UN signs agreement to help Sudan with landmine removal

The United Nations and the Government of Sudan, along with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), have signed an agreement on UN support to remove landmines in the country.

Under the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, the UN will seek to help both parties to jointly develop a national mine action strategy that meets the immediate needs of the emergency humanitarian situation and plans ahead to a post-conflict Sudan. Such strategy will eventually lead to a mutually agreed National Mine Action Plan.

The agreement was signed yesterday in Geneva during the Fourth Meeting of States Parties to the Antipersonnel Mine Ban Convention. It focuses on the request of both parties to the UN to implement an emergency mine action project in Sudan with the overall objective of reducing mine and unexploded ordnance (UXO) casualties among the civilian population and the humanitarian aid community.

Mine Action offices are being established in Khartoum and Rumbek.