A week with MAG in southern Sudan

By Sean Sutton, MAG Overseas Information Manager

(click on links below)

Sunday

"Music blared from shops as goods were carried to and fro. Old land cruisers and trucks belched black smoke as they chugged around..."

Monday

"Many said they had seen dangerous items. We even saw a boy carrying part of a rocket-propelled grenade..."

Tuesday

"One hundred people killed here… More than a thousand people killed here… The stories kept coming..."

Wednesday

"Just last month, a school about 15km away from here was hit by lightning. It exploded because of all the bombs in it..."

Thursday

"Ivica counted down: three, two, one… Boom! That should let people know MAG is here, he said with a chuckle..."

"At sunrise we headed to Kiyala where there was an emergency task at a clinic that needed to be dealt with..."

"There were hundreds of items. All found in a few days. Unbelievable..."

Background

It is estimated that more than one and a half million civilians were killed and approximately four million people were displaced by the war between the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the government across southern Sudan.

Sudan has known conflict, off and on, for 40 years. The recent civil war began in 1983 and lasted until peace accords were signed in 2005. However, parts of the south remained insecure due to activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

Ongoing discussions and agreements between the LRA and the Ugandan government have now given people the confidence to return home at last.

Eastern Equatoria in southern Sudan is a state that borders Uganda and Kenya in the south, and Ethiopia in the east.

This area was very heavily contested over a long period, and the remnants of conflict – landmines, unexploded munitions and ad-hoc weapon stores – pose a major threat to both returning populations and NGOs conducting development activities.

MAG has been working in the state since 2004 with Community Liaison (CL) teams providing Mine Risk Education (MRE) and gathering information on dangerous areas.

Technical teams began working in 2006, clearing landmines, unexploded ordnance (UXO) and weapon caches.

MAG also conducted a Landmine Impact Survey (LIS) for the Survey Action Centre. Eastern Equatoria's survey has been completed but the aim is to survey all the affected states in the country.

This is to get a ‘snapshot’ of how landmines and UXO are causing blockages to the community. This would include access to water, schools, agriculture, villages etc.

By Sean Sutton, MAG Overseas Information Manager

Links:

» Sudan 2007 photo gallery

» More on MAG's work in Sudan

» How MAG works

» Mine Action Teams

» Explosive Ordnance Disposal

» Community Liaison explained

» Mine Risk Education explained