Key developments since May 2000:There are strong indications
that both government and rebel forces in Sudan continued to use antipersonnel
mines. The government continues to deny use. The first meeting of the Sudan
Mine Network, established to coordinate mine action, was held in April 2001.
Between September 1997 and March 2001 clearance teams have removed 2,816
antipersonnel mines, 411 antitank mines, and 88,019 UXO. Sudan has recovered
2,972,024 square meters of land, along with 676 miles of road.
Sudan signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December
1997, but has not ratified it. The government has been vocal about its
intention to ratify the treaty. In November 2000, Sudan said that it “has
so far taken up advance steps to reach the stage of ratification of the
treaty.”[1] In May 2001,
Sudan stated that “the departmental discussion on ratification and
implementation of the Convention has passed the most critical areas and reached
the most significant stages. The sectors involved will hold a conference during
August 2001 to finally exchange views and formulate a strategy for the
implementation. The proposals will then be passed to the higher authorities for
fine-tuning and tabling the convention for ratification by the National
Parliament.”[2]
In
September 2000, Sudan noted that it “had earnestly and consciously”
signed the Mine Ban Treaty, and “is therefore committed to the letter and
the spirit of this important instrument and of its
provisions.”[3] Sudan has
said, “War in the country is the main obstacle” to joining and
implementing the Mine Ban Treaty, “because rebels have not yet given up
this dangerous practice of random laying of landmines. Poor control on some
border areas in the conflict zones makes anti-personnel landmine trafficking to
the rebels very easy and the situation very difficult for the Government to
achieve success in fulfilling its obligations under the Ottawa
Convention.”[4]
Sudan
has participated in regional and international conferences on landmines, where
it has made a number of statements. At the Second Meeting of States Parties to
the Mine Ban Treaty in September 2000, the Sudanese delegation stated,
“The unfounded allegations that Sudan is producing or using mines will not
detract the country from fulfilling its obligations and honouring its
commitments under this
instrument.”[5] Sudan
participated in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings
in December 2000 and May 2001. In November 2000, Sudan attended a regional
conference on landmines in the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden held in
Djibouti. Sudan also participated in the Bamako Seminar on Universalization and
Implementation of the Mine Ban Treaty in Mali in February 2001.
The August
2001 workshop (mentioned above) is intended to bring together all concerned
parties in Sudan for an open discussion on the Mine Ban
Treaty.[6] The recommendations
that result from the workshop will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for
further action.[7] The Foreign
Minister of Sudan, who signed the treaty in Ottawa in December 1999, is now the
First Vice President of
Sudan.[8]
Sudan voted in
favor of the November 2000 UN General Assembly resolution calling for
universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty, as it has done in previous years on
similar resolutions. Sudan is not a party to the Convention on Conventional
Weapons.
Rebel Groups Mine Ban Policy
The main armed opposition group is the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), whose armed forces are known as the
Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The SPLM/A controls significant
areas of southern and eastern Sudan. On 27 March 2000, SPLM/A representative
Edward Lino Abyei orally committed to the Deed of Commitment for adherence to a
total ban on antipersonnel mines with Geneva Call, a Swiss-registered
non-governmental body. The SPLM/A committed to not using antipersonnel mines
under any circumstances.
An SPLA commander expressed this view: “If
we are going to move forward with coping with the problem, landmines need to be
depoliticized. It shouldn’t be left to governments who merely sign
agreements and don’t implement anything. Khartoum agrees to many things,
but hardly ever does anything about
them.”[9]
Another
rebel group, the Sudan People’s Democratic Front (SPDF), told Landmine
Monitor in January 2001 that it would be willing to sign a similar declaration.
Landmine Monitor was told that SPDF forces already have orders to refrain from
using mines in any areas subject to humanitarian
relief.[10]
Production, Transfer and Stockpiling
Representatives of the Sudanese government have
repeatedly stated that Sudan has not produced antipersonnel
landmines.[11] Government forces
are reported to have considerable experience in manufacturing Improvised
Explosive Devices (IEDs), which are also prohibited by the Mine Ban
Treaty.[12] The SPLM/A and
other rebel groups are not known to be producers of antipersonnel mines, but
have the capacity to make IEDs.
