South Sudan

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

Last updated: 04 August 2017

Summary: Non-signatory South Sudan has expressed interest in acceding to the convention since it became an independent state in July 2011 and its Council of Ministers considered the accession package in 2015. South Sudan has participated as an observer in several meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2015.

South Sudan states that it has not used or produced cluster munitions and denies stockpiling them. Remnants of air-dropped cluster bombs were discovered outside the town of Bor in early 2014, after fighting between government forces and opposition fighters. South Sudan denied this use of cluster munitions, as did Uganda, which was providing air-support to the government at the time.

Policy

The Republic of South Sudan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

South Sudan has expressed its support for the convention and intent to join since it became an independent state on 9 July 2011. As of January 2016, only administrative procedures reportedly remained to be completed to conclude the accession.[1] In September 2015, South Sudan informed States Parties that the government was working States Parties that the government ” the convention.[2]

South Sudan abstained from the vote on a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution in December 2016 that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[3] It was absent from the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2015.[4]

South Sudan participated as an observer in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2011–2012 and 2014 as well as the First Review Conference in 2015. It has also attended regional workshops on the convention, most recently in Kampala, Uganda, in May 2015.[5]

South Sudan joined the Mine Ban Treaty on 11 November 2011 through a rarely used process of “succession.”[6] It is not party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

The Monitor has seen no evidence to indicate past use, production, export, or stockpiling of cluster munitions by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) prior to the country becoming an independent state.

South Sudan stated in 2011 that it does not stockpile cluster munitions.[7] In 2014, South Sudan again stated that it “does not produce nor possess any cluster munitions” and declared, “we do not intend to acquire or use cluster bombs.”[8]

Use

In February 2014, evidence emerged showing that in the period since mid-December 2013 cluster munitions were used outside of Bor, the capital of Jonglei State, during fighting between opposition forces loyal to South Sudan’s former Vice President Riek Machar and Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) government forces backed up with air-support provided by Uganda, a signatory to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. UN mine action personnel found the remnants of at least eight RBK-250-275 cluster bombs and an unknown quantity of intact unexploded AO-1SCh submunitions by a major road 16 kilometers south of Bor in an area not known to be contaminated by cluster munition remnants before mid-December 2013.[9]

Both South Sudanese and Ugandan forces are believed to possess fixed wing aircraft and helicopters capable of delivering these types of cluster munitions, while South Sudan’s opposition forces are not believed to possess any means of delivery.

South Sudan denied using cluster munitions in the conflict and also denied Ugandan use of the weapons.[10] In September 2014, South Sudan described the use as an “unfortunate incident” and pledged not to use cluster munitions. It said that a joint investigation conducted with the UN could not determine who used the cluster munitions found in Bor.[11]

At the same meeting, Uganda denied that its armed forces possess cluster bombs and stated that Uganda did not use the weapons in South Sudan.[12] In September 2015, Uganda reiterated that it does not “use, produce, stockpile or transfer cluster munitions.”[13]

The use of cluster munitions in South Sudan received strong media coverage as well as public outcry and condemnations or expressions of concern by at least 30 countries as of July 2016.[14] In May 2014, UN Security Council members unanimously adopted a resolution on South Sudan that noted “with serious concern reports of the indiscriminate use of cluster munitions” in Jonglei State and urged “all parties to refrain from similar such use in the future.”[15]

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the new use of cluster munitions in South Sudan without indicating who was responsible for the use.[16] The CMC condemned the use of cluster munitions and called for an immediate investigation.[17]

No other cluster munition use has been documented in South Sudan since it became independent in 2011. Prior to independence, numerous independent sources documented cluster munition remnants including unexploded submunitions in what is now South Sudan, indicating that the armed forces of Sudan sporadically used air-dropped cluster munitions there between 1995 and 2000.[18]



[2] Statement of South Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 8 September 2015.

[3]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 71/45, 5 December 2016.

[4]Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 70/54, 7 December 2015.

[6] According to the UN Office of Legal Affairs, the Mine Ban Treaty took effect for South Sudan on 9 July 2011, the date of state independence and succession. In 2011, a South Sudan representative told the CMC that the government would consider accession to the Convention on Cluster Munitions after joining the Mine Ban Treaty. CMC meeting with South Sudan delegation to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, in Beirut, 14 September 2011. Notes by the CMC.

[7] Statement of South Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011.

[8] Statement of South Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San José, 3 September 2014.

[9] UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS), “Conflict in South Sudan: A Human Rights Report,” 8 May 2014, pp. 26–27.

[10] See, Jacey Fortin, “The Bad Bomb: Cluster Munitions, Cold Cases And A Case of Blame Game in South Sudan,” International Business Times, 12 March 2014.

[11] Statement of South Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Fifth Meeting of States Parties, San José, 3 September 2014.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Statement of Uganda, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 9 September 2015.

[14] The following states have expressed concern at and/or condemned the use of cluster munitions in South Sudan: Argentina, Australia, Cambodia, Chad, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, South Korea, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mauritania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (US). The statements were made at the convention’s meetings and at the UNGA First Committee on Disarmament and International Security and UN Security Council.

[15] The 15 states were the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US) and 10 non-permanent members: Argentina, Australia, Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Nigeria, South Korea, and Rwanda. See, UN Security Council press statement, “Security Council, Adopting Resolution 2155 (2014), extends mandate of mission in South Sudan,” 27 May 2014. See also, CMC, “Cluster munition use in South Sudan,” 31 December 2014.

[16] Statement of UN Secretary-General on South Sudan, 12 February 2014. In May 2014, the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) director informed the CMC that cluster munitions were used in South Sudan, but it was not possible to determine who was responsible for the use. Email from UNMAS, 13 May 2014.

[17] CMC, “Cluster munition use in South Sudan,” 31 December 2014.

[18] Virgil Wiebe and Titus Peachey, “Clusters of Death: The Mennonite Central Committee Cluster Bomb Report,” July 2000, ch. 4. Landmine Action photographed a Rockeye-type cluster bomb with Chinese language external markings in Yei in 2006. Additionally, clearance personnel in Sudan have identified a variety of submunitions, including the Spanish-manufactured ESPIN 21, US-produced M42 and Mk-118 (Rockeye), and Soviet-manufactured PTAB-1.5. Handicap International, Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels: HI, May 2007), p. 55.