DEVELOPMENT: After Mines Conference, It’s Business as Usual at Lopiding

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Darren Taylor

LOKICHOGGIO, Dec 7 2004 (IPS) - Rough bits of plastic, wood and metal become – instruments of new life" in Edward Wafula’s hands.

As the amiable Kenyan moulds yet another set of prosthetic legs, men, women and children swaddled in pink blankets and clinging to crutches linger outside his neat workshop at Lopiding Hospital. The facility is in the town of Lokichoggio, in the baking red desert that forms Kenya’s border with Sudan.

Some patients are previous beneficiaries of Wafula’s expertise but must now spend the long, hot days learning to walk again. – To make people walk again, to give them their lives back in a way, is for me very rewarding," he says.

Other people are still waiting for their new ôlimbs" to be fitted, while a third group consists of people who require surgery. All are survivors of land mine blasts who have been airlifted here from the battlegrounds of myriad wars in the region.

As the clamour of a major conference on eradicating mines that was held last week dies down, the battle to do away with these weapons continues at Lopiding. With 800 beds, the facility is the largest field hospital in the world. It is also the oldest: Lopiding opened its doors 21 years ago when renewed conflict flared in Sudan.

ôWe thought the (Sudanese) war would end soon after it started but it has just carried on and on, so the hospital has never shut down and just expanded," says Rob Drouen, an official of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Outside the orthopedic workshop, a young Sudanese man on prosthetic legs – Sibet Makoi û is propped up by his disabled friends.

ôSibet has no legs, while I still have one. There is also part of the mine stuck in his stomach," says Simon Loboi.

They’re a cheerful bunch, however û and all consider themselves ôvery lucky" to be alive. Makoi doesn’t even want to talk about his terrible injuries. He would rather discuss cattle, a favourite topic of conversation amongst Sudanese males, it would appear.

For the Nuer and Dinka, the two biggest ethnic groups in southern Sudan, the animals are potent symbols of wealth, prestige and status.

Before he himself was injured, it used to drive Loboi ômad with pain" to see his father driving a Zebu bull û the family’s prized possession û into their sugarcane plantation ôto check for the landmines".

As far as Loboi knows, the bull survived these ordeals. But many animals, and people, die each day in landmine blasts across southern Sudan.

ôWhen the cattle are killed, my people eat them," says Makoi, ôeven though tradition says we are supposed to eat the meat only at very special times."

The meat doesn’t taste as good as it should when it’s laced with the bitterness of losing a treasured bull. ôBut it is better than losing a son or daughter, is it not?" asks Loboi.

The mines conference, held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, attracted thousands of delegates from around the globe. They gathered to discuss progress in implementing the historic Mine Ban Treaty that was formulated in the Canadian capital of Ottawa in 1997, and to plot the way ahead for efforts to do away with the devices.

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which spearheaded the push to establish the Mine Ban Treaty, said it was encouraged that 23 states which are not party to the accord participated in the Nairobi conference.

Ethiopia’s decision to ratify the agreement on the first day of the gathering (Nov. 29) was also hailed. All sub-Saharan countries except Somalia are now party to the accord.

For many, however, the United States’ absence from proceedings overshadowed these developments. Washington has steadfastly refused to ratify the Mine Ban Treaty, saying the agreement is not compatible with its defence obligations. The U.S. also continues to manufacture landmines.

The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Carol Bellamy, pointed out that ôU.S.-trained de-miners" were clearing many countries across the globe of the devices, and that the U.S. had in 1992 banned the export of its anti-personnel landmines.

But those fighting the scourge were unimpressed.

ôAll this is well and good but the danger is that the U.S.- manufactured mines will find their way to rebel groups all over the world through clandestine arms deals," said Kenyan human rights activist David Maina.

In addition to the U.S., Britain, Russia, China, France, India, Israel and Pakistan all continue to manufacture mines.

As the summit in Nairobi came to a close, heavy rains lashed parts of southern Sudan, washing landmines down streams and rivers.

Those who laid the devices could never have guessed at their eventual destination. Given that mines remain primed for detonation for up to 80 years after they’ve been planted, however, the dangers they pose are all too predictable.