JUBA, South Sudan, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- More work is needed to clear land mines in South Sudan, a U.N. mission there said after 20 people were killed in the country during the weekend.
A bus ran over a mine on a road last weekend, killing 18 civilians and two soldiers, the U.N. Mission in Sudan reports. Another seven people were injured in the incident. UNMISS said the mine was an anti-tank device allegedly placed recently by area rebels.
The United Nations has expressed heightened concern about violence along the border between South Sudan and Sudan.
South Sudan became an independent nation in July as part of a comprehensive peace agreement reached in 2005. Border conflict, some of which may be ethnically motivated, threatens the fragile peace in the region, however.
Lance Malin, program manager for the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center, told the U.N. News Center that officials suspected the route was riddled with mines but traffic continued because there were few other options.
Malin said there were only 15 people working on mine clearance operations in the immediate region. More help was needed in South Sudan, he said, as the country lacks key infrastructure and has a poor road network.
The mine incident, he added, was the worst such explosion in South Sudan since July independence.
