US sends mine clearance team to Nuba Mountains

The United States announced on Tuesday that it would send a landmine-clearance team to the Nuba Mountains region of south-central Sudan, where a ceasefire between the government and southern rebels is currently in operation.

"The Quick Reaction Demining Force's mine-clearance operations will lessen the likelihood of additional casualties, as refugees and internally displaced persons begin relocation into areas where mines are known to exist", a statement form the US State Department said. An advance party had already left for Sudan on 19 April, and the main deployment, comprising two squads of 10 persons each, were expected to arrive in approximately two weeks, the statement said.

Between 1989 and 2001, 1,135 persons had become victims of landmines in the Nuba Mountains, the statement quoted the Sudanese government as saying.

An agreement to implement a ceasefire in the 80,000-sq km Nuba Mountains region of Southern Kordofan was signed by representatives of the Sudanese government and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in Burgenstock, Switzerland, on 19 January.

"The mine-clearance operations will contribute to the success of the first phase of the recently concluded ceasefire between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army", the US statement said.

Unimpeded movement in the Nuba Mountains - important for the Nuba economy - was restricted by the poor state of roads in the region, many of which were "afflicted" with landmines, a UN-led multi-agency assessment mission to the Nuba Mountains reported in February.

"Road traffic was obliged to use a network of rough dirt and sand tracks running through the plains areas and the mountains, with the latter being now virtually impassable to traffic because of the civil war and the existence of landmines," the office of the UN Coordinator for Sudan stated in a report on the rapid-needs assessment, conducted over a three-week period in January.

According to considered estimates, there are between 500,000 and two million landmines in Sudan, laid by both the government and rebel groups. The government of Sudan, as cited by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, estimates that mine accidents have resulted in more than 700,000 deaths and an equal number of amputees.

The Sudanese government has signed, but not yet ratified, the Ottawa Treaty against landmine use, while in October 2001 the SPLM/A signed an agreement on a total ban on antipersonnel landmines throughout territories under its control.

The European Commission in March committed 1.5 million euros (some US $1.3 million) to a nationwide mine-clearance programme, to be implemented by nongovernmental organisations in both government-controlled and rebel-held parts of the country. Sources in Khartoum told IRIN in March that programme activities would initially be concentrated in the Nuba Mountains region.

The US-sponsored Quick Reaction Force's mission in Sudan would be implemented by the RONCO Consulting Corporation, a Washington-based commercial demining company, the US State Department said.