About Us
Our Research Products
Sudan
Mine Ban Policy
Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty
|
Mine Ban Treaty status |
State Party |
|
National implementation measures |
Legislation approved 18 February 2010 |
|
Transparency reporting |
13 April 2009 |
Background
Following a three-year peace process, the government of Sudan and the southern-based rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on 9 January 2005. An interim implementation period of six years will last until July 2011, when a referendum on self-determination for the south will be held. Sudan is now ruled by the Government of National Unity (GONU)—an entity containing the former ruling party, the National Congress, SPLM/A, and others—and a semi-autonomous Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS).
Policy
The Republic of the Sudan signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997 and ratified on 13 October 2003, becoming a State Party on 1 April 2004.
On 18 February 2010, the Sudan Mine Action Act of 2010 was approved by the Council of Ministers and the President signed Decree No. (51) approving the law and requiring its implementation. The Act is comprised of 29 articles divided into four chapters. Chapter Four includes Mine Ban Treaty obligations, including the prohibition of antipersonnel mine use and stockpiling, clearance of contaminated areas, risk education, victim assistance, and transparency reporting. It also includes penalties for violations of the act.[1]
The CPA signed on 9 January 2005 incorporates previous agreements between the government of Sudan and the SPLM/A that explicitly prohibit use of all landmines.[2]
As of July 2010, Sudan had not yet submitted its annual Article 7 transparency report due 30 April 2010. Sudan has submitted six Article 7 reports to date, most recently in April 2009.[3]
Sudan participated in the Third Continental Conference of African Experts on Landmines held in Pretoria, South Africa from 9–11 September 2009, where it made a presentation on victim assistance.
Sudan attended the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia in November–December 2009. The State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Secretary-General of the National Mine Action Authority (NMAA) made a statement during the high-level segment. Sudan also made interventions on victim assistance and mine clearance.
Sudan participated in the intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva in June 2010, where it made statements on mine clearance and cooperation and assistance as concerns victim assistance.
Sudan signed the Convention on Conventional Weapons on 10 April 1981, but has not ratified it.
Production, transfer, and use
Sudan has repeatedly stated that it has not produced or exported antipersonnel mines.[4] Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor has not received any serious allegations of use of antipersonnel mines by the government, the SPLM/A, or other forces anywhere in Sudan since early 2004.[5] In January 2010, after violence in some regions of the south, the UN Mine Action Service told media that there was no evidence of new mines being laid in Sudan.[6]
The UN has reported one suspected mined area in Darfur region, but it is not known when the mines may have been laid.[7] In July 2009, a representative of the NMAA stated that there are no landmines in Darfur except for World War II mines on the borders with Libya and Egypt.[8] Many groups remain outside the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement, which prohibits mine use.[9]
Stockpiling and destruction
Sudan completed destruction of its stockpile of 10,566 antipersonnel mines on 31 March 2008, just ahead of its 1 April 2008 treaty-mandated deadline. The reported size and composition of Sudan’s stockpile, as well as the number of mines to be retained for training purposes, have varied in accounts by Sudan leading up to and following stockpile destruction events in 2007 and 2008.[10] At the Second Review Conference, Sudan stated that a total of 10,656 stockpiled antipersonnel mines were destroyed (possibly a typographical error from 10,566) and 1,938 mines retained for training.[11]
In its April 2009 Article 7 report, Sudan stated, “In addition to the destruction of known stockpiles of APMs [antipersonnel mines], caches of APM were discovered in various locations of Southern Sudan which contained 523 APM. All these mines were destroyed in 2008. The destruction took place in various parts of Blue Nile State, Southern Sudan during October–December 2008.”[12]
Mines retained for training purposes
In recent years Sudan has reported differing numbers of mines retained for training purposes, based on varying estimates of overall stockpiles. In April 2008, shortly after the completion of stockpile destruction, Sudan reported retaining 5,000 mines of unspecified types “for the purposes of research and [the] demining training process.”[13] In June 2008, it reported retaining 4,979 mines, again without specifying types.[14] In August 2008, Sudan reported retaining 4,997 mines of 18 types, without specifying numbers retained for each type. The list provided was evidently provisional, as Sudan stated, “Details of each type of mine and the quantities are being sorted out and will be reported in the next report.”[15] The same number of mines retained (4,997) was repeated in a statement by Sudan at the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in November 2008.[16]
However, in its April 2009 Article 7 report covering calendar year 2008, Sudan reported retaining only 1,938 mines, consisting of PMN (178), Type 14 (130), “Desert plastic” (85), Type 35 (1,194), Valmara (46), and PPM mines (307).[17] This number of 1,938 mines was confirmed by Sudan in May 2009 at the intersessional Standing Committee meetings and in December 2009 at the Second Review Conference.[18]
Sudan has not reported in any detail on the intended purposes or actual uses of its retained mines, as agreed by States Parties at Mine Ban Treaty Review Conferences held in 2004 and 2009.
