Summary: Non-signatory Sudan has expressed interest in joining the convention, but has not taken any steps to join it. Sudan has participated as an observer in almost every meeting of the convention, most recently in September 2016, and voted in favor of a key UN resolution on the convention in December 2016.

There is no evidence to indicate that Sudan has produced or exported cluster munitions, but it has imported and stockpiles them. Sudan used air-dropped cluster bombs in Southern Kordofan province between 2012 and 2015. The Sudanese government and military have denied possessing and using cluster munitions. Since March 2015, Sudan has participated in a Saudi Arabia-led military operation in Yemen that has used cluster munitions.

Policy

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

Sudan has expressed its desire to join the convention since 2010, but it has not taken any steps towards accession.[1] Officials have indicated that Sudan may only join “if bordering countries follow suit.”[2] Sudanese officials told the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) in September 2016 that there is political will for accession to the convention and Sudan is working to accede, but the regional security situation is unfavorable to accession at this time.[3] In December 2016, Sudan voted in favor of a key UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that calls on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[4] It voted in favor of the first UNGA resolution on the convention in December 2015.[5]

Sudan participated in the Oslo Process that produced the Convention on Cluster Munitions and joined the consensus adoption of the convention in Dublin in May 2008.[6] At the convention’s Signing Conference in Oslo in December 2008, Sudan expressed its intent to sign as soon as possible, after completing logistical and other measures.[7]

Sudan has participated as an observer in almost every Meeting of States Parties of the convention, including the Sixth Meeting of States Parties in Geneva in September 2016. It attended the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015 and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015.[8]

Sudan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Sudan signed the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) on 10 April 1981, but never ratified.

Production, transfer, and stockpiling

The Monitor has seen no evidence to indicate past production or export of cluster munitions by Sudan. A Sudan Mine Action Office representative reiterated in 2014 that Sudan does not produce, stockpile, or use cluster munitions.[9]

Sudan, however, appears to have imported cluster munitions in the past and reports of use and clearance of cluster munition remnants indicate that Sudan still stockpiles cluster munitions that it used as recently as 2015.

A September 2016 report by a UN Panel of Experts found “clear evidence” of “current possession by the Sudanese Air Force of cluster munitions,” stating that the UN panel “is certain that at least four RBK-500 cluster bombs were deployed on the weapon loading area at the Nyala forward operating base of the Air Force” in April 2015.[10] The panel also noted the April 2015 findings of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS), that the Sudanese air force used at least two RBK-500 cluster bombs in Karigiyati in June or July 2014.

A previous report by a UN Panel of Experts published in February 2014 contained photographs taken in March 2013 that show several Soviet-made RBK-500 series cluster bombs lying in the open alongside other aviation bombs at El Fasher airport in North Darfur state, where Sudan’s armed forces maintain a forward operating base. The panel reported that it “observed fluctuating stock levels at the ammunition storage area, indicative of the routine use (for either operations or training) and resupply of ammunition into Darfur by the national armed forces.”[11]

Jane’s Information Group reports that KMGU dispensers, which deploy submunitions, are also in service with the country’s air force.[12] Sudan also possesses Grad, Egyptian-produced Sakr, and Chinese-produced Type-81 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, but it is not known if these include versions with submunition payloads.[13]

Use

There were no reports or allegations of Sudan government forces using cluster munitions in 2016 or the first half of 2017. However, reports show that Sudan used air-dropped cluster bombs previously, in Southern Kordofan province several times between 2012 and 2015.[14] Sudan has repeatedly denied using cluster munitions.

Since March 2015, Sudan has participated in a Saudi Arabia-led joint military operation in Yemen against Houthi forces, also known as Ansar Allah, which has used cluster munitions.

Sudan has not commented on evidence that the Saudi-led coalition has used cluster munitions in Yemen. However, a statement by the “Coalition Forces Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen” published by the Saudi Press Agency in December 2016 states:

“International law does not ban the use of cluster munitions. Some States have undertaken a commitment to refrain from using cluster munitions by becoming party to the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions. Neither the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia nor its Coalition partners are State Parties to the 2008 Convention, and accordingly, the Coalition’s use of cluster munitions does not violate the obligations of these States under international law.”[15]

Previous use in 2015

Bordering South Sudan, the state has experienced fighting between the Sudanese armed forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army North (SPLM-N) since mid-2011, when South Sudan became an independent state. According to Sudan Consortium, a civil society monitoring project, at least 23 cluster bombs were dropped in Delami, Umdorein, and Alburam (Tobo) counties in 2015.[16]