In the past there have been allegations
that Sudan was supplying arms including landmines to Islamic militant groups in
neighboring countries. In 1999, Sudan and Uganda signed a reconciliation
agreement in which they reestablished diplomatic relations and agreed to stop
supporting rebel forces based in their territory. Despite these initiatives,
the governments in Khartoum and Kampala continue to fund each other’s
proxy wars. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel group,
appears to still be receiving Sudanese military assistance. It continues to
operate out of Government of Sudan (GOS) garrison towns in Eastern Equatoria and
has recently used mines. Roads on both sides of the Sudanese-Ugandan border
have been continually mined.[13]
The Sudanese government maintains that it has never “acquired
meaningful quantities of antipersonnel
mines.”[14] It states
that it only has a small stock of mines for training and demonstration
purposes.[15] A July 2001
letter to Landmine Monitor claimed there were no stocks of antipersonnel
mines.[16] According to the
government, all mines collected during demining and those taken from the rebel
forces are destroyed.[17] The
ongoing allegations and evidence of use of antipersonnel mines would indicate
that operational stockpiles of mines exist.
Landmine Monitor received
credible information that in July 2000, SPLA forces captured a GOS mine
stockpile when they overan the town of Boing on the Blue Nile/Upper Nile border.
Eyewitness accounts described a warehouse with over 100 cases of mines as well
as many individual mines just lying
around.[18] When the town was
recaptured in September, exactly what had happened to the stockpile is unclear.
Photographs provided to Landmine Monitor show antipersonnel mines of Belgian,
Israeli/Iranian,[19] and Chinese
manufacture.
Use
There are strong indications that both government
and SPLA forces continued to use antipersonnel mines during this reporting
period (since May 2000). Both sides deny use, and accuse each other of ongoing
use. New mines are being planted even though it seems that both sides would
like to discontinue the use of antipersonnel mines and are taking measures to
reduce the landmine problem.
It would appear that for both the government
and the SPLA, the decision to use mines is being made by military commanders at
the local level. These commanders may often be unaware of the commitment not to
use antipersonnel mines. SPLA commanders told Landmine Monitor in January 2001
that they “recently interviewed a captured colonel who hadn’t even
heard of Ottawa [the Mine Ban
Treaty].”[20] However,
the Commander of the Sudanese Army Engineering Corps said that he feels certain
that the army engineers know about their responsibility not to lay antipersonnel
mines, and noted that there is a conference once a year to explain these
obligations to the engineers and instruct them not to use antipersonnel
mines.[21]
Another problem is
that militias and proxy forces, whose use of mines has apparently increased as
the war has progressed, may not feel obligated to abide by the formal agreements
signed by Khartoum or the
SPLA.[22]
Government and Government Supported Militia Use
During a meeting with the ICBL in August 2000,
Sudanese diplomats and military officials repeatedly denied any government use
of antipersonnel mines and placed the blame on the National Democratic Alliance
(NDA) and SPLA. One diplomat stated that Sudan does not use landmines because
“they do not want to injure or kill their own soldiers or their
families.”[23] This
denial followed a letter to Landmine Monitor from the Sudanese Permanent Mission
to the UN in New York in which Sudan denied using
landmines.[24] The Sudanese
delegation at the Second Meeting of States Parties also directly denied the
allegations of antipersonnel mine use by Sudanese forces contained in the
Landmine Monitor Report
2000.[25]
After
Landmine Monitor provided a draft of the Landmine Monitor report, the government
responded, “This allegation [of continued use] is totally unaccepted and
untrue. The Sudan armed forces stopped using antipersonnel landmines since
Sudan signed the Ottawa treaty and we are totally committed to that. The Sudan
armed forces have no stock of antipersonnel
landmines.”[26]
However,
based on observations and data collected during a Landmine Monitor field mission
to South Sudan in early 2001, government forces and pro-government militias
continued to use mines. Information regarding ongoing use of antipersonnel mines
by government forces and pro-government militias was received from a former GOS
engineering officer, local relief workers, local mine action practitioners,
local church organizations, other non-governmental organizations, SPLA engineers
and officers, SPDF military, journalists and
filmmakers.[27]
In contested
