“When we came back after the fighting ended, we knew the Sudan Armed Forces had been here and we were worried about landmines, but we didn’t know which areas were mined,” says Alfred Ohuda, community leader of Kimodonge village, near the town of Torit in Eastern Equatoria state.
“Then the school headmaster’s child stepped on a mine. He was only nine years old and he died. But this was a fertile area, and even though we were scared and knew there were mines, one of our villagers still tried to grow food on the land because we had so little. He found six mines.”
The stunning scenery around Kimodonge belies the hidden dangers in the ground. Thick forest gives way to large stone outcrops, rounded and worn smooth by the elements; an inky black river runs through the rich valley and smoky-blue mountains crown the distant horizon.
Shells of buildings, many now reduced to rubble, are set in neat rows and hint at the village’s more peaceful past, when there had been the luxury of a functioning sewage system, and the development and emergency aid organisation Norwegian Church Aid had a base here, employing around 2,000 local people.
That was until the fighting Alfred refers to – part of the Second Sudanese Civil War – swept across the region in the mid-1980s, and the village was used as a military position, first by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and then from 1992 by their opposition, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).
The SAF defended the position with minefields along the banks of the river, and demolished the vehicle bridge crossing the river to prevent SPLA attacks.
A Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in 2005 to officially end the war, but while the army left, the mines remained, threatening lives and limbs, and preventing access to desperately needed farming land.
MAG teams have set up a temporary tented camp in the area and last week teams began clearance of the minefield.
“We were tasked to come here as a priority by UNMAS [United Nations Mine Action Service, the coordinating body for landmine clearance],” explained MAG Technical Field Manager Jack Frost. “There is plenty of evidence that mines have been laid here and it is clear to see why the SAF would use them to defend this position.”
Soon the area will be safe again. “The people here are grateful. I can say that we all feel joy at seeing MAG,” says Alfred. “Now we have to restrict our children['s movements], but when you have cleared here, we will be able to move freely. We will be able to collect water, firewood and stones for building. We will be able to walk with no fear.”
“The people across the river have had no humanitarian help. No one could help them. Maybe now they will build a bridge and they will get boreholes. Norwegian Church Aid used to be here before. They used to help us a lot. It would be good if they came back.”
MAG South Sudan’s Multi-Task Team 3 (funded by DFID, the UK Government’s Department for International Development) and Mechanical Team (funded by the Government of the Netherlands) are currently working on the Hilieu minefield by Kimodonge village.