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Sudan

MAG Sudan

MAG is clearing extensive areas of contaminated land, which can be used to assist rehabilitation and development, such as through agriculture and the construction of clinics and schools.

The problem

The largest country in Africa is contaminated with mines and other remnants of conflict as a result of the 21-year civil war between the Government of Sudan and armed groups in the south, mainly the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, that ended in 2005.

Mines, unexploded ordnance (UXO), and caches of munitions and weapons continue to kill and maim, deny access to land and basic resources, and restrict relief and peace-monitoring efforts.

An estimated 4.8 million people1 are internally displaced within the country, having fled their homes as a result of conflict. With relative peace in the majority of the country since 2005, increasing numbers of these people – and the hundreds of thousands of refugees in neighbouring countries – are returning to their ancestral homelands, moving through contaminated areas as they do so.

How MAG is helping

Currently, MAG is operational in five regions: Central, Western and Eastern Equatoria in the south, and Kassala and Blue Nile State in the north.

A combination of manual and mechanical methods are used to clear landmines, UXO, small arms ammunition, abandoned caches of weapons, Man Portable Air Defence Systems (MANPADS) and other light weapons such as rockets, missiles, mortars and grenades.

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. Vital Mine Risk Education messages are given to settled populations, internally displaced people and returnees moving through contaminated towns and villages, as well as those living in refugee camps and way stations.

See these pages for detailed information on MAG's latest work in Sudan:

Your donation to MAG helps us to move into current and former conflict zones to clear the remnants of conflict, enabling recovery and assisting the development of affected populations.

Beneficiaries

Landmines, and scattered and stockpiled UXO and small arms ammunition that have often been left in towns, villages and other populated areas put local populations at risk – notably children, who are drawn to the interesting shapes and shiny exterior of many dangerous items.

Cleared land can not only be used by communities, but also enables development agencies and local government to access areas to provide basic services to local populations.

In Sudan, MAG has worked closely with two partners – Operation Saves Innocent Lives (OSIL) in southern Sudan and JASMAR (Human Security Organisation) in the north – to support the development of their technical, management and organisational capacity. The ultimate goal is to hand over primary responsibility for the work to these national organisations.

Find out more

1 Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, January 2009 [external site]

 

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MAG thanks the donors to its Sudan operations: Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID); Actiefonds Mijnen Ruimen (AMR); 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.

November 2009

www.maginternational.org/sudan

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