Anti-government demonstration in the Sharoni region, north of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, on March 14, 2023. – /AFP
Eleven children were killed and another injured on Thursday in the detonation of unexploded ordnance in South Sudan, the spokesperson for the UN mission in the country (UNMISS) said on Friday. THURSDAY, “we received the tragic news that an unexploded ordnance incident had occurred in a remote villagein Western Bahr el-Ghazal state, about 650 km northwest of the capital Juba, UNMISS spokesperson Linda Tom told local station Radio Miraya. She said 11 children were killed, and one was injured.
Remnants of the Civil War
“Every year, very many civilians are killed or injured by unexploded ordnance, such as artillery shells or mortars, grenades, bombs or rockets, left behind after an armed conflict.“, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
South Sudan gained independence in 2011 after decades of struggle with Sudan. The country plunged into a devastating five-year civil war in 2013 between Salva Kiir and Riek Machar. The armies of both sides are accused of war crimes.
After years of conflict in South Sudan, landmines and unexploded bombs still cover large areas of the world’s youngest country, threatening people’s lives. These mines are the vestiges of the fights for independence against Sudan, then of the civil war.
In June 2022, the United Nations Office for Refugees claimed that experts from the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) had destroyed more than one million explosive devices in South Sudan, including “40,121 mines, 76,879 cluster bombs and 974,968 other unexploded devices“.