Overall Mine Action Performance: VERY POOR[1]

Contamination and Impact

Mines

During conflict in 1955–1972 and 1983–2005, mines and other munitions were regularly used in the Republic of South Sudan resulting in a mine and especially explosive remnants of war (ERW) problem. New suspect hazardous areas (SHAs) are said to be identified by survey teams on a weekly basis,[2] while the threat is being compounded by new contamination from renewed heavy fighting since December 2013.[3] The full extent of South Sudan’s contamination remains unknown but was expected to see “a substantial change in contamination levels and a significant increase in the threat posed by ERW and possibly landmines.”[4]

As of August 2014, South Sudan had 395 confirmed mined areas across all 10 states and a further 86 SHAs may contain antipersonnel mines.[5] In addition, due to the current instability in Central Equatoria, Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile states, access to a number of areas has been extremely limited, severely impeding efforts to identify or address contamination.

The number of antipersonnel mine victims saw a four-fold increase from 12 in 2012 to 46 in 2013.[6]

Cluster munition remnants

Since 2006, 770 sites containing cluster munition remnants have been identified across all 10 states in South Sudan, including new contamination as a result of the ongoing clashes in the country since December 2013.[7] On 7 February 2014, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) unexploded ordnance (UXO) survey teams discovered new remnants of RBK-250-275 cluster bombs and unexploded AO-1SCh submunitions on the Juba-Bor road, south of Bor in Jonglei state.[8]

As of August 2014, UNMAS reported that 95 known dangerous areas containing cluster munition remnants remained in all 10 states. Central, Eastern, and Western Equatoria states are the most heavily contaminated.[9]

Cluster munition-contaminated areas as of August 2014[10]

Mine Action Program

The South Sudan Demining Authority (SSDA)—now named the National Mine Action Authority (NMAA)—was established in 2006 by presidential decree to act as the national agency for coordination, planning, and monitoring of mine action in South Sudan.[11]

Under UN Security Council Resolution 1996 (2011), UNMAS was given the responsibility to support South Sudan in demining while strengthening the capacity of the NMAA. Thus, UNMAS (with the NMAA) has been overseeing all mine action in South Sudan through its main office in Juba, and sub-offices in Bentiu, Malakal, Wau, and Yei. UNMAS is responsible for accrediting mine action organizations, developing national mine action standards, establishing a quality management system, managing the Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA), and tasking operators.[12] The NMAA takes the lead on victim assistance and risk education.[13]

While it is planned that eventually the NMAA will assume full responsibility for all mine action activities, South Sudan’s National Mine Action Strategic Plan 2012–2016 notes that the government did “not have the financial and technical capacity to support its mine action program. UN agencies, development partners, and international organizations will need to support the program in providing technical and financial assistance.”[14] UN Security Council Resolution 1996 (SCR1996) authorized the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to support mine action through assessed peacekeeping funds.[15]

In May 2014, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2155 in response to the conflict that broke out in December 2014. The new Resolution marked a significant change from SCR1996 focusing on four areas: protection of civilians; creating the conditions for humanitarian access; reporting and investigation human rights violations; and support to the Cessation of Hostilities agreements. Significantly the majority of capacity development for Government institutions is no longer part of the mission’s mandate.

International demining operators comprised four NGOs in 2013: DanChurchAid (DCA), Danish Demining Group (DDG), Mines Advisory Group (MAG), and Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA). Four commercial companies also conducted demining: G4S Ordnance Management (G4S OM), MECHEM, MineTech International (MTI), and The Development Initiative (TDI). The Sudan Integrated Mine Action Service (SIMAS) was the sole functioning national demining operator.

In 2013, South Sudan had a total mine action capacity of 26 multitasking teams (MTT)—trained in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), manual mine clearance, technical survey (TS) and battle area clearance (BAC);[16] four road clearance/survey teams; 12 EOD teams; seven mine detection dog (MDD) teams; nine mechanical teams; and 18 risk education teams.[17] Capacity requirements for 2014 were not known due to the ongoing conflict, but it is “likely that there will be more security implications than during 2013 which may restrict access to some locations.”[18]

Land Release

During 2013, UNMAS reported the release of 213 mined and battle areas across all 10 states in South Sudan totaling 27.1km² with the clearance of 845 antipersonnel mines, 215 antivehicle mines, and 22,018 items of UXO.[19] UNMAS reported that since 2004 a total of 8,165 hazards have been addressed, more than 1,124 km² of land has been released, and 23,000km of road has been verified, destroying more than 32,000 landmines and 840,000 items of UXO.[20]

Land release in 2009–2013[21]

Mine clearance in 2013

In 2013, a total of 135 confirmed mined areas and 24 suspected mined areas were released through technical survey and clearance over 4.33km², destroying in the process 691 antipersonnel mines, 150 antivehicle mines, and 2,142 items of UXO.[22] Non-technical survey (NTS) activities canceled a further 16.99km².

