Director of Sudanese de-mining group accused of corruption

Employees who were dismissed from the Sudanese Association for Combating Mines, or Jasmar, hold their director accountable for the disappearance of a large number of devices and other goods, and the creation of fake branches and bills. The dismissed general-director of the association’s Awareness section, Fatul Rahman Mohamed Ahmed Kanjari, said he suspects the director of disposing a large number of devices the United Nations loaned to the mine combatants.  Kanjari claimed that the director created fake branches in Ed Daein, East Darfur, and Zalingei, Central Darfur, as well as fake rents and bills. Vehicles, office furniture, and other equipment “costing about half a million Sudanese pounds ($87,613)” has disappeared too. “He distributed over 20 Land Cruisers to people outside the mine disposal program, who have nothing to do with the association,” Kanjari said. “And during his tenure, we have lost three huge and expensive electricity generators.” The dismissed employees handed a memorandum to the Sudanese presidency, demanding an investigation into the disappearances and the financial and administrative corruption in the Sudanese Association for Combating Mines, which is also known in Arabic as Jasmar. Their memorandum revealed that the mine clearance group has not been subject to an audit since its establishment in 2005. File photo: Jasmar de-mining team in Sudan. Related: Last two Sudan rebel groups sign landmine ban (15 August 2014) MP calls for landmine investigation in eastern Sudan (17 June 2014)