areas of the country, such as the Nuba Mountains, the government controls
certain towns, known as garrison towns, which are located in the middle of the
rebel-controlled countryside. The government has used mines to prevent SPLA
attacks on the garrisons, but also to forcibly contain the population of these
“protected
villages.”[28] Mines have
been used to prevent the local population within these fortified villages from
returning to their own villages to salvage their property after government
raids. Numerous amputees tell stories similar to 55-year-old Osman Luma Kodwar
from Uru village in Heiban district: “I was returning to my house after
the army had attacked from the garrison in Heiban. It was still smoldering, but
it wasn't too badly damaged, so I went inside to find what I could save. There
was a huge bang. When I woke up my leg was
missing.”[29]
SPLA
sources provided Landmine Monitor with a list of the names of garrison and unit
commanders of the 5th Division, stationed in the Nuba Mountains, associated with
the use of mines. It includes commanding officers of the 4th Brigade (Lagowa);
89th Battalion (Telodi); unnamed Brigade (Abu Gebeia); 18th Brigade (Kadugli);
unnamed Battalion (Delabye); 19th Brigade (Dilling); 127th Battalion (Telodi);
Mendi Garrison Company; and El Esaret Garrison
Company.[30]
Soldiers of
the 5th Division have also used mines in ambushes along civilian routes,
including paths to water holes, markets, and orchards. Mines have been used to
prevent pursuit following raids. According to the SPLA, captured government
military engineers who laid mines were not aware that their government had
signed an international treaty prohibiting their
use.[31]
According to the
SPLA, in December 2000, an attack by GOS forces on Kululu in the Nuba Mountains
included the use of mines. The SPLA Nuba mine action team estimated that 200
mines were planted, resulting so far in the death of 50 civilians and injuring
an additional 51.[32]
In
2000, UNICEF discovered landmines mines in Rumbek, once a GOS garrison
town.[33]
Relief workers
reported that GOS militias from Nasir looted Latjor in May 2000. Landmines were
planted in NGO compounds, latrines, and other sites. The militia’s
supplier is thought to be the
GOS.[34] The Didinga and Toposa
militias who are based in GOS garrison towns in the South receive assistance
from the Sudanese military and have allegedly used antipersonnel
mines.[35] Forces of Major
General Paulino Matip, now head of the South Sudan Defense Force under the
government, allegedly laid mines aroud Turkwei killing three and wounding six.
A similar incident occured in Maybun in
August.[36]
The US Department
of State’s annual human rights report for 2000 said that “in the
early part of the year, a government militia raided a relief center at Mading
and placed landmines in an NGO compound forcing the permanent evacuation of the
center. Injuries continued to occur during the year from landmines
previously laid by the Government to protect garrison towns and from landmines
laid by the SPLA and its allies during the course of the
war.”[37]
Rebel Use
In October 2000, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human
Rights in Sudan quoted “credible” reports that the SPLA was planting
mines around villages in Eastern Equatoria. He stated that he was told by the
SPLA that they were only replanting mines used by the GOS in other
locations.[38] That same month,
Leonardo Franco, the UN Commissioner on Human Rights’ special investigator
on Sudan, criticized the SPLA for using
landmines.[39] On 6 February
2001, a local SPLA Commander attacked rival SPDF positions near Kush and
allegedly planted a large number of mines. Reports from military and
humanitarian agencies indicate that GOS towns captured by SPLA have subsequently
been mined.[40]
In
Chukadum, a 24-year-old pregnant mother of two, was evacuated to the ICRC
Lopiding hospital on 18 February 2001 with an injured left
leg.[41]
According to the US
Department of State, in the year 2000, insurgent rebel forces (SPLA/SPDF) in
Sudan “laid landmines indiscriminately on roads and paths that killed
maimed both soldiers and
civilians.”[42]
The
Sudanese government has repeatedly claimed that various rebel groups have used
antipersonnel mines. At a conference in Djibouti, the Sudanese delegation
highlighted rebel use of mines in “South Sudan, Nuba Mountains, and East
of Sudan.”[43] A Sudanese
diplomat stated that the use of the butterfly mine by the NDA is “causing
a huge problem in Eastern
Sudan.”[44]
Landmine Problem/Survey and Assessment
The southern regions of Equatoria, Bahr El Ghazal,
and Upper Nile, the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan in central Sudan, the
Jonglei and Blue Nile regions and Bhar El Arab in the Safaha area are
mine-affected.[45] Eastern
Equatoria is one of the most heavily mine-infested areas in Sudan.
