(Bloomberg) — South Sudan’s army is laying land mines in its battle against rebels, disregarding an international ban and signaling an “alarming escalation” of the 15-month-old war, a conflict monitoring group said.
A South Sudanese government representative on March 12 said that anti-personnel mines had been deployed around Nasir town in oil-rich Upper Nile state, the monitors from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, a bloc of seven East African nations, said in a report. IGAD urged government forces to remove the alleged new mines and take action against the officers responsible.
IGAD envoys should take “urgent and robust action” over the mine claims, the March 27 report’s authors said. The country’s army denied it’s using land mines.
South Sudan’s civil war, which erupted in December 2013 following a power struggle in the ruling party, is intensifying about three weeks after leaders of the warring parties failed to reach an agreement at peace talks. The army said it clashed with rebels in northeastern Jonglei state at the weekend, leaving at last 82 militants dead.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the IGAD report raises concern over South Sudan’s adherence to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The country signed the international agreement, which prohibits the use, production and transfer of the weapons, in November 2011, less than six months after becoming independent.
“We’ll be following up with South Sudan on this disturbing report,” Mary Wareham, the advocacy director of Human Rights Watch’s arms division, said in an e-mail.
‘Making Fences’
Army information director Malaak Ayuen said troops in Upper Nile aren’t using the munitions mentioned in the report.
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