Japanese donation boosts IED removal efforts in Sudan

IED clearance in Sudan (UNITAMS)

Humanitarian mine action in Sudan is seen by the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) as one part of peacebuilding in troubled Sudan with the Japanese government now providing just on a million US to assist in mitigating the threat posed by unexploded improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The funding will help the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) survey and clear explosive hazards in South Kordofan, with a possibility to expand operations Blue Nile and Darfur states. The project will see 70 000 square metres and 30km of roads cleared with safe land and roads to be used for livelihood activities and delivering humanitarian and development assistance.

The contribution will allow UNMAS to deliver lifesaving risk education messages to and promote safe behaviour among 14 000 people facing the risks of explosive hazards, including those displaced by the recent surge of inter-communal violence and natural disasters.

In aid of local peacebuilding efforts, UNMAS will provide demining training to ex-combatants of a non-state armed group, transforming former conflict drivers into peacebuilders while building local capacities to address explosive hazards.

Sudan has been a state party to the Anti-personnel Mine Ban Convention (APMBC) since 2004 and was granted a third extension of its mine clearance deadline last November. Reaffirming the Sudan national mine action authority’s renewed commitment to finish clearing all known explosive ordnance contaminated areas by 2027, “UNMAS is grsteful for Japan’s support to accelerate Sudan’s mine action efforts” UNMAS Chief of Mine Action Programme Mohammad Sediq Rashid said.

Since 2007, Japan contributed over US$ 23 million to UNMAS in Sudan.