Sudan, southern rebels expected to outline mine clearance plan
NAIROBI, Nov 30, 2004 (Xinhua) — The Sudanese government and the southern rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), are expected to report on the status of mine action in Sudan soon, conveners at a mines summit said in Kenyan capital Nairobi Tuesday.
Representatives of the two warring parties are expected to describe their plans for mine action during the ongoing conference on a mine free world, President of the Nairobi Summit on a Mine- Free World Wolfgang Petritsch told Xinhua at a special sitting of the meeting.
He said the two parties, currently negotiating a peaceful settlement to end over 20 years of conflict in southern Sudan, have agreed to stop the use of the landmines but have constantly violated the agreement.
Both the Sudanese government forces and rebel groups are allegedly continuing to use landmines.
“The SPLA/M is a non-state actor signatory to the Ottawa Convention but they continued to ignore the ban on the use and stockpiling of the landmines, now they have discovered that it kills their soldiers just as much as it kills the Sudan army personnel,” Petritsch said.
The summit, held in Kenya’s capital Nairobi on Nov. 29 to Dec. 3, will see the first review conference of the milestone Ottawa Convention, signed in 1997.
The main aim of the summit is to push for the clearing of anti- personnel landmines around the world, including in the war-prone Sudan, one of the countries that recorded an increase in landmine victims last year.
Civil war in southern Sudan was ignited in 1983 when rebels took up arms against the government to demand greater autonomy for the south. The 21-year conflict has claimed some 2 million lives.
Since 1993, Sudan peace talks has been held in Kenya, under the auspices of Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, aiming at ending the longest civil war on the continent.
A newly published Landmine Monitor report put Sudan among 23 countries heavily affected by landmines, following extensive landmine use throughout the civil conflict in the south.
The Ottawa Convention, officially known as the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, was signed in 1997 and entered into force in 1999.
Africa is the world’s most mine-affected region and many saw it as fitting that the First Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention being held in Africa.
Jointly organized by the Unite Nations, International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Kenyan Coalition Against Landmines, the Nairobi summit has brought together senior government officials of 143 countries across the world.
During the conference, participants will review the progress of the efforts made in ridding the world of landmines, and produce a concrete action plan for the next five years.