When we talk about border walls, the first ones that come to mind are the Berlin or the wall that President Donald Trump wants to build along the US border with Mexico. Due to the fact that America is too much a PR state, many do not notice that similar structures appear (or have been standing for a long time) in other countries. We will tell you about them.
Moroccan wall
Moroccan wall (or "embankment") - a wall with a length of 2600 kilometers, passing through Western Sahara. The wall consists of three-meter desert sand and is protected by electric fences, a radar, barbed wire, Moroccan soldiers and about seven million land mines. These factors make it the longest minefield and one of the most protected borders in the world.
The main reason for the appearance of this sand fence is that Western Sahara is a disputed territory. Most consider it the south of Morocco. But local residents nearby say they are part of the unrecognized Sahara Arab Democratic Republic. The Polisario Front, which is fighting for independence and recognition of the aforementioned unofficial state, controls the other half of Western Sahara right behind the wall.
Most of the conflict affected the people of Western Sahara, caught on both sides of the wall. Many of them were killed by land mines.
Baghdad wall
The Baghdad wall is a concrete barrier four kilometers long, separating the Sunni side of Baghdad from the Shiite. In front of the wall, Sunni militias regularly attacked Shiite civilians, Iraqi soldiers (who have a Shiite majority), and US troops. In response, the Shiite militia also launched an attack on the Sunni civilian population.
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US forces built a wall around South Ghazalia, where the Sunni militia had a strong point. Despite the fact that the wall has reduced the number of killings and attacks, it has created concern among the Sunnis, who fear that they are being fenced off from Baghdad. Others believe that the wall is not for their protection, but in order to keep them at bay and allow Shiite militias to deal with other Sunnis outside the wall.
Some enterprises and facilities serving the Sunni community are also behind the wall, which reinforces anxiety. Soon after the erection, Sunni rebels tried to destroy the wall with bombs. But their attempts ended unsuccessfully: everything that managed to destroy the shells was soon restored.
Live fence on the border of Botswana and Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe and Botswana are separated by a 500-kilometer-long and two-meter-high electric fence, built on the initiative of the latter. Botswana’s authorities say the fence is needed to stop the spread of foot and mouth disease brought in from Zimbabwe by smuggled cattle.
If this is true, then it is understandable why Botswana was concerned about this disease. Botswana faced a foot-and-mouth disease epidemic in 2003, causing farmers to kill thousands of livestock. This posed a threat to the economy, in which livestock was the second main source of income.
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Zimbabwean representatives say they don’t know anything about the disease. These are just the machinations of neighbors, and things are the other way around. At the time it was proposed to establish a fence, Zimbabwe experienced inflation and severe unemployment, as a result of which many of the residents illegally crossed the border with neighboring Botswana.
It is curious that Botswana never turned on an electric fence or patrolled it to stop people or animals from illegally crossing the border.
Lines of the World, Northern Ireland
The Lines of the World is not just one barrier, but a peculiar archipelago of more than 60 different walls that divide the capital of Northern Ireland, Belfast. In some places, these are short wooden fences, and in others, high concrete walls. Many of these were established to keep religious and political nationalists away from each other.
People on both sides of the walls launched attacks. The scale of separation slowly began to grow, covering areas exposed to violence. At that time, the “lines” made residents feel safer.
Oddly enough, most of the walls were erected after the riots. They are gradually collapsing and are projected to be completely destroyed by 2023.
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Project "Wall", Ukraine
The Wall project is a planned border fence 2000 km long and a system of trenches separating Ukraine from our country. Construction is funded by Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities began to build a fence after the annexation of Crimea to Russia. The fence is still under construction and may never be completed, given current events.
Ukraine does not have enough funds to complete the construction. And the little that stands out is being stolen by corrupt contractors and border guards. So far, Ukraine has managed to dig only 273 kilometers of trenches and shield 83 kilometers of the border.
Some defense analysts are skeptical of the effectiveness of this facility. Ukraine postponed the planned completion date from 2018 to 2021. The government claims that it cannot finance the fence alone and will find other European "sponsors". Russia is also erecting a fence to separate Crimea from Ukraine.
Fences of Ceuta and Melilla
Ceuta and Melilla are two Spanish cities in North Africa. Both are considered part of Spain, although they share common borders with Morocco. There is a regular ferry service between cities and mainland Spain.
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This led to the fact that African migrants fled to these cities, secretly penetrating ferries. As a result, Spain erected fences along the borders that separate both cities from Morocco to stop migrants.
The European Union also allocates millions of euros to Spain and Morocco to stop migrants from entering these cities and, therefore, to Europe through mainland Spain.
The length of the fence in Melilla is 11 kilometers. It consists of three parallel fences, barbed wire with alarms.
Gaza Wall, Egypt
Unlike the other walls that we mentioned, the Egyptian-Gaza is underground. It was built to stop arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip through underground tunnels from Egypt. Israel strictly controls the import of any goods. This has created problems for many suppliers, including products.
To get around the border, people smuggled items through tunnels dug from Egypt. Hamas controls these tunnels. It provides coverage and collects taxes on smuggled products. Hamas also has its own secret tunnels, which it uses to transport weapons. Although the wall was built to cover these secret tunnels, it will also affect the usual tunnels used to transport food and similar critical items.
According to Egyptian reports, the underground wall is 10 kilometers long and cannot be cut or melted.
