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Sudan

Mine action programme in Sudan Jan/Feb 2006

Highlights:
All the 5 UNMIS Military Demining teams (Bangladesh -- Sector 1/Juba, Kenya -- Sector 2/Wau, Cambodia -- Sector 3/Malakal, Pakistan -- Sector 4/Damazin and Egypt -- Sector 5/Kadugli) were trained and/or accredited and start deploying.

Security remains unstable in South Sudan and part of Equatoria (mainly South of Juba to the borders) is still under UN Security Phase IV and most of demining operations in the are suspended and relocated.

Route verification/clearance activities progressed and status are as follows; Kadugli-Talodi Road: UNMAS Route Verification team (Mechem) completed verification/clearance.

Juba-Yei Road: NPA worked on to clear Mile 40 area in January, but suspended the operations in February due to presence of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) element.

Juba-Rokon Road: UNMAS Route Verification team (Mechem) continued to verify/clear the road

Wau-Gograil Road: UNMAS Route verification team (Mechem) began verification/clearance, expected to complete within the month of February.

Abyei-Gogrial Road: UNMAS Technical Survey team (FSD) continued to survey along the route. Two MECHEM groups will be allocated to verification/clearance of this road. One will work from Abyei end up to Wun Rok, and the other will work upwards from Gogrial up to Wun Rok, where there is a river.

Landmine Safety Training started to train UN and NGO staff, and regular landmine safety briefing will be held regularly in UNMAO Khartoum initially.

The United Nations General Assembly declared that 4 April, each year, is the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. Mine Action Programme in Sudan is planning to hold a event on that day.

Mine/UXO incidents reported to UNMAO Offices:

On 26 January 06, a report was received at the UNMAO Sub Office in Wau from FSD survey team that on 12 January 06, in the vicinity of the town of Wedweil, a young child was killed in a mine incident.

UNMAO Rumbek Sub Office received information on 13 February that UXO incident occurred 32 km east of Rumbek, resulting three people dead and one in hospital.

A disused Ammunition depot (located in the vicinity of Wau railway station) was the site of a catastrophic detonation in 2003. On 16 February 06 a fire was started and quickly got out of control, consuming the grass land surrounding the site. Numerous detonations were sparked by the flames. UNMAS/FSD Survey team conducted emergency MRE to avoid casualties, and currently conducting technical survey.

Key achievements to date (As of 28 February 2006):

- Total dangerous areas identified: 957

- Total dangerous areas cleared: 244

- Areas cleared: 2,901,814m2

- Length of roads verified/cleared: 372,545 m2

- Anti-Tank mines destroyed: 649

- Anti-Personnel mines destroyed: 1,162

- UXOs and small arms destroyed: 282,525

- MRE Provided: 571,074 people

Priorities for 2006:

- Emergency Survey, Marking and Targeted Clearance

- Route Verification (Primary, Secondary roads to facilitate returns of IDP/Refugee, Mission deployment and humanitarian aid activities)

- Targeted Mine Risk Education, to provide tailored information depending on age, groups (residents or returnees), areas (landmine threat or UXO threat or both etc).

- Capacity Building, both institutional capacity (UNDP) and operational capacity (UNMAS, UNICEF)

Funding:

2006 Total Requirement:

Donor Voluntary Contribution: $54,819,670 (Work Plan 2006) Peacekeeping Operations: $28,064,457 (Assessed Budget)

2006 Contribution (Including carryover from 2005):

Donor Voluntary Contribution: $4,680,507 (Japan, Netherlands, European Commission, Common Humanitarian Fund) Peacekeeping Operations: $8,664,457 (January-June 06)

For further information, please contact:

Takuto Kubo, UNMAO Khartoum (General inquiry) takutok@sudanmap.org, +249 187 08 6611

Simon Porter, UNMAO Juba (Southern Region) simonp@sudanmap.org, +249 912 174 429, +88216 5107 0107

Jan Bosman, UNMAO Kadugli (Northern Region) janb@sudanmap.org, +88216 5420 8233