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Two JIDU staff receive training in Kassala, June 2010. [Photo: MAG Sudan] |
In June 2011 the current internationally held responsibility for coordinating mine action activities in northern Sudan will transfer to the Sudanese authority, the National Mine Action Centre (NMAC).
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Sudan is a vast country which was intensely contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) during one of the longest civil wars in history. Therefore no matter how hard MAG and its partners work to remove dangerous items, there will always be the potential of residual threat.
In Blue Nile, a demining team containing nine seconded JIDU staff members uncovered an underground bunker – unknown to the nomadic herders, women and children who walk over it daily – which could spontaneously explode at any time. |
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So that Sudanese communities can be protected from harm in future, MAG is working on three levels to support the development of a strong, Sudanese mine action capacity: through the training of national MAG staff, local Non-Governmental Organisations and, most recently, Government staff from the Joint Integrated Demining Units (JIDU).
The JIDU was set up in 2005 to promote peace and reconciliation as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which brought an end to the 21-year conflict.
This military unit is comprised of soldiers from both the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). While they once fought against one another, the SAF and the SPLA are now working together and contributing towards sustainable peace.
Crucial time for mine action
MAG signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the JIDU, sponsored by NMAC, in May 2010. During the signing, NMAC Director Brigadier Khalid Elshami said: "This is a crucial time for mine action. As the responsibility for coordination and management is assumed by NMAC, NMAC will soon be tasking MAG and eventually will be reliant on the military capacity which MAG is building”.
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Brigadier Khalid Abdin and General Kamal Hamed sign the MAG/JIDU memorandum of understanding in Khartoum in May. |
“This is an extremely important partnership,” added General Kamal Hamed. “Because when MAG and international mine actors leave Sudan it will be the military that hold primary responsibility for removing threats posed by mines and UXO.
"It is therefore vital that they are trained to the highest levels, so they can continue to save lives and contribute to the development of their country.”
JIDUs seconded to MAG receive intensive training. Currently, there are two MAG/JIDU teams, and between 2010 and 2014 we are looking to increase this number.
In Kassala, MAG is training JIDU staff to operate and maintain mechanical assets. It is expected that within eight months these trainees will be able to qualify as a Bozena Operator/ Mechanic, increasing the national capacity of the Government of Sudan to carry out mechanical demining activities in the future. During May and June, the mechanical team comprising JIDU staff has flailed 37,717 square metres of land in Kassala using a Bozena IV mini flail machine. So far, the team has found and destroyed 38 anti-personnel mines and nine anti-tank mines.
In Blue Nile state, MAG has nine JIDU staff members seconded as manual deminers, with three of these staff coming from southern states, and six from northern states. The JIDU trainees are receiving training in a wide range of activities including technical survey, Explosive Ordnance Disposal and manual clearance. In June, the team protected seven communities by removing dangerous items. While conducting a technical survey of 43,460 square metres in Blue Nile the team uncovered previously unreported dangerous areas. This included an underground bunker, unknown to the nomadic herders, women and children who walk over it daily, which could spontaneously explode at any time.
MAG is delighted to support the training of JIDU staff in northern Sudan, and hopes to continue similar capacity building initiatives in Sudan in the future.
MAG thanks the following current donors to our Sudan operations: Actiefonds Mijnen Ruimen; AECID, Spanish Government; Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, US Department of State; Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Guernsey Overseas Aid Commission (GOAC); Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, US Department of State; UKaid (Department for International Development); UN Mine Action Office.
19 August 2010
See also:
MAG Sudan report - May/June 2010 [PDF]
Download
the latest report from MAG's operations in the country.
MAG Sudan starts countdown to national handover with a bang
MAG
is to teach dozens of deminers and Sudanese partner staff Explosive
Ordnance Disposal (EOD) techniques at a unique course in Juba. (1 July
2010)
Helping families to spend money on food, not hospital bills
In
Sudan, where toys are scarce in many communities, children will play
with anything they can find: a rock... a stick... a landmine. (11 May
2010)
"They would come, survey and leave; come, survey and leave..."
Until MAG arrived, Justin Modi feared his land in southern Sudan would never be cleared of mines. (14 April 2010)
A teacher's message
A headteacher from southern Sudan explains the importance of MAG’s work for the future of his country. (1 April 2010)
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