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Humanitarian Mine Action
US Special Envoy visits DCA Mine Action
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| DCA Operations Manager Craig McDiarmid and US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration. Photo: Rune Bech Persson. |
Five years after the comprehensive peace agreement between North and South Sudan cluster munitions and mines still remain a threat for local communities.
During his visit, General Scott Gration visited the DCA Camp in Kauda, where two teams from DCA are presently working on clearing an area of 362.000 sq m that is affected by cluster munitions. “Within this area there is farmland and a small village, so the clearance is a priority task for DCA”, Operations Manager Craig McDiarmid explained to the General.
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| US Special Envoy Scott Gration with representatives from DCA and UNMAO. Photo: Rune Bech Persson. |
US Funding
DCA has been doing mine and battle area clearance in Sudan since the beginning of 2002. Currently three teams are working with clearance operations and three teams are responsible for mine risk education in affected communities. Operations Manager Craig McDiarmid expressed his gratitude to the US Department of State for funding three of the teams currently deployed on the Kauda cluster strike area.
Officially no cluster munitions have been used in Sudan during the civil war. However, many communities are still affected by this threat.
New system speeds up clearance operation
The General showed special interest in a new system developed by DCA for clearance of large cluster strike areas. Because of the size of the areas, which are impacted by cluster munitions, DCA has recently developed and deployed a Wide Area Detection System (WADS) in South Kordofan. The system is capable of searching and mapping 8000-9000 sq m per day, and within a few weeks the system will be used in Kauda for the remaining part of the clearance operation.
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| General Scott Gration and DCA Technical Advisor Rune Persson discuss the use of WADS. Photo: Rune Bech Persson. |
“We will use this system to speed up the clearance of the cluster strikes in Kauda, which will allow us to hand back the land to the local community much more quickly than expected” Rune Persson, DCA Technical Advisor, explained to the General.The WADS is funded by the US Department of State and has recently been accredited for use in the Sudan by the United Nations Mine Action Office (UNMAO). This will allow DCA to use the tool in many areas similar to the Kauda cluster strike.
A step towards security
“It is a very important task to remove the remaining threat to the communities from Unexploded Ordnance and mines. This is an important step forward in the peace building process and in ensuring security in Sudan,” the General concluded before departing by helicopter to Kadugli, the state headquarters of South Kordofan.
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