South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) on Thursday said that 17 million square meters of land in the country is still filled with mines and unexploded ordnances.
“Currently according to our contamination database, there are 17 million square meters remaining to be cleared in South Sudan and there will be more, there are known and unknown which means we know there will be more contamination in some remote areas,” said Goran Tomasevic, the Deputy Chief of Operations of UNMAS during commemoration of Mine Action Day in Juba.
The day is commemorated annually on April 4, to raise awareness on the importance of eradicating land mines.
Tomasevic revealed that they have destroyed one million landmines and explosives since they started operations in 2003.
“We cleared hundreds of thousands of explosive items, actually we had 1 million items destroyed a couple of years ago and we cleared millions of square meters of agricultural land, we cleared hundreds of kilometers of roads but there is more work to be done,” he said.
Tomasevic noted that Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria and Upper Nile state are the most contaminated areas with dangerous ordinances due to past conflicts.
“There are some remote areas we are not able to access either due to insecurity or due to flooding or weather conditions, we are going to plan to survey additional areas and to clear them together with contamination that is already known,” he said.
Mike Rashid Fulla, Acting Director of the National Mine Action Authority (NMAA) said more than 2.5 million people in South Sudan are in urgent need of mine action assistance, according to the 2024 humanitarian need and response plan.
“We all know mine action plays a very important role in the development of this country and helps in delivering much needed humanitarian aid in this country,” said Rashid.
Over 5,000 people have been killed or injured by unexploded ordinances and land mines since 2004, according to the UN Mine Action Service.
South Sudan is trying to clear all anti-personnel minefields and cluster munitions in the country by 2026.
