- Highlights
The UN Mine Action Office in Sudan was awarded a Certificate of Achievement and Recognition by the President of the Republic of Sudan, H.E . Omer Hassan Ahmed El-Bashir, at a ceremony in Friendship Hall in Khartoum on 10 June, in recognition for its achievements and support to the people in Sudan.
Juba: The Southern Regional Mine Action Office has forwarded a tasking request form to all UN agencies, the Government, NGOs and UNMIS sections. Once inputs have been received, the Transport and Demining Steering Committee will consolidate them into a priority-ordered list, which will form the basis of future taskings.
Also in Juba, ArmorGroup completed the route survey from Rokon to Gobo and BAC of Juba Airport, while MAG concluded clearance of blockages identified by the LIS report in Kapoeta and one of the Bangladeshi Military Demining Company's Explosive Ordnance (EOD) teams was assigned to an emergency clearance tasking at the Ministry of Legal Affairs, where small arms ammunitions were discovered during excavation work .
Kadugli: In South Kordofan, clearance was completed of the Katcha and Pampazalu minefields.
2. Security
Kassala: FSD's Technical Survey Team 1 was only able to work for six hours during the reporting period and lost 34 work hours, due to the fact that Military Intelligence in Gargaf - under instructions from their Headquarters in Girba - would not permit the team to put in any markings on the ground. The Supervisor of the team was also taken to the Military Intelligence Headquarters in Girba (located 100 km from Gargaf), for creating a helipad in his Control Point, which Military Intelligence claimed he was not permitted to do. All efforts to explain the use of the markings and the need for the helipad to the National Mine Action Authority - in an attempt to persuade Military Intelligence to allow the team to use the markings and helipad - proved unsuccessful.
3. Recent Mine Accidents/Incidents
Kadugli: An unexploded ordnance (UXO) accident occurred in a demolition area on 11 June, when a 15- year-old boy suffered severe injuries to his hands and front of his body as a 12.7 ammunition round exploded when he attempted to split it open with a stone. Investigations established that the boy had sneaked into the clearly marked and fenced off demolition area, where the disposal of condemned explosives was being conducted by Danish Church Aid (DCA) . The DCA medic administered first aid to the boy before assisting in his evacuation to Kadugli Hospital, from where he was later discharged.