetation. No longer visible, they can have a similar impact to landmines that have been deliberately planted. Countries such as Laos have an enormous number of unexploded bomblets littering the countryside. More recent conflicts in Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq and Afghanistan are all characterized by cluster-bomb contamination.

  /DON’T TOUCH

  Never be tempted to touch anything or pick up ‘souvenirs’ from a battle area. In the summer of 2003 Hiroki Gomi, a Japanese reporter working in Iraq, picked up an unexpended cluster munition without realizing what it was. He packed it in his bag to take home as a souvenir from the war. While it was going through the X-ray scanner at Amman airport in Jordan, the cluster munition exploded, killing the security guard making the inspection.

  If you find yourself close on the heels of conflict or in the conflict itself, there may be a temptation to take souvenirs, or to poke around in abandoned buildings and military emplacements. Do not do this. You could well activate unstable UXO, or trigger a booby trap (see Improvised Explosive Devices) designed specifically to attract your attention.

  Taking souvenir photographs of people sitting on tanks or other destroyed military equipment may also expose you to depleted uranium (DU). Shells made from the extremely dense material DU, which is used to destroy armour, might vaporize on impact, contaminating the surrounding area with radioactive dust particles that could be absorbed into the body through inhalation, for example. Unnecessary exposure to toxic DU can lead to long-term health effects.

  /THE LANDMINE THREAT

  Landmines have been a favourite tool of warring parties precisely because they are easy to deploy while being difficult to detect and remove. Most countries that experience conflict will have a legacy, great or small, of mine warfare. Landmines can stay active almost indefinitely, just as potent and deadly as the day they were laid, or perhaps even more so as triggering mechanisms mig
ht have frayed or decomposed.

  Anti-personnel (AP) mines are designed to kill or maim individuals. Warring parties prefer the latter as the care and treatment of victims will absorb manpower that would otherwise have been used for operations.

  Anti-tank mines are specifically designed to destroy or disable vehicles or armour, not individual personnel. The most common form of activation for mines is by pressure (from a foot or car tyre). However, tripwires and other forms of activation – proximity sensors, tilt-switches, magnetic attraction, and specifically designed anti-handling systems – can be used too.

  There is a common myth that there is a delay between activating a landmine and it exploding: the reality is that the explosion is instantaneous.

  Landmines and booby traps can be found anywhere that conflict has occurred. They can, for example, be laid as a ‘nuisance’ for advancing forces in houses, gun placements, trenches, rest-stops by the side of the road or at water sources. They can also be laid in patterned arrangements in clearly identified locations.

  Nick Toksvig recalls a frightening experience during the Kosovo War: ‘We were in a village and found the mayor’s house, which had been abandoned. There was a path leading to the front door, but I chose to make my way across the lawn. I knew it was an official’s house and had probably been booby-trapped as the Serbs retreated, but I didn’t really pay enough attention to that. At one point a colleague told me to stand very still. A couple of centimetres from my heel was a small landmine that, had I stepped on it, would have taken off at least my leg. We had no security with us, and I had certainly advanced without the necessary caution.’

  Understanding the mine threat in a particular area or location requires an understanding of the conflict that has taken place there, preferably learnt from witnesses (civilian or military). It’s also important to have some knowledge of mine-related incidents or accidents that have occurred. It is standard practice for UN agencies, host governments, specialist NGOs and commercial companies to collect this data in a systematic way.

  If you are embedded with military forces, they will provide you with their own guidelines for safe conduct. However, the level of acceptable risk for military personnel is higher than that usually tolerated by civilians during either conflict or peacetime. If you are not working with the military but will be operating in an area that has or might have experienced conflict, you should contact the local UN or governmental Mine Action Centre (MAC), or an agency that you know is concerned with demining or mine action. Mine action is the provision of an integrated set of services designed to reduce the impact of landmines and UXO working to a commonly accepted set of international standards.

  BEFORE HEADING INTO A MINED AREA…

  Remember that understanding of the mine threat can change as better information becomes available. Make sure always to check the latest information when planning field missions. If there is an area that you know or suspect to be mined, avoid it – do not even go near it.

  /HOW TO SPOT A MINEFIELD

  A minefield will often look indistinguishable from any other piece of land. However, there may be telltale signs.

  • Locals might be avoiding the area, despite its obvious use for agriculture or for transport access.

  • Dead animals might be seen in the area.

  • Waxed packaging used to store the mines may be littering the ground.

  • The area may be overgrown.

  • Locals or organizations might have tried to mark out the area of the minefield using sticks, stones or more formal markings (see opposite). Always be conscious of your surroundings.

  Signs of mines

  There are dozens of different signs used to mark mined areas. They go far beyond the more traditional skull and crossbones. Mary O’Shea reports that: ‘In Sudan the minefields are apparently marked by red Coca-Cola cans. I am unsure if Pepsi and Diet Coke have any significance.’

