Introduction
Since the historic signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, the majority of the country has enjoyed relative peace. This has allowed MAG to increase its operations and clear extensive areas of contaminated land, which may now be used to assist rehabilitation and development, for example, through agriculture and the construction of clinics and schools.
Currently, MAG is operational in five regions: Central, Western and Eastern Equatoria, Kassala and Blue Nile State. Eleven teams carry out mine clearance, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, and the destruction of abandoned arms caches and of Small Arms and Light Weapons.
MAG has also carried out large road survey and clearance projects in support of the United Nations efforts to open up roads that have been inaccessible for decades due to contamination.
Community Liaison teams work with communities to collect information on community needs and the impact of landmines and UXO, data which is used to establish clearance priorities and tasks for teams. The CL teams also deliver vital Mine Risk Education messages to settled populations, internally displaced persons and returnees moving through contaminated towns and villages, as well as those living in refugee camps and way stations.
MAG has been operational in Sudan since 1998, when it began providing support to Operation Save Innocent Lives [www.cameo.org/osil], a national NGO with which MAG still works.
 |
|
A Community Liaison team gives risk and safety education to truck drivers entering southern Sudan from Uganda, in the customs yard at the border in Kaya. Top: A Community Liaison team gives Mine Risk Education to a class at the Kanyara Secondary School in Morobo, southern Sudan. |
Community Liaison & Mine Risk Education
Community Liaison (CL) is an essential part of all MAG’s operations. Not only does it enable MAG to access essential local knowledge of recognised threats but it also helps build and improve relations between MAG staff and the local community. Amongst the activities of the CL teams are
• Collection and sharing of dangerous area information
• Liaison work to support clearance
• Mine Risk Education for internally displaced people, returnees, drivers and settled communities living within contaminated areas
• Collection and sharing of accident information
Clearance teams
MAG operates 11 clearance teams throughout Sudan. These are multi-faceted teams, trained to be able to employ a combination of manual and mechanical technologies to clear landmines, items of UXO and small arms ammunition.
Teams prioritise tasks based on assignments from the United Nations Mine Action Office (UNMAO), identified areas of high and medium impact reported by the Landmine Impact Survey, and information gathered by the CL teams. Teams are trained to the highest standards and follow strict standard operating procedures to ensure maximum safety for all involved.
Threat definition
MAG has one team devoted to threat definition, which uses the findings of the Landmine Impact Survey to prioritise Suspected Hazardous Areas, further specifying the extent of the threat. Through a process of elimination MAG is able to reduce the area of suspected contamination down to a more accurate and defined area. This enhances efficiency by reducing the scale of clearance operations and also facilitates rapid release to communities of land previously thought to be contaminated.
Small Arms and Light Weapons
MAG has a Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) team based in Central and Western Equatoria in the south of the country. This team is tasked with clearing small arms ammunition, abandoned caches of weapons, Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) and other light weapons such as rockets, missiles, mortars and grenades, which still contaminate land in southern Sudan.
 |
|
A Bozena-4 operator in Yei, southern Sudan, operates the remote control flailing machine which is used to prepare ground for landmine clearance. This mechanical technique significantly increases efficiency and reduces the time required to clear hazardous areas of mines as opposed to using manual methods alone. |
Technology
MAG uses mechanical flailing, manual clearance and Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) to maximise the impact of the work. In Central and Western Equatoria, MAG prepares the ground using a Bozena mini-flail before the teams use metal detection equipment to clear the land.
EOD teams clear scattered and stockpiled UXO and small arms ammunition that have often been left in towns, villages and other populated areas putting local populations at risk, notably children, who are drawn to the interesting shapes and shiny exterior of many dangerous items.
Building partnerships, building futures
A key component of MAG’s mandate is to develop national partnerships that provide support and build the capacity of national counterparts. In Sudan, MAG has worked closely with two national partner organisations, Operation Saves Innocent Lives (OSIL) [www.cameo.org/osil] in southern Sudan and JASMAR (Human Security Organisation) [www.jasmar.net] in the north.
MAG works with both OSIL and JASMAR to support the development of their technical, management and organisational capacity, with the ultimate goal of handing over primary responsibility for Humanitarian Mine Action activities to these national organisations. By providing training and support to national staff members, MAG aims to reduce the reliance on international staff to support the programme.
In 2009, MAG achieved notable success in this regard by having a national staff member accredited as a national Technical Field Manager by UNMAO. This national TFM is now managing a manual clearance team which is part of an overall sustainable livelihoods project funded through a partnership initiative between MAG, OSIL and the Canadian Hunger Foundation [www.chf-partners.ca].
Through a series of capacity building initiatives, it is expected that OSIL will be fully operational and accredited as a Humanitarian Mine Action organisation.
November 2009
MAG thanks the donors to its Sudan operations: Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID); Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA); UK Department for International Development (DFID) / UKaid; Canada Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT); Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Guernsey Overseas Aid Commission; Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, US Department of State; Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, US Department of State; United Nations. Click on Tags below for related articles.
