There is still a fair amount of unexploded ordnance from the civil war - both land mines that would have been laid by the SPLA as protection, and mortars etc fired from tanks or dropped from planes.
Stefan is one of the de-miners working in sector 2 and he asked me if I’d like to go along to one of their demolitions. He is ex-bomb disposal from the German army and has a team of 3 who go with him, one is a medic in case of emergency! Their company is employed by the UN to recover and dispose of all types of explosives.
They rely very heavily on locals giving them information, so spend a lot of time visiting villages and talking to the chiefs who can lead them to any devices that are found.
Today they had 2 RPGs (rocket propelled grenades) and some mortar shells to blow up. The RPGs would have been fired at tanks but failed to explode at the time. The mortars were just empty shells but they dispose of them anyway.
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| The quarry |
We headed out of town to a maram quarry where the ordnance was already placed in a deep hole. The team spent half an hour telling the locals what they were doing. Doubly important that they understand what the explosion is at the moment, and don't think that the North is attacking again.
The UN informed the local police and services what would be happening and we were on target to detonate at 10:00.
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| Unexploded ordnance |
Two of the team closed the nearby road to traffic 10 minutes before we set off the explosion and on a countdown of 3, I got to push the button! Stefan went to check that everything had gone according to plan and when we got the all clear over the walkie talkies we were safe to go back to the site.
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| Setting the charge |
Stefan’s been out here for nearly 2 years having also worked in Iraq, the Lebanon and Afghanistan. Really good to meet brave people like him doing such essential work.
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