Sudan
Cluster Munition Ban Policy
Summary
Non-signatory Sudan has expressed interest in the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but has not taken any steps to accede to it. Sudan has participated in meetings of the convention, most recently in September 2021. It voted in favor of a key annual United Nations (UN) resolution promoting the convention in December 2021.
There is no evidence that Sudan has produced or exported cluster munitions, though it has imported them and possesses stocks. There have been no new reports or allegations of cluster munition use by Sudan since 2015.
Policy
The Republic of Sudan has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Sudan has expressed interest in the convention, but has not taken any steps to accede.[1] In November 2020, government officials reiterated that Sudan could only consider joining the convention if neighboring countries did so.[2] In 2016, a Sudanese official described “the regional security situation” as “unfavorable” for the country to join the convention.[3]
Sudan participated in the Oslo Process that created the Convention on Cluster Munitions and joined in its consensus adoption in Dublin in May 2008.[4] At the convention’s Oslo Signing Conference in December 2008, Sudan pledged to sign as soon as it had completed an internal process to do so.[5]
Sudan has participated as an observer at meetings of the convention, most recently at the Second Review Conference held in November 2020 and September 2021.[6]
In December 2021, Sudan voted in favor of a key United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution that called on states outside the Convention on Cluster Munitions to “join as soon as possible.”[7] Sudan has voted in favor of the annual UNGA resolution promoting the convention since it was first introduced in 2015.
Sudan is a State Party to the Mine Ban Treaty and a signatory to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW).
Production, transfer, and stockpiling
There is no evidence that Sudan has produced or exported cluster munitions. However, Sudan has imported them and possesses stocks.[8]
In 2016, a UN Panel of Experts reported “clear evidence” of “current possession by the Sudanese Air Force of cluster munitions” in Nyala, South Darfur.[9] In 2014, an earlier UN Panel of Experts report had published photographs showing RBK-500 series cluster bombs at El Fasher Airport in North Darfur, where Sudan’s armed forces also have an operating base.[10]
Jane’s Information Group has reported that KMGU dispensers, which deploy submunitions, are also in service with the Sudanese Air Force.[11] Sudan also possesses Grad, Egyptian-produced Sakr, and Chinese-produced Type-81 122mm surface-to-surface rockets, though it is not known whether these include versions with submunition payloads.[12]
Use
There were no reports or allegations of Sudanese government forces using cluster munitions during 2021 or the first half of 2022. The last recorded use of cluster munitions by Sudan was in 2015.
Previous use
Sudan has repeatedly denied using cluster munitions in the past, but there is strong evidence that it used them in 2012–2015 in South Kordofan province, bordering South Sudan, during fighting with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N).[13] Credible evidence of cluster munition attacks in South Kordofan emerged during that period:
- At least 23 cluster bombs were dropped in Alburam (Tobo), Delami, and Umdorein counties in 2015.[14]
- Remnants of RBK-500 cluster bombs containing AO-2.5 RT submunitions were shown in a video taken immediately after a government airstrike on Kauda, on 27 May 2015.[15]
- RBK-500 cluster bombs containing AO-2.5 RT submunitions were used in Sudanese Air Force attacks on Tongoli village, Delami county, on 6 March 2015; and on Rajeefi village Um Durein county, in late February 2015.[16]
- At least two RBK-500 cluster bombs were used by the Sudanese Air Force in Karigiyati, in June or July 2014.[17]
- Two cluster bombs were reportedly use in a Sudanese government aircraft attack on the village of Lado, on 18 April 2013.[18]
- An RBK-500 cluster bomb containing unexploded AO-2.5RT submunitions was sighted in Ongolo in the aftermath of Sudanese government airstrikes, on 15 April 2012.[19]
- Chinese-made Type-81 Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) were fired during a Sudanese government attack on Troji village, on 29 February 2012.[20]
This use of cluster munitions was widely condemned.[21] In June 2015, a resolution unanimously adopted by the Security Council expressed concern “at evidence of possible government use of two cluster bombs near Kirigiyati in North Darfur.”[22]
Sudan has repeatedly denied evidence that its forces used cluster munitions.[23] In November 2020, Sudan told States Parties that it has “contributed to refuting and clarifying all accusations against Sudan of using cluster munitions during the period from 2011 to 2014.”[24]
Other past use
Between 1995 and 2000, Sudanese government forces were reported to have used air-dropped cluster munitions in southern Sudan, including Chilean-made PM-1 submunitions.[25] Remnants of a Rockeye-type cluster bomb, with Chinese language external markings, were photographed by Landmine Action in Yei in October 2006. Clearance operators in Sudan have also cleared various submunitions, including the Spanish-manufactured HESPIN 21, the United States (US)-produced M42 DPICM and Mk-118 (Rockeye), and the Soviet-manufactured PTAB-1.5.[26]
[1] In August 2010, State Minister to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Dr. Mutrif Siddiq, expressed Sudan’s intention to join the convention ahead of its First Meeting of States Parties in November 2010. See, “Sudan Joins Enforcement of Convention on Cluster Munitions,” Sudan Vision, 3 August 2010. In April 2010, the Chief of Staff of the Sudanese Armed Forces, Gen. Mohamed Abd al-Qadir, stated that Sudan was ready to join the convention. Statement of Gen. Abd al-Qadir, Chief of Staff, Sudanese Armed Forces, Sudan Mine Action Day Celebration, Khartoum, 1 April 2010.
[2] Statement of Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Review Conference, held virtually, 25 November 2020; Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC) meeting with Dr. Ahmed E. Yousif, Victim Assistance Officer, National Mine Action Office, in Geneva, 8 April 2014; and statement of Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions intersessional meetings, Geneva, 19 April 2012.