There is a general lack of information on the number and deployment of
landmines in Sudan. UNICEF, the lead agency, is working with Operation Lifeline
Sudan (OLS) agencies in the field to collect comprehensive information on
landmine-related incidents in order to compile
statistics.[46] The UN is
funding a project entitled the “Information Management and Coordination
for Emergency Mine Action in Sudan.” UNOPS is executing the project which
will be based on the development of two small mine action coordination cells
focusing on emergency assistance in the most heavily afflicted areas of Sudan.
In the rebel-held regions, local NGOs, particularly Operation Save Innocent
Lives-Sudan (OSIL-S), will carry out the
project.[47]
A
comprehensive survey has not yet been done on the mine situation in Sudan. An
IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority on Development) Forum Task Force led by
consultant Rae McGrath carried out an assessment of landmine areas in Sudan in
November and December 2000 with the assistance of the Sudanese
government.[48] This project
was funded by the European Community; a report is expected to be published in
October 2001.
In January and February of 2001, Sudan Integrated Mine Action
Service (SIMAS) conducted an emergency assessment and survey of mines in
Chukudum, Eastern Equatoria. Funded by Cordaid through Pax Christi-Netherlands,
the research team made a preliminary assessment of the town and surrounding area
and mapped the location of mines, which are estimated to number 2,000-4,000.
Biographical data on local landmine victims and the socio-economic effects of
the mining were also noted in the
report.[49] SIMAS deputy
director Malik Ruben said, “The most important thing right now is a
comprehensive survey of the entire South Sudan and the consolidation of the
results. Up to now few international organisations have taken the situation
seriously, but as the area becomes more peaceful it is clear it will become a
greater priority.”[50]
Meanwhile in Kassala, the Sudan Campaign to Ban Landmines has started to
collect data on mines.
Mine Action Coordination
The first meeting of the Sudan Mine Network was
held in April 2001. The network, which consists of government institutions, UN
agencies, and NGOs, was established to coordinate “all mine-action efforts
in the country.”[51]
Sudan has reported that the Humanitarian Aid Commission, which runs the mine
awareness programs for the government, is “embarked on the process of
national capacity building which includes data collection, training, development
of policies and
programs.”[52]
SIMAS
deputy director Malik Ruben told Landmine Monitor, “What we really need
is a Mine Action Center pooling all the data and mobilizing
resources.”[53] On its
own initiative, SIMAS plans to start a Mine Action Center to record regional
landmine statistics.[54]
Mine Clearance
In the government-controlled areas, the Sudanese
military is only conducting mine clearance projects to meet military objectives.
An interview with General Ibrahim Mohamed Ahmed who is head of the Military
Engineering Department indicated the military’s willingness to cooperate
with any future humanitarian demining
activities.[55]
Several
different NGOs have undertaken mine clearance projects in areas controlled by
rebels. There are a large number of highly trained local mine staff with OSIL-S
and SIMAS. Both groups are awaiting funding and political permission to begin
more clearance projects.[56]
The SPLA has given permission to SIMAS to begin mine clearance in Chukudum, an
area the rebels along with National Islamic Frontmilitia forces began
mining three years ago.[57]
OSIL-S has been demining the areas around Yei, Kajo Keji, and
Nimule.[58]
The region of
Kurmuk in Blue Nile has seen several demining projects. In March 2000, an
emergency team from OSIL-S cleared 36 miles of road around Kurmuk, removing 762
antipersonnel mines, 12 antitank mines, and 42
UXO.[59] In June and July 2000,
OSIL-S conducted an emergency demining in Kurmuk itself. Christian Aid, a
British NGO, has been funding recent OSIL-S activities in Kurmuk. Several other
NGOs also operate in Kurmuk and one group supplied eight metal detectors to
SPLA.[60]
In 2000, with
funding from the Basel Mission (Switzerland) the UK-based NGO Mines Advisory
Group (MAG) provided development support to OSIL-S. A Community Liaison and a
Technical Advisor were based in Yei and Nimule to train OSIL deminers and mine
awareness staff. Training in mine clearance, EOD, mine awareness, and community
liaison techniques was given to new and existing mine awareness and mine
clearance teams, supervisors and other key staff. From April 2001 to March
2002, with funding from the government of Switzerland, MAG is supporting OSIL-S
with 12 person-months of further technical mine action capacity development and
12 person-months quality assurance.
