A selection of Elsa Buchanan’s reporting, photo essays and communications work, drawn from field assignments and collaborations across the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Covering conflict, human rights and humanitarian issues, the work combines on-the-ground reporting with specialist analysis.

Human Impact

Stories exploring how conflict shapes daily life, from displacement and education to livelihoods, environment, and long-term recovery.

Conflict & Security

Reporting on frontlines, weapons, and military dynamics, examining how conflict is fought and sustained in complex environments.

Accountability & Rights

Investigations and reporting examining violations, legal accountability, and the human rights dimensions of conflict and crisis.

Health & Humanitarian

Reporting on healthcare, humanitarian response, and the long-term impact of conflict on communities, from emergency care to recovery and resilience.

Conflict & Security, Human Impact elsa buchanan Conflict & Security, Human Impact elsa buchanan

Fears take hold of Yemen Red Sea Coast civilians already reeling from presence of mines and IEDs as tensions escalate

With tensions rising along Yemen's Red Sea coast, civilians already living among landmines and improvised explosive devices faced growing uncertainty about what lay ahead. Based on exclusive access and interviews with affected communities, the report explores how years of contamination have transformed daily life, leaving families trapped between conflict, fear and the constant threat of explosive hazards.

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Made in Yemen: How Houthis’ use of sea mines affects fishing communities

This investigation explores the human cost of sea mines along Yemen's coastline, where fishing communities have found themselves on the front line of an invisible maritime threat. Through exclusive interviews with fishermen, coastal residents and mine action specialists, the report examines how explosive hazards at sea have disrupted livelihoods, restricted access to traditional fishing grounds and deepened economic hardship for families already struggling amid years of conflict.

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Set to kill: When booby-trapped landmines become lethal legacy in Yemen

This investigation examines the devastating legacy of booby-trapped landmines in Yemen, where explosive devices continue to kill and maim civilians years after being laid. Through survivor testimonies, field evidence and interviews with demining specialists, the report documents how improvised and victim-activated explosive hazards have transformed homes, farms, roads and everyday objects into deadly traps, leaving communities to navigate a hidden threat long after the fighting has moved elsewhere.

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Yemen: Where landmines are traded as currency for survival in open-air markets amid economic collapse

This exclusive investigation uncovered how landmines and explosive remnants of war have become intertwined with local economies in conflict-affected areas of Yemen. Drawing on interviews with deminers, survivors, local communities and humanitarian actors, the report revealed how poverty, insecurity and the absence of alternatives can drive civilians to take extraordinary risks, exposing the hidden human and economic consequences of one of the world's largest landmine contamination crises.

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