  Some of the more formal signs are illustrated below.

  /IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A MINEFIELD…

  Remember the following mnemonic – MINED – from The UN Landmine and UXO Safety Handbook.

  Movement stops immediately. Remain still and do not move your feet. If you are in a vehicle, do not try to reverse through your tracks. Do not move the steering wheel. Stay inside the vehicle. Keep calm.

  Inform others immediately. Warn those around you. Call for help, but keep others away. If you are in a car, use the horn to summon help.

  Note the area. What else can you see: mines, tripwires, mine signs? Visually locate the nearest safe area – the last place you knew you were on a safe surface, such as a paved road, well-used path, or concrete or steel structure.

  Evaluate your course of action. Be prepared to take control.

  Do not move if there is no indication of a safe area, or you can’t reach it without stepping on unknown ground. Wait for help to arrive.

  /WHEN NO HELP IS AVAILABLE…

  According to the National Technical Standards and Guidelines for mine action in Sudan, ‘It is better to spend two days in a minefield than a lifetime as an amputee.’

  However, if there is genuinely no possibility of getting outside help, you might be forced to take action. There could also be exceptional circumstances when faster action is forced upon an individual or group of people, such as when someone is injured and the others must clear a path to reach the victim.

  If your footsteps show clearly in snow, sand or wet mud, you can follow them back. However, they must be clear enough for you to know with certainty where you are treading. If you are in a car, climb onto the roof and walk back along the car tracks if they are entirely clear.

  Prodding the ground and retracing your steps is an extremely risky business if not taught properly by certified professionals, so you are strongly advised against attempting it. If you know in advance that you’re heading into regions or countries where mines are considered a threat, it could be worth getting professional instruction and practical exercises in the technique of prodding before you go. At the very least, read the following information first.

  Prodding is the traditional technique used by military and civilian landmine clearance agencies alike, and ordinarily used in conjunction with other tools, such as metal detectors. The technique involves using a sharp, pointed, long-bladed instrument, such as a knife, to prod the ground at a shallow angle (no more than 30 degrees) and at short intervals (no more than 20–25 mm) to detect the presence of objects hidden under the surface and clear a safer passage through a dangerous area. The depth to which it will be possible to prod will depend on the ground conditions. Some mines may be located fairly deep beneath the surface and beyond the range of the prodder.

  /IF SOMEONE IS INJURED BY A LANDMINE

  The time period during which the casualty should be delivered to hospital is sometimes called the ‘golden hour’ because for about 60 minutes the blood vessels and capillaries around the wound site constrict in response to the trauma, restrict the bleeding and naturally compress the damaged tissue. This gives paramedics and any others assisting critical minutes to get the casualty to where transfusions and proper surgical help are available.

  While you are waiting for help to arrive, take the following steps:

  • Ensure that you are not in danger yourself.

  • Apply first aid and stem the bleeding.

  • Stabilize the casualty and prepare for transportation.

  • Select a safe route to the closest hospital with transfusion and surgery facilities.

  • Call or radio ahead to prepare the hospital for the arrival of the casualty.

  /IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICES

  The aftermath of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) – namely, people with devastating injuries and graves at every turn – can be seen in numerous places around the world. They have been around for more than a century and used in all the wars within living memory. Perhaps because of media coverage, or maybe because at one point there were dozens a day, the imp
rovised explosive device seems to be the weapon that defines the war in Iraq. The whole convoy of US vehicles in Iraq has been adapted and re-adapted to make them IED-proof, and still the bomb-makers are inventing new devices. The struggle to beat them has even been immortalized in the multi-award-winning film The Hurt Locker.

  The picture that won me a job at Reuters was taken three days after I arrived in Baghdad, when a roadside bomb hit a convoy of armed Humvees 50 metres in front of me. Iraqis jumped into action, pulling wounded, burnt and broken soldiers from the flaming vehicle. On a busy day in relatively quiet Basra I once visited three roadside bombs that went off during one hour, all within half a kilometre of each other.

  The journalist Imad Shihab says: ‘I think there is no way IEDS can be avoided by ordinary people, without sophisticated devices like the ones the US Army has. They can be anywhere and any shape. They could be under the pavement, even in the corpses of men and animals. Like what happened to my friend and her mother when kidnappers planted IEDs inside their bodies after they killed them. When people tried to move the dead bodies the triggers went off, killing many more people.’

  IEDs are not just roadside bombs, and not just in Iraq. They are found in every war zone – attached to cars, hidden inside pianos and even, as Imad said, inside dead bodies. They can be targeted or random. Sometimes you get a warning and sometimes you don’t. If the locals are not actually the target of the devices, they usually know where they are, but sometimes they won’t be told. IEDs are intended to cause chaos and fear for everyone.

  My advice is to avoid being blown up as best you can, and to heed the following tips from Imad: