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South Sudan

Last Updated: 02 September 2013

Cluster Munition Ban Policy

On 9 July 2011, the Republic of South Sudan became an independent state. It has not acceded to the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

In May 2013, a representative of South Sudan informed a regional seminar that the government is committed to acceding to the Convention on Cluster Munitions “as soon as possible” and explained it has been unable to do so until now because of competing priorities.[1] In September 2011, South Sudan said “we do intend to join” the convention but also warned that there are “many pressing issues to address not least to capacity build all departments of government and the judiciary.”[2]

South Sudan attended the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Oslo, Norway in September 2012 and intersessional meetings of the convention in Geneva in April 2013. South Sudan also participated in a regional seminar on the universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions in Lomé, Togo in May 2013, where it provided an update on its efforts to join the convention.

South Sudan acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 11 November 2011.[3]

Production, use, transfer, and stockpiling

The Monitor has no indication of any past production, export, use, or stockpiling of cluster munitions by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). In September 2011, South Sudan stated that it “is not a user or producer of cluster munitions.”[4] A government official informed the CMC that South Sudan does not stockpile cluster munitions.[5]

Numerous independent sources have documented the presence of cluster munition remnants, indicating that the armed forces of Sudan sporadically used air-dropped cluster munitions in southern Sudan between 1995 and 2000.[6] The UN Mine Action Coordination Centre reported that in April 2013 there were 58 known dangerous areas containing unexploded submunitions in seven states: Central Equatoria, East Equatoria, West Equatoria, Upper Nile, West Bahr El Ghazal, Jonglei, and Unity.[7]

Cluster Munition Monitor 2012 reported two allegations of cluster munition use by the armed forces of Sudan in the first half of 2012 in Troji and Ongolo in Southern Kordofan, a state bordering South Sudan that has seen fighting between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army North (SPLM-N) and the Sudan Armed Forces since June 2011. A network of citizen journalists, Nuba Reports, reported that on 18 April 2013 at 10:20am two cluster bombs were dropped from aircraft on the village of Lado in Southern Kordofan. According to the report “some of the internal explosives in the cluster bombs did not explode” and were scattered in the village.[8] The Monitor has not been able to independently confirm this report.

In September 2011, South Sudan said that as a victim of the use of cluster munitions, “we call on all parties in the region to use their influence to ensure that cluster munitions not be used along with landmines by the parties who oppose our new state.”[9]

 



[1] Statement of South Sudan to the Lomé Regional Seminar on the Universalization of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Lomé, Togo, 23 May 2013. Notes by Action on Armed Violence.

[2] Statement of South Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_south_sudan.pdf.

[3] In September 2011, a South Sudan representative informed the CMC that the government would address its 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, Beirut, 14 September 2011. Notes by the CMC.

[4] Statement of South Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_south_sudan.pdf.

[5] CMC meeting with South Sudan delegation to the Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011. Notes by the CMC.

[6] Virgil Wiebe and Titus Peachey, “Clusters of Death: The Mennonite Central Committee Cluster Bomb Report,” Chapter 4, July 2000, clusterbombs.mcc.org/system/files/Clusters%20of%20Death_1.pdf. 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 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, www.stopclustermunitions.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/circle-of-impact-may-07.pdf.

[7] UN Mine Action Service South Sudan, “Mine Action News,” June 2013.

[8] Nuba Reports, 22 April 2013, www.nubareports.org/breaking/04222013-1533.

[9] Statement of South Sudan, Convention on Cluster Munitions Second Meeting of States Parties, Beirut, 14 September 2011, www.clusterconvention.org/files/2011/09/statement_south_sudan.pdf.