Malakal was a major battle ground during the past wars. Recently the UN has partnered with the Sudan governments to begin demining the areas around Malakal.

Just 100m past a group of homes, where the locals use the area as a bush toilet, a huge mine field is just waiting for it’s next victim. Read the article about the project at IRIN News

As many Sudanese are repatriated into the areas they fled long ago, they get settled further and further out from town where these mine fields are located. To date, the hazard has been mainly to livestock, but it’s only a matter of time as the population in these areas encroach on the mined areas. “Malakal has a 10km long, 400m wide stretch of contamination; that will take time to clean up.” That’s huge!