Egypt battlefield set for golf boom -- once mines cleared

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2007

EL ALAMEIN, Egypt (AFP) — The steaming sands of El-Alamein, where German and Allied tanks fought fiercely during World War II, are being readied for a boom in tourism, but only once the land mines are cleared.

The potentially lucrative tourism industry on Egypt's north coast is being cautiously developed on one of the most heavily mined bits of real estate in the world.

"We are going to create a space for peace on this war zone," said engineer George Zaki, showing off the verdant man-made hill of the soon-to-be golf course and the spaces allocated for the resort's luxury villas.

But more than half a century after the battles between Allied and Axis troops in the North African desert, mines still pose a threat to local Bedouin residents and a challenge to...