Just Photos II

(Photos from left to right: 1) Locals working on a vegetable garden. This is rare to see as I have been told by our language assistance that the reason no one is involved in any agriculture is that you are seen as lower class. Someone told me that South Sudan is striving to be a third world country, 2) SSPS officer stuck in traffick on his way to work, 3) Wayne, an intoxicated SSPS officer (this is not rare here), Capt. John FAUSTINO, and myself inside the traffic police post. The green blanket holds the traffic office files which he has wrapped up and is taking to the County Headquarters at the end of his shift, 4) Leftovers of a building left by the British in the 1950's being taken over by a tree. You see it everywere, these trees that grow around other trees or objects. This one took over what was left of some type of building. You can still see the window which has now become part of the tree.), 5) Sunsets like this makes all the stress going away...I'm gonna miss this place.

"Bhang!!!"

We conducted our first Drug Awareness Workshop for Youths here this week at the Comboni Parents Secondary School. I do not know why it is called that, but it is. Our Community Policing officer had identified through the SSPS and the community that there was a drug and alcohol problem among the youths living in the area. He decided that a drug talk at one of the schools was a good idea. I agreed.

Opium….Wait a minute…Opium? We organized with the SSPS and one of the schools to do a Drug Awareness Workshop for some of the local youths. We made pamphlets on opium and alcohol abuse. After speaking to one of our language assistants, I quickly learned that they what they refer to as “opium” is actually marihuana or what they her call "Bhang". Yes. Good old green. It made a lot more sense. What a waste of paper.

Our mandate here is not to do community policing, but to advise, mentor, and train the SSPS to be better police officers in every sense including community policing. Unfortunately, on the day of the first drug talk, the SSPS officer that was to assist us had his father pass away. We arrived at the school and all of the students were waiting for us. We did it anyway. They loved it. Especially Wayne’s bag of Skittles. What was he thinking? SEND MORE SKITTLES!!!! It was nice to see students that were so polite, obedient, and actually very interested. It was a success, despite us not fulfilling our mandate. It’s okay. There are more grades to cover and more schools as well.

We are currently trying to organize training for the SSPS on drugs and alcohol in conjunction with these school talks. The hope is that we will be able to initially mentor them and that they will eventually be able to take over the lead role and give these talks themselves. We are hoping to do the same with HIV awareness.

Cheers,

Gonzo.

(Photos Top to Bottom: 1) Gonzo at the blackboard with Wayne making sure my English is correct, 2) Wayne PLIMMER and Aimable MUPENDE (Rwanda) helping out the students, 3) James OGETO (Kenya) lecturing on Alcohol Awareness.

Roadie to Nabia Pai

In co-ordination with our UNMOS (UN Military Observers) and the BANBAT (Bangladesh Battalion), myself, the R&R (Reform and Restructuring) officer, and the GCP (Gender and Child Protection Officer) went on a Medium Range Patrol to a place called Nabia Pai. Nabia Pai is a village on the outskirts of Yambio County which is close to the Congo border. They recently have had a lot of LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) movement in their area so we have not been able to go there for some time.

Nabia Pai is only 21 kilometres from our UN base, however it takes about 2 hours to get there given the rough terrain. I wish I could post video clips so you could get a true picture of what it is like. We arrived at an SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) outpost about 5 kilometres from Nabia Pai and spoke with the SPLA there. They told us that they had not had any LRA movement for about a week so we continued on to Nabia Pai.

The Community Policing officer, Gender and Child Protection officer, language assistant, and I met with the local village head, Chief Samuel BATITI and his council and we sat and discussed several issues including the recent LRA movement in the area, education, health, availability of resources, criminal problems in the area, and community policing including their relationship with the SSPS. The meeting went well and we then continued for a walk around the market.

