Sudan Chairs Ottawa Conference on use of Mines

Khartoum, (SUNA) – Sudan, on Friday, officially, chaired the conference of member- states of the Ottawa Convention banning the production and use of mines, held in Oslo on 25-29 November with the participation of 146 countries.

The Sudan chairmanship will continue for a year, working with the UN Specialized Committees to accelerate work on the five pillars of the Convention, which include stockpile destruction, victim assistance, mine risk education and victim support.

The session was addressed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abdul Aziz Abdullah, who received the presidency from Norway and thanked Norway for hosting the meeting, as well as the countries that supported Sudan to assume the position, pledging to work hard to achieve a world free of mines.

On Friday, the Undersecretary met the Norwegian Foreign Minister and briefed him on the current developments in Sudan after the glorious December Revolution.

He also, met with the Norwegian Foreign Minister to invite her to participate in the donors’ conference scheduled to be hosted by Khartoum next February.

On the sidelines of the conference, the Undersecretary met with delegations from Japan, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland, as well as representatives of voluntary organizations working in the field of prosthetics manufacturing for mine victims.