Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty

After years of conflict, the government of Sudan and the southern-based rebel group Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed a peace agreement on 9 January 2005 that led to a referendum in January 2011 approving self-determination for the South. The Republic of South Sudan became an independent state on 9 July 2011 and the SPLA became the regular army of the new Republic of South Sudan while the SPLM became the governing political party.

Policy

Less than six months after becoming an independent state, the Republic of South Sudan joined the Mine Ban Treaty on 11 November 2011 through the rarely used process of “succession.” According to the UN Office of Legal Affairs, the Mine Ban Treaty became effective for South Sudan on 9 July 2011, the date of state independence and succession.[1]

The succession came after South Sudan officials had made continued pledges of support to join the Mine Ban Treaty.[2] On 17 October 2011, South Sudan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nhial Deng Nhial, signed the declaration of succession, which was deposited with the UN in New York on 11 November 2011, making South Sudan the 158^th State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

It is not known if South Sudan will promulgate national legislation or other measures to implement the Mine Ban Treaty.[3]

South Sudan’s initial Article 7 report for the Mine Ban Treaty was due by 5 January 2012. It has not been submitted as of 28 September 2012.

South Sudan participated in the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Phnom Penh in November–December 2011, where it provided a detailed general statement covering a range of topics including stockpile destruction, contamination, and clearance.

South Sudan did not attend the intersessional Standing Committee meetings held in Geneva in May 2012.

Production, Transfer, Stockpiling

Before independence, the SPLM/A stockpiled and used antipersonnel mines.[4] In November 2011, South Sudan informed States Parties that it does not possess facilities for the production of landmines.[5] There is no information available on past transfers.

At the Eleventh Meeting of States Parties, South Sudan stated that it does not possess a stockpile of antipersonnel mines, but said it has discovered small quantities of landmines in former Sudan Armed Forces camps vacated after separation. In accordance with the provisions of Article 4 of the Mine Ban Treaty, South Sudan must destroy these mines as soon as possible and no later than 9 July 2015. South Sudan said these stocks would be destroyed in 2012 during the dry season. As of 1 September 2012, it was not known if the stocks had been destroyed. In November 2011, South Sudan stated that it is not retaining any antipersonnel mines for training.[6]

Use

Between January and August 2012, there were no new allegations of landmine use in South Sudan.

The armed forces of the Republic of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N), the armed opposition group operating in the Nuba Mountains, have been engaged in armed conflict since July 2011. There were reports of mine stockpiles being captured by the SPLM-N in February 2012 in the Republic of Sudan’s South Kordofan state, north of the border with South Sudan, which is home to some Nuba communities which supported the South during the civil war.[7] During fighting in Heglig in April 2012, weapons that included antipersonnel mines were reportedly seized by combatants from an occupied Sudan Armed Forces base; these combatants included members of the regular army of the Republic of South Sudan and Justice & Equality Movement (JEM), a non-state armed group in Sudan.[8] Geneva Call said JEM denied seizing any antipersonnel mines and that a representative of the South Sudan Mine Action Authority stated that a committee would be sent to investigate the allegation.[9]

Further details have emerged about prior allegations made in 2011 concerning mine use in several locations in South Sudan. During 2011, there were several incidents in which mines were apparently laid in South Sudan, including in the states of Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile; however, the Monitor could not determine who was responsible for the mine-laying and to what extent antipersonnel mines, as opposed to antivehicle mines, were being laid.

The Small Arms Survey, a Swiss NGO, documented several seizures of mines in this area throughout 2011. In March 2011, the SPLA confiscated more than 250 antivehicle mines from South Sudan Democratic Army forces loyal to George Athor in Jonglei state. The Small Arms Survey identified the mines as TM-57 and GLD-215, manufactured in Russia and China. Additional TM-57 antivehicle mines were seized from the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) in April 2011, near Mayom, in Unity state. The SPLA also recovered PMN-type antipersonnel mines from the SSLA around Mayom, Unity state, in June 2011.[10]

In June 2011, Brigadier Jurkuch Barach, chair of the Southern Sudan Mine Action Authority, expressed concern at new civilian deaths from what were, in his opinion, newly-laid antipersonnel mines and antivehicle mines.[11] A representative of the UN Mine Action Office (UNMAO) Southern Sudan told media that evidence indicates rebel militia groups were laying mines and said, “We’ve seen an increase in mine incidents and mine accidents over the past six months or so and in many areas we think there are a lot of alleged cases of re-mining. We can’t prove it because we haven’t seen it but anecdotal evidence indicates that these are newly laid, not old mines.”[12]

In March 2011, the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) regional coordinator for Southern Sudan was quoted in media reports saying that forces loyal to George Athor, a former deputy chief of staff of the SPLA, had used mines in northern Jonglei state.[13] In February 2011, SPLA spokesperson Philip Aguer told media that Athor’s forces were “planting land mines.”[14] According to the SPLA, “two army trucks were blown up by land mines near the town of Fangak in Jonglei state.”[15]

In Unity state, there were several reports of antivehicle mine use in 2011, claiming multiple casualties including in May,[16] August,[17] September,[18] and October.[19] The Small Arms Survey documented newly-laid Chinese manufactured T-72 antivehicle mines, reportedly laid by the SSLA around Mayom, Unity state, on 29 October 2011, with the lot number 07-81-6902.[20] In November 2011, a UN Mine Action and Coordination Centre (UNMACC) representative told media that routes leading into and out of the state capital Bentiu were suspected to be mined and stated, “We’re experiencing re-mining of the re-mining. We’re clearing routes and having to re-clear them, time and time again … on some of the routes.”[21] In December 2011, an UNMACC representative said that it was increasing efforts to unblock aid and trade routes in Unity state because “the re-mining has shut down most of the state.”[22]

In September 2011, the South Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SSLA/M), an armed opposition group in South Sudan that opposes the government of the Republic of South Sudan, issued a press release denying responsibility for landmine use in Unity state and blaming the SPLA “for planting anti-personnel mines which are now hampering free movements of civilians in Unity State.” The statement claimed that the governor of Unity state, Major-General Taban Deng Gai, had “ordered the SPLA army to plant Anti-personnel mines in major highways of the state to harm civilians and blame the SSLM/A.”[23] In November 2011, SPLA Major-General Mangar Buong accused the government of Sudan of funding the rebel groups to destabilize South Sudan by planting mines.[24] In January 2012, a former senior SSLA member interviewed by Amnesty International admitted that their forces had laid antivehicle landmines on Unity state roads expected to be used by SPLA forces, but denied that SSLA forces had laid antipersonnel landmines.[25]

In Upper Nile state, an antipersonnel mine was found in Malakal in April 2011. It is unknown who laid it, but there has been conflict in the area between the SPLA and a Shilluk armed group under Commander John Olony, a rebel SPLA officer.[26]

In June 2011, the ICBL expressed concern at “alarming reports” of new landmine use by non-state armed groups in South Sudan.[27] In May 2012, the ICBL again drew States Parties’ attention to apparent new mine-laying in 2011 in South Sudan, but noted it was not possible to determine who was responsible or whether antipersonnel mines in addition to antivehicle mines had been laid.[28]