In June 2008, the head of the Southern Sudan Demining Authority (SSDA) stated that all mines retained by Sudan for training and research purposes are held under the authority of GONU and are not accessible to mine action authorities or operators in Southern Sudan. He said mines required for training purposes in Southern Sudan must be obtained from sources other than GONU stocks, at least until the 2011 referendum on the status of Southern Sudan, at which time common access to stocks may result from the establishment of a joint government.[19]
[1] Interview with Adil Abdelhamid Adam, Legal Advisor, National Mine Action Center, Khartoum, 31 March 2010. Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor has copies of the law and the decree in Arabic. Previously, in April 2009, Sudan reported that draft national implementation legislation had been cleared by the GONU Ministry of Justice and “endorsed by the concerned committee of the National Assembly responsible for the validations of humanitarian laws.” Article 7 Report, Form A, 13 April 2009.
[2] See Landmine Monitor Report 2006, p. 652. This includes an agreement reached on 31 December 2004 which states that the “laying of mines, explosive devices or booby traps of whatever type shall be prohibited.” Under a previous memorandum of understanding on cessation of hostilities reached in October 2002, both parties agreed to “cease laying of landmines.” The government and SPLM/A also agreed to stop using mines in the January 2002 Nuba Mountains cease-fire agreement. Prior to these agreements, the SPLM/A signed the Geneva Call Deed of Commitment in October 2001.
[3] Sudan has prepared Article 7 reports submitted or dated 1 October 2004, 30 April 2005, 20 May 2006, 30 April 2007, August 2008, and 13 April 2009.
[4] Previous editions of Landmine Monitor have noted no evidence of production of antipersonnel mines by Sudan, but have cited allegations of transfer to militant groups in neighboring countries prior to Sudan becoming a State Party. See, for example, Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 223.
[5] Landmine Monitor received allegations of use of antipersonnel mines by government-supported militias in Upper Nile state as late as April 2004. A Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) commander in Northern Darfur state said the SLA had captured a Sudanese government cache of landmines when it overran a government army position in early 2004. See Landmine Monitor Report 2004, pp. 753–755. For descriptions of past use and denials of use, see previous editions of Landmine Monitor.
[6] “Sudan: UXO Threat to Development, Elections,” IRIN/All Africa Global Media (Nairobi), 1 1 February 2010, www.irinnews.org.
[7] UN Mine Action Office (UNMAO), “Information Sheet on Darfur,” provided by Christina Greene, Program Officer, UNMAO, 26 March 2008.
[8] “Sudanese demining centre reports on activities in Darfur,” Sudan Vision, 9 July 2009.
[9] Darfur Peace Agreement, Abuja, 5 May 2006, www.unmis.org.
[10] See Landmine Monitor Report 2009, pp. 675–676. In its Article 7 report submitted in February 2006, Sudan declared a total of 14,485 antipersonnel mines of eight types held in army and SPLA stockpiles, and stated that 5,000 mines of various types would be retained for training purposes by the Engineer Corps of the Sudan Armed Forces. In its Article 7 reports submitted in May 2006 and April 2007, Sudan declared a total of 4,485 stockpiled antipersonnel mines of 18 types, all under the control of GONU, and an additional 10,000 mines of unspecified types to be retained for training purposes, with GONU and GOSS each retaining 5,000 mines. Sudan destroyed a total of 10,556 mines on 30 April 2007 in northern Sudan and 31 March 2008 in Southern Sudan. In an April 2008 letter to the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD), Sudan stated that, of a total stockpile of 15,566 antipersonnel mines, it had destroyed 10,566 and retained 5,000. Sudan stated that the adjusted figure of 15,566 mines (rather than the 14,485 mines previously reported) was the result of additional mines stockpiled by SPLA forces not being previously included in inventories. In its Article 7 report covering 2008, Sudan revised its number of mines retained for training purposes, this time reporting a total of 1,938 mines of six types. In a presentation during the May 2009 intersessional Standing Committee meetings, Sudan revised its total number of stockpiled mines, reporting that in spite of its original declaration of 14,485 stockpiled mines, only 12,513 were “accounted for” during physical stock-taking. It is likely that number is supposed to be 12,504 (the 10,566 destroyed mines plus the 1,938 retained mines). Sudan noted, “As no proper records have been maintained, determining the exact number and types of APMs [antipersonnel mines] was a challenge.”
[11] Statement by Dr. Abdelbagi Gailani, State Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Secretary-General of the NMAA, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 3 December 2009.
[12] Article 7 Report, Form G, 13 April 2009. At the Ninth Meeting of States Parties in November 2008, Sudan said that it had found “additional abandoned caches” of mines and would destroy them. In March 2008, Sudan indicated that it expects additional stockpiled antipersonnel mines will be identified and destroyed, given the difficulties of doing a comprehensive inventory and collection of all the stockpiled antipersonnel mines belonging to all former combatants in Sudan. See Landmine Monitor Report 2008, p. 634.
[13] Letter to GICHD from the Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Sudan to the UN in Geneva, 4 April 2008.
[14] Statement of Sudan, Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 2 June 2008.
[15] Article 7 Report, Form D, August 2008.
[16] Statement of Sudan, Ninth Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 24 November 2008.
[17] Article 7 Report, Form D, 13 April 2009.
[18] Presentation by Sudan, Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, Geneva, 25 May 2009; and statement by Dr. Abdelbagi Gailani, Second Review Conference, Cartagena, 3 December 2009.
[19] Interview with Jurkuc Barac Jurkuc, Chairperson, SSDA, in Geneva, 4 June 2008.
Send us your feedback on this profile
Send the Monitor your feedback by filling out this form. Responses will be channeled to editors, but will not be available online. Click if you would like to send an attachment. If you are using webmail, send attachments to .