Top

SUDAN: Maximising impact in Juba

UXO collected by MAG from a former conflict area in Liriya Payam.

The collaboration between Community Liaison (CL) and technical teams is integral to MAG’s activities in southern Sudan.

CL teams liaise with communities, collecting and sharing information on remnants of conflict and delivering Mine Risk Education (MRE).


Community Liaison
CL teams work with communities and partners to identify previously unknown contaminated areas. They gauge the impact of contamination, which is central to task prioritisation. The activities undertaken by the CL teams enable operational planning and improve MAG’s ability to assess the impact of interventions. CL teams also deliver Mine Risk Education to vulnerable communities and so reduce risk to affected communities.

Explosive ordnance disposal
The safe removal and controlled destruction of unexploded, abandoned and other ordnance.

Mine Risk Education
Life-saving information MAG provides to those immediately at risk.

Remnants of conflict
All items recovered and destroyed as part of MAG’s activities, including anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines, ammunition, UXO and small arms and light weapons.

Unexploded ordnance
UXO includes unexploded bombs, rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades and other munitions. They may have been fired, dropped, launched or projected but remain unexploded either through malfunction or design, or for some other reason.



Through this liaison with those affected by the remnants of conflict, MAG is able to identify the areas in greatest need of clearance and target its resources accordingly.

A good example of CL and technical teams working together to ensure the maximum positive impact for the local population was seen in Juba County during June, when an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team removed a variety of items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) from various locations around Liriya and Lokiliri Payams, following the identification of 22 dangerous areas by CL staff.

In many cases the items, which included projectiles and rockets, were situated very close to residential houses. Said Angelo Taban, a 32-year old shop owner in Ngangala:

“We knew that there were bombs in our village, and they made us feel scared. We have heard about accidents in other areas and were worried that something bad would happen here as well. I am so glad to see that MAG has taken these things away from Ngangala.”

The EOD team collected more than 100 items from old trenches only a few metres from residential housing in the middle of Lokiliri. The Sudan Alliance Forces (SAF) used to have a military post in Lokiliri and MAG was informed that most of the UXO were abandoned and thrown into the trenches when SAF left the area around 2004. The CL team obtained information about these dangerous areas while delivering MRE in the community.

Gloria Akujo told MAG that she and other mothers living in the area had been worried that their children would pick up some of the UXO and be injured as a result. After the EOD team had removed all the UXO from the trenches in Lokiliri village, Gloria told MAG that she felt relieved and that the she would no longer worry that her children would play with the items scattered in the old trenches.

A Community Liaison team member collects information from a couple living in a contaminated area in Liriya Payam.

[Photos: MAG Sudan]

Links:


The Community Liaison teams and EOD teams in this article are funded by EuropeAid.

13 August 08

Video: Sudan SALW team

Small arms and light weapons (SALW) – such as assault rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles – are a real hindrance to peace, security and development.

Watch this 10-minute documentary on the work of a MAG SALW team in southern Sudan

MAG in Sudan

Visit the MAG Sudan microsite