In June 2015, Nuba Reports—a network of local journalists in the Nuba Mountains where Southern Kordofan is located—published a video showing the remnants of RBK-500 cluster bombs containing AO-2.5 RT submunitions that it said was filmed in Kauda after a government attack on the town on 27 May 2015. It described Kauda as “the rebel capital” and as the base of the SPLM-N, the political opposition movement in Southern Kordofan. According to Nuba Reports, the Sudanese air force dropped four cluster bombs on Kauda at around 7:30am, but none exploded on impact, leaving failed munitions and unexploded submunitions. Two days later SPLM-N soldiers removed and “rolled the bomblets into a hole, covered them with dirt, and marked them with thorn bushes.”[17]

In May 2015, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report detailing evidence indicating the Sudanese air force was responsible for two cluster munition attacks in Southern Kordofan, in February and March 2015, that used the same type of cluster munition. Local witnesses informed HRW that government aircraft dropped two bombs on Tongoli village in Delami county on 6 March 2015, and four bombs on Rajeefi village in Um Durein county in late February 2015.[18] HRW documented remnants of the RBK-500 cluster bombs containing AO-2.5 RT submunitions, which also failed to function as intended.

In various media outlets, Sudanese army spokesperson, Col. Alswarmy Khalid, denied responsibility for the cluster munition use and described the HRW research as “fabricated and baseless.”[19] Geneva-based representatives also denied the cluster munition use in a May 2015 meeting with CMC representatives.[20] At the convention’s intersessional meetings in June 2015, more than two-dozen states expressed concern at or condemned new use of cluster munitions, including nine that specifically referenced the evidence of new use in Sudan.[21] The UN, the ICRC, and the CMC also condemned the use of cluster munitions in Sudan.

At the First Review Conference in September 2015, Sudan exercised its right of reply to respond to statements criticizing its reported use of cluster munitions. Sudan informed the meeting:

“This is an accusation that has already been made and the Ministry of Defense of Sudan denied it at the time. It is known that these delegations, which have sought to condemn Sudan, based their facts on what was stated in the 2015 Cluster Munition Monitor report, which is a non-governmental report produced by Human Rights Watch, Danchurch and Handicap International. These are organizations that have an extensive history of conveying false information that is biased against Sudan, its people and its government. My country’s delegation would like to correct this…and to dispute the report’s sources, as well as its motivations, and to call on the organizations which stand behind this report to investigate its accuracy and to produce conclusive evidence of Sudan’s use of cluster munitions at any point in time.”[22]

At the First Review Conference, States Parties adopted the Dubrovnik Declaration, which affirms: “We are deeply concerned by any and all allegations, reports or documented evidence of the use of cluster munitions, including in Cambodia, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Ukraine and Yemen. We condemn any use of cluster munitions by any actor.”[23]

The use of cluster munitions in Sudan in the first half of 2015 received strong media coverage, provoked public outcry, and was condemned by at least 23 states in national statements or resolution votes.[24]

In June 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that—for the first time on Sudan—contained specific language on cluster munitions “expressing concern at evidence, collected by AU-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), of two air-delivered cluster bombs near Kirigiyati, North Darfur, taking note that UNAMID disposed of them safely, and reiterating the Secretary-General’s call on the Government of Sudan to immediately investigate the use of cluster munitions.”[25] Sudan objected “strenuously” to the paragraph’s inclusion, but did not indicate if it would undertake its own investigation into the use of cluster munitions.[26]

Previous use in 2012 and 2013

Nuba Reports alleged that two cluster bombs were dropped from government aircraft on the village of Lado in Southern Kordofan on 18 April 2013, but Cluster Munition Monitor was not able to independently confirm the report.[27]

In May 2012, The Independent newspaper in the United Kingdom (UK) published photos showing a failed RBK-500 cluster bomb containing unexploded AO-2.5RT submunitions in Ongolo, Southern Kordofan that residents said a government aircraft dropped on the settlement on 15 April 2012.[28]

An independent journalist found unexploded submunitions in the village of Troji identified as Chinese Type-81 dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM) that local residents said were used by the government of Sudan in an attack on the town on 29 February 2012.[29] The Monitor was not able to independently confirm when the cluster munitions were used or by whom.

These incidents resulted in increased international attention, including calls by the CMC and others for Sudan to investigate the allegations, but Sudanese officials offered denials in various venues.[30]

Use before 2010

Numerous independent sources have documented the presence of cluster munitions remnants that indicate Sudanese government forces sporadically used air-dropped cluster munitions in southern Sudan between 1995 and 2000, including Chilean-made PM-1 submunitions.[31] Landmine Action photographed a Rockeye-type cluster bomb with Chinese language external markings in Yei in October 2006. Additionally, clearance personnel in Sudan have identified a variety of submunitions, including the Spanish-manufactured HESPIN 21, United States-produced M42 DPICM and Mk-118 (Rockeye), and Soviet-manufactured PTAB-1.5.[32]