South Sudan’s “silent but active enemies:” the enduring trauma of landmine explosions

Flavia Aya was making a new start in life after her husband abandoned her and her two children. She had dropped out of school when she was younger, but later enrolled at Yei’s Excel Academy. One August evening in her village garden, while trapping white ants, a delicacy in local communities, she hit an anti-personnel mine with a hoe and was killed instantly by the explosion. She was 28 years old.

Flavia knew the importance of education,” said Wani Kenneth, director of Excel Academy. We have lost an exemplary student and a role model to other learners.”

A five-ton, remote-driven tiller is used to clear mine fields in South Sudan.Barely two weeks earlier, a landmine killed two farmers who were plowing a garden in neighbouring Morobo County. A third person was seriously injured.

The brutal footprint of these silent but active soldiers,” as the mines and UXO are known, threatens government efforts to promote agriculture in a bid to boost food security.

Of all the explosive remnants of Sudan’s two-decade war, fuse-controlled anti-personnel mines pose a particularly high risk.

During the war, some mines were dropped by Antonov fighter jets, while anti-tank and anti-personnel mines were planted by Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and former Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) fighters as traps against each others’ troops.

But it’s not only ordinance from the past that poses a danger today. Last month in Unity State, 20 people were killed by landmines believed to have been planted by a militia group fighting the South Sudanese government. Five others were injured.

Male Jackson Benjamin, Mine Action site manager in Lainya County, Central Equatoria State.A member of the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) that requested anonymity blamed the Morobo County incident on negligence by farmers who had earlier sighted another explosive but continued plowing the same field without informing local authorities.

Although it’s been 14 years since the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) ratified the Ottawa Mines Ban Treaty that prohibits the production, stockpiling, transfer and use of land mines, these deadly devices still pose a great risk to the population in South Sudan.

Locating the devices is a painstaking process, since de-mining organisations rely on information provided by former combatants, or, tragically, after explosions that injure or kill civilians.

It is still dangerous in South Sudan,” said Prabin Khadka, a technical advisor of the Danish Demining Group (DDG). He added that extreme caution should be exercised as de-mining teams continue to clear various villages, otherwise most citizens in the deep villages don’t know what the dangerous objects look like.”

Khadka said a lack of cooperation by some local residents increases the risk of personnel being harmed during de-mining operations.

Stranded

It is not only the injured who suffer in mine incidents. Entire families of those who are killed or maimed in explosions are also traumatised. If the victim was the family’s breadwinner, the survivors are left without any source of income.

Mine and unexploded ordinance images used in mine risk awareness campaigns.So far, nothing has been done to support affected communities apart from the distribution of a few farming tools and seeds to begin agriculture on plots of land that have been cleared of mines.

Towongo, 18, was grazing his family animals in the open fields of the Mugwo district in Yei County when one of his legs was shattered by a mine. Using crutches to get around, he is one of only a few people willing to discuss his horrendous ordeal.

 An explosion threw me about five metres from where I was standing,” he said. I saw blood all over my legs which were paralysed, and I could not stand up until my brothers and villagers came and carried me to the hospital,” he added.

Apart from his treatment Yei Civil hospital, Towongo said he has never received support from any organisation or governmental body.

Expatriates and local staff of de-mining organisations have also endured tragedies wrought by the mines and UXOs they are trying to uproot.

Civic commitment

Despite the risks involved in this dangerous work, Geoffrey Wani said he took a job with the (DDG) out of a sense of sacrifice to save South Sudanese communities from more landmines.

Warning signs caution returnees on the danger of mines and UXO.I have worked as a de-miner for six years and I know the risks,” said Wani. I make preparations when I go to the field for operations.”
 
Most de-miners, former combatants of the SPLA, receive   training on the search and recovery of explosives with the use of hand-held detectors and protective clothing.

At the Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) Mine Action base in Logobero, six kilometres from Yei, sad memories linger over the death of Jackline Kiden Sunday, a medical worker who was killed in an explosion during field work one year ago.

Ms. Kiden Sunday was blown up at the site of a de-mining operation in Belle, 40 kilometres along the Juba-Yei Road, as she went to join other team members for a lunch break under a tree.

The insurance package paid to her family by the organisation may not suffice to support her family or pay for the education of her two orphans.

Ongoing risk

Three counties of Central Equatoria State were the epicentre of battles between the Khartoum-backed Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and fighters of the SPLA during Sudan’s 22-year civil war.

Mine action staff demonstrate first aid skills to help colleagues injured in de-mining operations.Ever since the war ended, international de-mining organisations have surveyed Yei River, Morobo and Lainya Counties and declared the remaining minefields a significant danger to local communities.

With help from donor nations and local leaders, the organisations have dedicated time and resources to clear suspected areas. But the risk of civilians getting blown up by devices is still enormous.

In some areas, Battle Area Clearance (BAC) teams using modern equipment have cleared swaths of land so local communities can reclaim the areas for agriculture and other development activities.  

But explosions still occur during brush-burning seasons in Lainya County, which is not completely safe,” according to Male Jackson Benjamin, site manager of the NPA’s Mine Action Programme in the area. The community should volunteer information about extra threats,” he said.   
 
He has warned county residents, especially children, against picking up unknown objects, advising them to report them to local authorities.

Prabin Khadka, technical advisor of the Danish Demining Group (DDG), assesses unexploded ordinance with a de-miner at a school compound.Benjamin has also called for collective responsibility to make the land safer for development.

In Lainya County alone, Benjamin’s team has recovered 57 anti-personnel mines, over 440 anti-tank mines, nearly 50,000 small arms and eight airdropped bombs since 2009.

According to UNICEF, more than 80,000 people received information on protection from mines and safety promotion through facilitators last year, while a greater number had  access to information through public media.

Affected communities say continued financial and technical support from the international community and de-mining organisations is still crucial. This includes the training of local residents who will be responsible for de-mining activities when the foreign aid groups eventually leave South Sudan.