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FROM THE FIELD

SUDAN: What do you do when your neighbour is a landmine?
16 Oct 2009 10:27:00 GMT
 Source: MAG (Mines Advisory Group)
Website: Website: http://www.maginternational.org

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Mine Risk Education is given in Sertenya.
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Mine Risk Education is given in Sertenya.
MAG Sudan

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•  Sudan conflicts

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In Eastern Equatoria, landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) lie hidden in the ground, caves, former battle areas, piled in school classrooms and spread throughout the bush.

Their effects include limiting movement, blocking the use of the land and increasing anxiety amongst members of the community.

Such worries prevent the large numbers of people displaced by conflict who are now returning home (following the 2005 peace deal between the Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to end the north-south civil war) from using potentially fertile and safe land, due to their lack of up-to-date knowledge of the area and fear of hidden mines.

Or returnees may be unaware of the dangers posed by mines, and start using land that has been marked as unsafe, putting their lives and the livelihood of their families at risk.

To help minimise the risks for people living, working and travelling through areas contaminated with landmines and UXO, MAG Community Liaison teams provide Mine Risk Education.

They also liaise with community members in order to identify the location of mines and UXO, so MAG technical teams can then remove and destroy the dangerous items.

Peter Odong, a returnee who arrived back to Sertenya village, in June, shared his story with MAG. Sertenya was an area of intense fighting between the SPLM and Sudan Armed Forces during the war. He came from the Kakuma Refugee camp in Northern Kenya with his wife, children and parents.

"When I arrived at the community the Chief told me that I should be careful about the places where I move around, where I planned to plant seeds, while digging for building my tukul [the small huts made from mud and grass in which villagers live], when moving to collect firewood and water," he said.

"It is sad to come to realise that although the war is over there are still weapons that are waiting to kill us. This situation frustrates me a lot, as we came back to my country with my parents and family to restart our lives, and the presence of these dangerous things is interfering with the plans we had.

"We cannot do much to solve this issue ourselves," explains Peter, who closed the conversation saying: "Thanks MAG for coming up to here to teach us to recognise this objects, to give us clues on which areas we should not go and what to do when we come across to this things; this will help us to not have accidents. It is not nice to have bombs and mines as neighbours."

For more on MAG's work in Sudan please visit www.maginternational.org/sudan.

The Mine Risk Education team in this article was funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, US Department of State.


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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