SPLM/A agrees to ban land mines

The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) has signed an agreement to ban the use of anti-personnel land mines throughout territories under its control, AFP reported on Thursday, 4 October. The president of the SPLM/A's foreign affairs commission, Nhial Deng Nhial, agreed in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday on a ban on the use, production, reserve and transfer of anti-personnel mines in SPLM/A-controlled areas, it said. The agreement was concluded under the aegis of the "Geneva Appeal", a human rights group involved in efforts to ban the use of land mines. The International Campaign to Ban Land Mines (ICBL) said in September that both the Sudanese government and rebel forces were continuing to use anti-personnel mines, despite claiming to adhere to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. There are currently between 500,000 and two million land mines in Sudan, placed by both the government and rebel forces, according to experts sources cited by AFP.