The market was quite similar to the Yambio market except for the dried monkey meat. I didn’t purchase any. We will be heading back to Nabia Pai in the near future, however there are several other places we need to visit as well. Some of these are two days away. 120 kilometres here equals two days. My issue is that I only have 4 vehicles, one with no keys, the other we have to push to get moving. Well, we were pushing it and using it for regular duties, but it’s fixed now thank god. I have two waiting for us in Juba, but so far no luck in getting them here. Soon I hope.

Cheers,

Gonzo.

(Photos from top to bottom: 1) The Road to Nabia Pai, 2) Chief BATITI and his council, 3) Left to Right: Member of Chief's council, GCP Officer James OGETO (Kenya), Chief BATITI, me, 4) Monkey Meat for sale at the Nabia Pai market)

The Sudan Situation - The Yambio Perspective

I am not sure if people have been watching the news at all or if you even here about Sudan that often back home, but the last few weeks have been somewhat tense. I chose not to write about it on my blog because things were pretty hectic and I did not want to put anything on my blog that might cause concern or jeopardize the safety of any fellow UN Peacekeepers.

On July 9th, in the Darfur region of Sudan, several UN staff were ambushed by Janjaweed rebels. 2 UNPOL officers and 7 force protection members were killed and several other UN staff were seriously injured. On July 11th, the ICC (International Criminal Court) announced that they were going to arrest President Omar Al BASHIR for crimes against humanity in Darfur. Coincidence? I have my own thoughts on this issue. These two things put our UN Mission in jeopardy and has been our major cause for concern.

We were advised to be prepared for a possible evacuation from the mission. We were also told that all “non-essential” UN staff members that were currently out of the mission area were not to return until further notice and that all “Essential staff” members were to remain at the team sites if other members were evacuated and were not allowed to take any leave. Myself, my Operations Officer, and my Security Officer were considered the “essential staff” that were to remain at the Yambio Team Site if such an evacuation were to occur here in the south.

This obviously caused people a lot of concern as no one wantsto leave the mission. We prepared for a quick evacuation if necessary and everyone was on the phone to their families, contingent commanders, and fellow country men trying to get the latest news. Even though far removed from the Darfur conflict and mission, our concerns were the LRA. If fighting were to break out in the north, anything could happen here in the south. There is also belief that the LRA could be supported by President Al BASHIR as the Janjaweed rebels are. The mood was tense, but we were required to go about our regular duties. I chose to cancel all medium range patrols and put our team site on a curfew just as a precaution.

At this time, we are back to business as usual. We are still prepared for an evacuation if necessary and if fighting erupts in the north, however, Yambio to this date is peaceful. I have also received reports this week that the LRA are resuming peace talks here in the south as well which is a move in the right direction. We will be conducting medium range and long range patrols again starting this week and I have removed the curfew.

So far, there have been protests and demonstrations in Khartoum, but all have been peaceful. The staff in Khartoum are under several restrictions at this time to ensure there safety, and the staff that were outside of the mission area are now being asked to return. My last information was that the Darfur mission was still under consideration.

I am keeping my fingers crossed…I am not ready to leave this mission just yet.

Peace from Yambio,

Rory

(Photos: 1) Deserted market, 2) Left to right: Hugo MONTALVO (training officer), Aimable MUPENDE from Rwanda, some guy, SSPS officer Simon PETER, me, 3) The Yambio Team...most of them anyway.)

Silent Sam

I have been able to keep up with my running here pretty much since day one. I head out early in the morning just after the sun comes up and run about 3 kilometres out and then back. The scenery is beautiful and I am pretty much surrounded by mango and palm trees during the run.

A couple of weeks ago, I ran into a local boy about 16 years of age. He joined me for the run. He was wearing a tattered shirt, jeans, and faded red flip flop sandals which were now looking more pink than red. I quickly caught up to him and could read the writing on the back of his shirt. It read “Leave No Child Behind”. I passed him, but it was not long before I heard his shuffling feet and the clapping of his flip flops behind me. I sped up. Not to get away from him, but just because it was one of my speed run days. I was in front of him briefly, but it was not long before we were running side by side again. We ran out to a small wooden bridge which is about 3 kilometres out and I turned around to head back to the UN base. He followed. Sam was silent during the whole run as was I. The run was all business.

