Live streams

Danish NGO Defuses RPG in South Sudan City

Cons Wani, who works with the Danish Demining Group, brushes dirt away to reveal a rocket-propelled grenade that was found in the center of Bentiu, in South Sudan. (VOA/Bonifacio Taban)

New Documentary Illustrates Plague of Leftover Landmines

TEXT SIZE - +

Bonifacio Taban

March 07, 2013

BENTIU, SOUTH SUDAN — A team from the Danish Demining Group (DDG), which works with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), earlier this week deactivated a rocket-propelled grenade that was found in the capital city of Unity state.

More unexploded ordnances were found near army barracks, said Cons Wani, a member of the DDG demining team.

DDG said it has found hundreds of pieces of unexploded ordnance in South Sudan's Unity state, adding that landmines and other remnants of the 22-year civil war in Sudan still pose a danger, especially to children.

Among victims of unexploded ordnances in Unity state is a 10-year-old boy whose legs were blown off when he stepped on a landmine last year.

Sudan's civil war ended in 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and South Sudan became independent in 2011.

In December, the DDG removed a rocket-propelled grenade from Nyeel refugee camp in Unity state, and located and removed more than 200 pieces of unexploded ordnance from the site in Mayom county, also in Unity state.

Since the start of 2011, the DDG has destroyed more than 31,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance and 138 landmines from sites in South Sudan, and in the first six months of the same year cleared nearly 81,000 square meters of land to allow it to be used for farming, to build homes or run businesses.

Unexploded wartime ordnance in Unity state

Featured Videos

Your JavaScript is turned off or you have an old version of Adobe's Flash Player. Get the latest Flash player.

Video

Egyptian Support for Syrian Opposition is Words Over Action

Egypt has further aligned itself with those trying to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But as VOA's Elizabeth Arrott reports from Cairo, it remains unclear how far Egypt will back its words with action.