The opening of roads to relief
deliveries, such as the road to Rumbek after the 1998/99 demining, is saving
humanitarian organizations millions of dollars a year. Local escorts travel
with food monitors to prevent them from straying onto mined
roads.[61]
The following
chart illustrates the efforts of the OSIL-S mine clearance teams for the period
between September 1997 and March 2001. Clearance teams have removed 411
antitank mines, 2,816 antipersonnel mines, and 88,019 UXO. Sudan has recovered
2,972,024 square meters of land along with 676 miles of road.[62]
Month
Areas cleared (m2)
Roads cleared (miles)
Number of Landmines destroyed
AT AP
Type of Landmines destroyed
AT
AP
Number of UXO destroyed
9/97 to 2/00
2,482,700
560
258
1,970
NA
NA
76,802
3/00
136,500
36
12
762
TM-46 PRBM-3
M-14
M-35
POMZ-2
Type 72
42
4/00
177,000
5
2
21
TM-46
POMZ-2
M-35
705
5/00
150,000
-
11
3
TM-46
M-16
POMZ-2
M-35
2,792
6/00
3,000
12
5
-
TM-46
-
36
7/00
9,000
-
-
-
-
-
107
8/00
-
10
5
-
TM-46 57
-
114
9/00 and 10/00
109
-
6
2
NA
NA
2,712
11/00 and 12/00
491
-
-
1
NA
NA
1,370
1/01
1,213
52
16
19
NA
NA
2,102
2/01
8,202
-
18
29
NA
NA
291
3/01
3,809
1
78
9
NA
NA
946
Total
2,972,024
676
411
2,816
-
-
88,019
Mine Awareness
A public awareness campaign has been initiated by
the armed forces to educate “the public about the safe handling of war
debris and dangerous
elements.”[63] The
Sudanese military participated in a landmine issues workshop held in Malakal
during November 2000. The workshop was a forum to discuss solutions and to ask
local organizations to be active in the campaign to ban landmines.
The
Kassala landmine awareness education program is being extended for another year
in order to evaluate its effects. UNICEF and UNHCR have not yet joined the
other original partners, Oxfam GB, Swedish Save the Children and the Sudanese
Red Crescent, in contributing financially to the extension phase. Oxfam GB and
Swedish Save the Children have also begun a landmine awareness education project
in the Malakal province.
SIMAS has established its headquarters in Southern
Sudan and has obtained permission from the SPLM/A to promote mine awareness in
Southern Sudan and to begin clearance work in Rumbek. In 2001, UNICEF switched
its funding for mine awareness training from OSIL-S to SIMAS. SIMAS conducted a
mine awareness “training of trainers” workshop in Loki in February
2001. Their seven-day educational workshop covered the causes of mine
accidents, the identification and avoidance of landmines and minefields and
solutions to the landmine
problem.[64] Twelve trainers
from the Relief Organization of Southern Sudan (RASS) areas in the Upper Nile
completed the workshop along with a Nuba Relief Rehabilitation and Development
Organization (NRRDO) cadre. Further training sessions were planned for Yambio
in March 2001, Rumbek in April 2001 and in the Nuba
Mountains.[65]
OSIL-S,
along with its demining efforts, conducts mine awareness activities. Since
March 2000, they have worked in the following counties: Yei, Kajo-Kaji, Kurmuk,
Rumbek, Torit, Magwi, and Pageri. Their programs, which use video, posters,
mine and UXO dummy shows, and presentations, educate both children and adults
and serve as a means to gather statistical information. In the fall of 2000,
Norwegian Church Aid began contributing to OSIL-S after the UNICEF funds
stopped. Between April and July 2000, OSIL-S’s second team constructed a
new compound for the organization in the Nimule corridor, and after recruiting
new members, two additional teams became active in the fall of
2000.[66]
Landmine Casualties
There continues to be an underreporting of mine
casualties in Sudan; official statistics do not reflect the actual
situation.[67] Due to the
scarcity of health care facilities, many victims die before they are able to
receive the proper medical care. ICRC reporting from Lopiding hospital lists
one victim for the first two months of 2001, 19 for 2000 and 14 for
1999.[68] From 1999 through
February 2000, 210 mine victims were fitted for prostheses in Khartoum and
Lokichoggio.