Release of mined area by operator in 2013[23]

Most mined areas cleared or otherwise released in 2013 were in the states of Central, Western, and Eastern Equatoria, respectively. While these states were the most heavily contaminated, the states of Jonglei and Upper Nile have been identified as home to a significant proportion of internally displaced people and refuges and as such were high-priority areas. The relative low level of clearance activities in these states in 2013 by comparison to the Equatoria states can be explained by lack of access in Jonglei and Upper Nile due to the long rainy season and flooding that meant the majority of operations there had to be completed in January–May 2013.[24]

Mined areas released in 2013 by state[25]

Article 5 Compliance

In accordance with Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty, South Sudan is required to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 9 July 2021.

South Sudan expects to have surveyed and recorded all SHAs by the end of 2016 to facilitate the next strategic mine action planning phase, and to release approximately 5km² of confirmed hazardous area per year through technical survey and/or clearance, corresponding to 25km² in 2012–2016.[26] In 2012 and 2013, South Sudan were not far behind their clearance targets; however with new contamination and decreased access to contaminated areas caused by the fighting at the end of December 2013 in addition to the continued identification of suspected and confirmed mined areas, it was highly uncertain whether South Sudan can sustain this pace of land release in 2014 and beyond. NPA has reported that its deployment to several states had been suspended or delayed in Upper Nile and the equatorial states in early 2014 due to the heavy fighting.[27]

Given the current security situation, it is too early to know if South Sudan can meet its 2021 Article 5 deadline.

Cluster munitions clearance

In 2013, South Sudan reported the release of 96 cluster munition-contaminated areas totaling 634,491m², of which 509,558m² was cleared through TS and clearance, while 124,966m² was canceled through NTS. During cluster munitions survey and clearance operations, 19 antipersonnel mines, nine antivehicle mines, and 1,232 UXO were destroyed.[28]

Cluster munition contaminated areas closed in 2013[29]

NPA is currently planning a dedicated cluster munitions survey project and has reported that it expects to find that a high number of cluster submunitions currently logged as EOD spot tasks will in fact constitute the footprint of a cluster strike and so require cluster clearance rather than individual clearance or destruction. NPA intends to use the IMSMA database as the starting point for a more comprehensive survey effort once funding for the project is secured.[30]

Battle area clearance in 2013

In 2013, eight operators conducted BAC in 54 hazard areas, during which 5,778,149m² of area was released and 135 antipersonnel mines, 56 antivehicle mines, and 13,430 UXO were destroyed. In addition, 5,201 UXO were destroyed in EOD spot/roving tasks in 2013. The increase in BAC from 2012 is due to an increased focus on EOD and BAC tasks, in addition to the deployment of eight extra MTTs that were more mobile and reached a higher number of areas.[31]

Safety of demining personnel

There were no incidents during demining reported in 2013.[32]

Support for Mine Action

South Sudan received more than US$17.8 million in international funding in 2013 for clearance, risk education, and victim assistance from 12 donors—two more donors than in 2012 but a decrease of $1.1 million in total funding. The decrease in international support was due to reduced funding from the European Union, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States compared to 2012, along with a decrease in the value of the Yen. While 2013 marked an increase in support from Denmark and Sweden and included three donor States (Italy, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) that had not contributed the previous year, these increases were not sufficient to match the level of funding in 2012.

No national funding was reported to by the Government of South Sudan to its mine action program,[33] but it has been previously stated that the government provides a budget to the NMAA to cover salaries and limited operational costs.[34]

Italy, Japan, and the European Commission’s Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) provided funding through the UN Voluntary Trust Fund.[35] In addition, South Sudan received more than $40 million in UN assessed peacekeeping funds for mine action,[36] an increase of almost $3 million from 2012.

The combined total of all contributions towards South Sudan’s mine action program in 2013 was just over $58 million. This is in excess of the 2013 annual budget projection of some $45 million envisaged as needed under the National Mine Action Strategy 2012–2016.[37]

Recommendations

·         South Sudan should develop a resource mobilization strategy and initiate policy dialogue with development partners on long-term support for mine action.

·         South Sudan should increase its financial contribution to the NMAA.

·         South Sudan should reassess its capacity needs in light of ongoing fighting in the country and the access and new contamination issues this poses.

·         Greater consideration should be given to the need for support to national operators in order to increase the pace of clearance as well as ensure sustainability.