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Sudan Tribune

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Abyei: UN launches demining to facilitate displaced return

October 22, 2008 (ABYEI) – The United Nations demining body has requested a Swedish agency to demine oil rich area of Abyei after several months of violence to support the return of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

Violence in Abyei displaced around fifty thousand people from the disputed area. The two partners of the national unity government reached an agreement last June to end the fighting between their troops and referred their dispute to international arbitration.

The Swedish Rescue Services Agency (SRSA) has sent a four-person Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team to conduct a series of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) spot tasks at Abyei.

The team, which conducts this operation at the request of the UN Mine Action Office in Sudan (UNMAO), will remain in the area until the end of 2008, in support of humanitarian activities for the return and reintegration of IDPs affected by the recent fighting.

While the rainy season is officially over, some areas are still wet and the grass is too tall for clearance operations to resume in parts of Abyei.

The Mine Action Committee, coordinated through the UNMIS head of office in Abyei, will compile all requests for work and define the priorities.

The Swedish EOD team will start by clearing UXOs that have been reported at the UNICEF and UNDP compounds.

They will also work in various NGOs and government compounds, as well as Abyei’s secondary schools and the Return, Rehabilitation, and Reintegration (RRR) centres for IDPs.

The SRSA team is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), an UNMAO partner since 2004.

(ST)

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