OSIL-S reported 31 deaths and 65 injuries due to mines in their
monthly reports from March 2000-March 2001. In March 2000, OSIL-S suffered its
first demining casualty. A deminer stepped on a plastic antipersonnel mine and
lost his leg while working in the Kurmuk area of Southern Blue
Nile.[69] Relief Organization
of South Sudan figures indicate heavy casualties in Upper Nile. The RASS
figures for Bieh county suggest 30 killed and 50 wounded by mines around Waat;
10 killed and 11 wounded around Lamkin, and 25 killed around Tanyan. In Western
Upper Nile, the figures appear to be even higher, with RASS claiming over 300
deaths in recent years. In 2000, 11 people were killed and seven were wounded
around Leer while 40 died and 37 were wounded around
Bentiu.[70]
Nuba Relief
Rehabilitation and Development Organization (NRRDO) mine awareness coordinator
Mahmood Bedawi claims that landmines have injured 110 people (60 men, 25 women,
and 25 children), in the Nuba Mountain region since September 1999. Of these,
75 people have been killed. The worst affected areas include Lazarak, Dera,
Debi, and Umdorein.[71]
In
Chukudum, 35 people have been killed including six SPLA military engineers
engaged in mine action. The NPA hospital has 36 amputees, all the result of
landmine accidents.[72] The
Sudan Campaign to Ban Landmines reported 44 landmine casualties in Kassala State
during 1999.
Civilians are dying from using landmines and UXO in unorthodox
ways. OSIL-S reports that several people have been injured or killed while
using explosives to fish.[73]
Poachers are using landmines with deadly results. Two people died with an
additional six injured while trying to recover the tusks from elephants that had
strayed into a minefield in
Nimule.[74] In November 2000,
six poachers in Aswa Valley died after attempting to remove the tusks of three
elephants that had been killed by
landmines.[75]
Survivor Assistance
A Sudanese government report in May 2001 stated
that “all landmine survivors receive free medical treatment in the public
and NGOs hospitals in the
country.”[76] A
Presidential decision was issued to protect landmine victims who are government
employees from losing their jobs because of “incapacitation or
injuries.”[77] According
to government officials, unless they voluntarily resign or terminate their
service, these landmine victims will be considered on continuous service. While
applicable only to government workers, the target group is the military and
Popular Defense Forces
employees.[78] Vocational
Training Centers have been established to assess the qualifications and
capabilities of landmine victims who are not employed by the government and to
assist them with job
placements.[79]
Southern
Sudan and the Nuba Mountains maintain only very basic health care facilities run
by outside agencies including NPA, ICRC, MSF and German Emergency Doctors, who
established a new facility in the Nuba Mountains following the destruction of
their hospital in Kauda in a series of GoS air raids in 2000. NPA runs
secondary hospitals in Nimule and Chukadum.
[1] Statement of the Sudanese
Delegation at the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden Conference on Antipersonnel
Landmines, Djibouti, 16 November
2000.
[2] “Sudan Report
to the Meeting of the Standing Committees of Experts on Mine Clearance, Victim
Assistance, Socio-Economic Reintegration And Status, Operation of the Ottawa
Convention on Banning Antipersonnel Land Mines,” Geneva, 7 May 2001, pp.
3-4. Hereinafter cited as “Sudan Report Geneva, 7 May
2001.”
[3] Statement by
the Sudan Delegation to the Second Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban
Treaty, Geneva, 12 September
2000.
[4] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001, p. 4.
[5]
Statement by the Sudan Delegation to the Second Meeting of States Parties to the
Mine Ban Treaty, Geneva, 12 September
2000.
[6] Interview with
Ambassador Abdelrahem Khalil and Mr. Ibrahim Bushra of Disarmament and
International Organizations Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Khartoum,
3 February 2001.
[7]
Interview with Mr. Abdelati Abdelkheir, Deputy Commissioner, Humanitarian Aid
Commission (HAC), Khartoum, 5 February
2001.
[8] Meeting between
ICBL and Mr. Mohamed Yousif Abdalla and Ambassador Omer M.A. Siddiq, Deputy
Permanent Representative of Sudan to the UN in Geneva, 23 August
2000.
[9] Interview with SPLA
Commander Edward Lino and Dr. Justin Yac, Nairobi, 30 January
2001.
