Sudan’s war has left unexploded mines and other ordnance behind in Khartoum, where residents returning to rebuild are encountering dangers that can detonate without warning, according to the Associated Press. As fighting ebbed and people moved back after months away, deminers worked to clear contaminated areas while aid groups warned that the process could stretch for years.
One of those hazards struck Khaled Abdulgader in Khartoum after a blast left him injured and missing fingers, the story said. Abdulgader noticed children using an unusual object as a football, tried to stop them, grabbed it, and it exploded in his hand. He lost two fingers and shrapnel cut into his chest, and he later described his injuries in a hospital after a checkup.
Aid groups and Sudanese authorities describe the problem as spreading through and around Khartoum, where many residents are unfamiliar with the threat. The danger also extends beyond mines to unexploded weapons such as bombs, shells, grenades or rockets that fail to detonate. The AP reported that injured or killed people include hundreds of people over the course of the war’s three years, with many of the casualties involving children.
The United Nations figures cited by AP put the scale of child injuries and deaths in recent months into focus. The UN reported that nearly 60 people were injured or killed in Khartoum state last year, more than half of them children, and that 23 were injured or killed in the first three months of this year, with 21 children among them.
Demining teams say the work is painstaking and constrained by resources. Juma Abuanja, who leads Jasmar, said the “presence of land mines and other explosive ordnance is of great concern to everybody.” He also said clearance would take years, describing demining as slow and careful, with staff covering about 10 to 15 square meters a day.
The AP reported that Khartoum city is still marked by remnants of fighting, including damaged buildings and military hardware visible in the streets. In one visit, journalists accompanied by a member of the military media watched a soldier assess a small metal object that appeared to be the tail of a rocket-propelled grenade after a resident summoned the assessment.
The report said tens of thousands of people have returned to Khartoum city, and the United Nations has tracked broader return to Khartoum state as well. The AP also reported that UN demining operations over nearly the past year cleared about 7.8 million square meters of land in Khartoum state and found more than 36,000 items, including hundreds of anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. The UN approach described by AP calls for destroying ordnance that can be safely removed away from population areas, while destroying on-site what cannot be moved.
In Khartoum, Jasmar’s demining teams worked on at least one large public area while marking hazards for avoidance. The team spent eight months clearing a popular park from land mines, part of at least seven identified mine fields in Khartoum state; some locations were described as on the outskirts, others downtown, and some near important bridges. The report said that clearing about 123,000 square meters in the park began in August and was expected to be completed in May, with Jasmar finding more than 160 devices, including anti-personnel and anti-tank mines.
Abuanja said at least one person was killed in the park before the team began clearing it, and the area was cordoned off and surrounded by danger signs as deminers continued work. He said that once clearance begins, teams remove heavy vests and face shields between shifts while waiting in the shade.
The AP also reported gaps in public warning and communication, including residents who said they had not seen or heard warnings about unexploded ordnance that began in late 2024. A government official told AP the government is trying to raise awareness through mosques, markets, radio and podcasts, and through educational materials with schools, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official said they were not authorized to speak to the media.
Some residents described hesitating to report suspected unexploded ordnance out of fear they could face questions about why they had weapons, while others said they did not recognize the danger until it exploded. Mogadem Ibrahim, for example, told AP he picked up a piece of metal thinking it was part of a car in Omdurman and tried to strike it away after it stuck to his hand, only for it to explode. The 18-year-old said the blast took his fingers, left his left arm bandaged, and ended his ability to work as a laborer, while he described feeling depressed and worthless.