[3] ICBL-CMC meeting with Gamal Omer Mohamed, Head of Delegation of Sudan to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Sixth Meeting of States Parties, in Geneva, 5 September 2016.
[4] For details on Sudan’s policy and practice regarding cluster munitions through early 2009, see Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Landmine Action, Banning Cluster Munitions: Government Policy and Practice (Ottawa: Mines Action Canada, May 2009), pp. 243–244.
[5] Statement of Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Signing Conference, Oslo, 3 December 2008. Notes by Landmine Action. Officials told the CMC that Sudan intended to sign, but that the Minister of Foreign Affairs was unexpectedly unable to attend and no one else had authorization to sign.
[6] Sudan participated in the convention’s Meetings of States Parties in 2010–2017, the First Review Conference in Dubrovnik in September 2015, and intersessional meetings in 2011–2015.
[7] “Implementation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” UNGA Resolution 76/47, 6 December 2021.
[8] A mine action official reiterated in 2014 that Sudan does not produce, stockpile, or use cluster munitions. CMC meeting with Dr. Ahmed E. Yousif, Victim Assistance Officer, National Mine Action Office, in Geneva, 8 April 2014.
[9] The report states 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. Security Council, “Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005),” S/2016/805, 22 September 2016, pp. 3 and 194.
[10] 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.” The report stated that the “Panel has evidence of previous use of cluster munitions in Darfur. Render-safe operations have taken place on such munitions as recently as 2012. The Panel does not, however, have evidence of the exact dates of use of the munitions. It continues to investigate.” Security Council, “Report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005),” S/2014/87, 11 February 2014, pp. 23 and 147.
[11] Robert Hewson, ed., Jane’s Air Launched Weapons, Issue 44 (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, 2004), p. 846; and Colin King, ed., Jane’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal 2007–2008, CD-edition (Surrey: Jane’s Information Group, January 2008).
[12] International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance 2011 (London: Routledge, 2011), p. 443.
[13] In 2010, the Ministry of Defense stated that Sudan does not possess any stockpiles of cluster munitions, does not produce the weapon, and has “never used cluster munitions, not even in the wars that have occurred in the south and east of the country and in Darfur.” Statement of Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Meeting of States Parties, Vientiane, 10 November 2010. Notes by the CMC. In April 2010, the Chief of Staff of the Sudanese Armed Forces stated that Sudan does not possess cluster munitions. Statement by Gen. al-Qadir, Chief of Staff, Sudanese Armed Forces, Sudan Mine Action Day Celebration, Khartoum, 1 April 2010. See also, “Sudan armed forces deny possession of cluster bombs,” BBC Monitoring: Middle East, 2 April 2010, citing original source as Khartoum-based newspaper Akhir Lahzah (in Arabic), 2 April 2010. In May 2012, a spokesperson for Sudan’s armed forces, Col. al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa‘ad, was quoted in local media stating with respect to cluster munitions: “We never use them in our military operations and we don’t have them to begin with.” See, “Sudan’s army denies using cluster munitions in South Kordofan,” Sudan Tribune, 27 May 2012.
[14] Sudan Consortium, “Human Rights Violations in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile: 2015 in Review,” 31 December 2015.
[15] Video from Nuba Reports, which is a network of local journalists in the Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan. Its report described Kauda as “the rebel capital” and base for the SPLM-N, the political opposition movement in South Kordofan. According to Nuba Reports, the Sudanese Air Force dropped four cluster bombs on Kauda at around 07:30 on 27 May 2015, 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.” See, “Cluster bombs hit homes in May,” Nuba Reports, 15 June 2015.
[16] HRW documented remnants of the RBK-500 cluster bombs containing AO-2.5 RT submunitions, which also failed to function as intended. HRW, “Sudan: Cluster Bombs Used in Nuba Mountains,” 15 April 2015.
[17] Security Council, “Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan established pursuant to resolution 1591 (2005),” S/2016/805, 22 September 2016, pp. 3 and 194.
[18] According to a report by a network of citizen journalists, “some of the internal explosives in the cluster bombs did not explode” and were scattered in the village. Nuba Reports, 22 April 2013.
[19] Aris Roussinos, “In a Sudanese field, cluster bomb evidence proves just how deadly this war has become,” The Independent, 24 May 2012.
[20] HRW, “Sudan: Cluster Bomb Found in Conflict Zone,” 25 May 2012.
[21] At the convention’s intersessional meetings in June 2015, more than two dozen states expressed concern at or condemned the new use of cluster munitions in Sudan, including nine that specifically referenced the evidence of new use in Sudan (Austria, Burundi, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Ireland, New Zealand, and Norway). The UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the CMC also condemned the use of cluster munitions in Sudan.
[22] The five permanent members of the Security Council voted for the resolution, as did non-permanent members Angola, Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Spain, and Venezuela. Security Council Resolution 2228, 29 June 2015.
[23] At the convention’s Second Review Conference in 2020, Sudan characterized allegations of use as “baseless.” Statement of Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Review Conference, held virtually, 25 November 2020. Previously, at the convention’s First Review Conference in 2015, Sudan described evidence of use as inconclusive “accusations” and “false information that is biased against Sudan.” Statement of Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions First Review Conference, Dubrovnik, 7 September 2015.
[24] Statement of Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Review Conference, held virtually, 25 November 2020.
[25] Virgil Wiebe and Titus Peachey, “Clusters of Death: The Mennonite Central Committee Cluster Bomb Report,” chapter 4, July 2000.
[26] Humanity & Inclusion (HI), Circle of Impact: The Fatal Footprint of Cluster Munitions on People and Communities (Brussels: HI, May 2007), p. 55.