[10] Meeting with
Commander Kuol Danhier, Aide to SPDF chief Riek Machar, Nairobi, 26 January
2001.
[11] In November 1999,
a report by the US Department of State stated that the Sudanese military was
manufacturing landmines. No further information on this claim has emerged and
Sudanese officials have strongly denied it. See Landmine Monitor Report
2000, p. 182 for the allegation and the
denial.
[12] Operation Save
Innocent Lives, “Landmine Information-Sudan,” 8 January 1999, p.
2.
[13] Accounts from local
relief and church organizations and the
SPLA.
[14] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001, p.
3.
[15] Sudan Report Geneva,
7 May 2001, p. 3; meeting with Major General Ibrahim Ahmed, Engineer in Chief,
Corps of Engineers, Sudan Armed Forces, Geneva, 8 May
2001.
[16] Letter from
Abdellati Abdelkheir, Deputy Commissioner Humanitarian Aid Commission-Sudan, to
Mary Wareham, Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 29 July
2001.
[17] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001, p.
3.
[18] Confidential
interview with aid worker, Lokichokkio, 10 February 2001; interviews with SPLA
officers and mine action
personnel.
[19] Israel is the
original producer of the mine but Iran copied it. Landmine Monitor was not able
to determine which country’s production has surfaced in
Sudan.
[20] Interview with
SPLA Commander Edward Lino and Dr. Justin Yac, Nairobi, 30 January
2001.
[21] Meeting with Major
General Ibrahim Ahmed, Engineer in Chief, Corps of Engineers, Sudan Armed
Forces, Geneva, 8 May
2001.
[22] Interview with
Telar Deng, New Sudan Council of Churches, Nairobi, 29 January 2001 and Aleu
Ayieny Aleu, Director of Operation Save Innocent Lives (OSIL-S), Nairobi, 25
February 2001.
[23] Meeting
between ICBL and Mr. Mohamed Yousif Abdalla and Ambassador Omer M.A. Siddiq,
Deputy Permanent Representative of Sudan to the UN in Geneva, 23 August
2000.
[24] Letter to Landmine
Monitor from Ambassador Mubarak H. Rahamtalla, Deputy Permanent Representative,
Permanent Mission of Sudan to the UN in New York, Ref:SUGA/3-1/2, 31 July
2000.
[25] Statement by the
Sudan Delegation to the Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva, 12 September
2000.
[26] Letter from
Abdellati Abdelkheir, Deputy Commissioner Humanitarian Aid Commission-Sudan, to
Mary Wareham, Coordinator, Landmine Monitor, 29 July
2001.
[27] Arthur
Howes’ film “Nuba Conversations” and Tomo Kriznar’s film
“Nuba: Pure People” have footage of mined Nuba
villages.
[28] Interview with
SPLA acting Cdr. Yousif Karra, Kauda, Nuba Mts, 10 February 2001, interview with
former GOS engineering officer at SIMAS, Kauda, 5 February 2001, SPLA engineers
and officers, NRRDO victim assistance coordinator, and NRRDO Mine Awareness
trainer in Loki.
[29]
Interview with Osman Luma Kodwar, Kaudu, Nuba Mts., 10 February
2001.
[30] Interview with
SPLA Engineer Lt. Maluk Royer, ‘Abu Grenade’, Nuba Mts., 5 February
2001, based on SPLA intelligence in Nuba
Mts.
[31] Interview with SPLA
Engineer Lt. Maluk Royer, ‘Abu Grenade’, Nuba Mts., 5 February
2001.
[32]
Ibid.
[33] UN Portfolio of
Mine-related Projects, April 2001, p.
226.
[34] Eyewitness
testimony of relief workers, May
2000.
[35] Accounts from
local relief and church organizations and SPLA
sources.
[36] Interview with
anonymous NGOs and UN security personnel in Loki, February
2001.
[37] US Department of
State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “Country Reports on
Human Rights Practices – Sudan,” Section 1.G, February
2001.
[38] UN Portfolio of
Mine-related Projects, April 2001, p.
226.
[39] “UN Rights
Expert Says Sudan Systematically Bombed Civilians,” Associated
Press, 18 October
2000.
[40] Confidential
reports by military and humanitarian
agencies.
[41] The Landmine
Monitor researcher assisted with the
evacuation. [42] US
Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor,
“Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – Sudan,” Section
1.A, February 2001.
