Unexploded landmines a hidden threat for residents in Sudanese capital

Tens of thousands of people have returned to the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, since the army recaptured it from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in March last year, but unexploded ordnance and landmines left behind by years of conflict are posing a growing danger to residents.

For the last eight months, a Sudanese demining group, Jasmar, has been working to clear the popular Al Mogran Park after two soldiers were injured in the area.

“We have found 164 shells, explosives, and grenades and 1,200 small arms ammunition. We found shells, 22 anti-personnel mines and nine anti-tank mines,” said Jasmar team leader, Juma Abuanja.

The park is one of at least seven identified minefields in Khartoum State where the United Nations says deminers have cleared some 7.8 million square metres of land in nearly a year.

The Sudanese government and aid groups say it's a problem particularly in and around Khartoum, where many returning residents are unfamiliar with the threat.

Khaled Abdulgader, who was injured by unexploded ordnance, noticed children playing with a grenade and tried to stop them.

“I was coming back from work and I saw children playing with a grenade. I went to them and said, 'please leave it alone and take it to the authorities,' but they weren’t listening,” he said.

He said the children kept throwing rocks at it, and when he tried to take it away, it exploded. Abdulgader lost two fingers, and shrapnel sliced into his chest.

Decades of conflict in Sudan have left unexploded ordnance scattered across the country, with a combined area of about 7,700 football fields contaminated.

More than half of that is the result of the war that erupted in 2023 between Sudan's army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, with new areas such as Khartoum state affected.

The UN says nearly 60 people were injured or killed in Khartoum state last year, over half of them children. Twenty-one of the 23 injured or killed in the first three months of this year are youngsters.

Both the Sudanese army and the RSF have been accused of laying mines, according to aid groups, during the war as they fought for control of the capital.