[43]
Statement of the Sudanese Delegation at the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden
Conference on Antipersonnel Landmines, Djibouti, 16 November
2000.
[44] Meeting between
ICBL and Mr. Mohamed Yousif Abdalla and Ambassador Omer M.A. Siddiq, Deputy
Permanent Representative of Sudan to the UN in Geneva, 23 August
2000.
[45] Updated list from
Landmine Monitor Report 2000, p.
186.
[46] UN Portfolio of
Mine-related Projects, April
2001.
[47]
Ibid.
[48] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001, p.
3.
[49] SIMAS, “Report
of an Emergency Assessment and a Survey of Mines Conducted between January -
February 2001 in Budi, Chukudum County,” February
2001.
[50] Interview with
Malik Ruben, SIMAS Deputy Director, Nairobi, 12 February
2001.
[51] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001.
[52]
Statement by Sudan Delegation to the Second Meeting of States Parties, Geneva,
12 September 2000.
[53]
Interview with Malik Ruben, SIMAS Deputy Director, Nairobi, 12 February
2001.
[54] Interview with
Gregory Vasily, SIMAS Director, Nairobi, 22 February
2001.
[55] Interview with
General Ibrahim Mohamed Ahmed, Head of Engineering Department, 4 February
2001.
[56] Interviews with
personnel from Nuba Relief Rehabilitation and Development Organization (NRRDO),
Operation Save Innocent Lives (OSIL-S), Relief Organization of South Sudan
(RASS), Sudan Integrated Mine Action Service (SIMAS), Sudan People’s
Democratic Front (SPDF), Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), and Sudan
Relief and Rehabilitation Association
(SRRA).
[57] SIMAS,
“Report of an Emergency Assessment and a Survey of Mines Conducted between
January - February 2001 in Chukudum, Budi County,” February
2001.
[58] Draft OSIL-S
Annual Report 2000-2001.
[59]
OSIL-S Annual Report
1999-2000.
[60] Confidential
interview, Hillcrest Hotel, Nairobi, 22 February 2001; interview with SPLA
Commander Kuol Manyang, Nairobi, 23 February 2001.
[61] Interview with Brenda
Barton, WFP Information Officer, Nairobi, 25 February
2001.
[62] Compiled from
OSIL-S monthly reports March
2000-2001.
[63] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001.
[64] Mine
Awareness Education Workshop Manual (draft), SIMAS, January
2001.
[65] Information
provided by Peter Moszynski, an advisor for the SIMAS sponsored Mine Awareness
Training of Trainers Workshop, Loki, February
2001.
[66] Monthly report of
OSIL-S, April 2000.
[67]
Meetings with Fashoda Relief and Rehabilitation Association (FRRA), Nuba Relief
Rehabilitation and Development Organization (NRRDO), Operation Save Innocent
Lives (OSIL-S), Relief Organization of South Sudan (RASS), Sudan Integrated Mine
Action Service (SIMAS), Sudan People’s Democratic Front (SPDF), Sudan
People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation
Association (SRRA) and MAG, Kenya and Sudan, January–February
2001.
[68] Interview with
ICRC Medical officer, February 2001; interview with mine victim in
Lopiding.
[69] Monthly Report
of OSIL-S, March 2000.
[70]
Meeting with RASS mine awareness trainers and victim assistance coordinator,
SIMAS workshop, Loki, 12-18 February 2001; interview with Cdr. Kuol Danhier,
Aide to SPDF Chief Riek Machar, 17 February
2001.
[71] Meeting with
Mahmood Bedawi, mine awareness coordinator for Nuba Relief Rehabilitation and
Development Organization (NRRDO), Loki, 20 February
2001.
[72] SIMAS,
“Report of an Emergency Assessment and a Survey of Mines Conducted between
January - February 2001 in Budi, Chukudum County,” February
2001.
[73] OSIL-S, Monthly
Reports for April, November, and December
2000.
[74] OSIL-S, Monthly
Report June 2000.
[75]
Interview with Aleu Ayieny Aleu, Director of OSIL-Sudan, February
2001.
[76] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001.
[77]
Ibid.
[78] Interview with
General Ibrahim Mohamed Ahmed, Head of Engineering Department, 4 February
2001.
[79] Sudan Report
Geneva, 7 May 2001.