Just before arriving at the base, he told me in broken english, “I live here.” I shook his hand and told him that he was a good runner and that I enjoyed the run with him. I asked him if he ran every day and he acknowledged that he did. I asked him what his name was and he said “Samuel”. I thanked Sam again for the run , we parted company, and I continued back to the UN base which was another 100 or so metres away.

The following day, I went for another run. I was all by myself for this one. On the way back, Sam was sitting on the edge of the road. “Why you don’t call me?”, he asked me. I told him that I did not know exactly where he lived and that I thought I would have just met him on the road. He pointed to his house which is a Tukul (mud hut) and said, “Tomorrow you come knock and we run.” I told him I would.

The following day he was waiting for me on the side of the road and we ran together again. Him in flip flops and tattered jeans and me in my fancy runners and shorts. I am looking forward to more runs with Silent Sam.

Cheers,

Rory

Just Photos

Photos from Top to Bottom: 1) A monkey hanging out with me, 2) Me doing the laundry, 3) Myself, Abhinesh a Fijian UNPOL, and Larry a Canadian UNMO, 4) Me on the shisha, 5) Katie the chimp, 6) Wayne Plimmer and another monkey, 7) The bathroom at a hotel/restaurant called "The Equatoria", 8) Menu of "The Equatoria" (check out the last line), 9) UNPOLS, UNMOS, and civilian UN workers having beers at "The Equatoria".

"You Want Me to What!?"

Well folks, believe it or not, but I have moved from second in command to the Team Site Leader in command of the Yambio Team Site. “Ruurii. Do you layke to be da Tayme Sayte Layder?“ “You want me to what”!? Okay. Now I have way more responsibility than I expected or wanted. I am now in command of 24 UNPOLS (UN Police Officers). The previous Team Site Leader has been transferred to Khartoum, and I was one out of the three recommendations that got the job. One member of the team that has been here for a while was offered the position, but turned it down. I was the second choice.

I had mixed reservations when being asked if I would want my name in the pool for the position, but then I figured this was the only place where I might be able to make some positive changes so here I am. A little bit of a shocker for some of the guys, but so far I have not had any issues with anyone and they seem not to mind me in this position. Not ever being in charge of such a large group of people, I am finding it a little challenging, but I am lucky to have an experienced fellow RCMP member of 35 years service with me as my Personnel Officer that I can bounce ideas off of if I need to.

I am learning quickly that by pleasing the right people, I can pretty much do what I want. I am slowly building the trust of my Sector Commander at the headquarters in Juba and so far things are going well. I am pushing my guys to work a little harder and put in a little more effort. This is a tough task as I find that most people are here to collect some extra money and go home. Nothing more. However, I feel that in a week, there have already been some minor positive changes.

I met with the State Commissioner of the SSPS today to let him know that I have taken over the UNPOLS at the Yambio Team Site. He seemed pleased and we had tea together. Some solid relationships have been built here, but it only takes one bad incident to destroy some of the hard work that has already been put into this place. My primary goal is to build on what has already been established here and move forward. It’s time.

I have coordinated with the UNMOS (UN Military Observers) and this Saturday, we will be going on a medium range patrol to a small village called Nabia Pai on the outskirts of Yambio. It has been a while since the team site has done one of these patrols due to the security level we were at. Now that the security risk has decreased we can start doing these type of patrols again. A team attempted to do this last Saturday, but unfortunately, while en route, the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army) advised that there had been reports of LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) rebels in the area and the team had to turn around. This Saturday I will be going on the patrol and I have selected my Community Policing and Gender and Child Protection officers to accompany me to meet with the village Chief, SSPS officers, and other community leaders to determine what their needs are.

Dean…you thought I was a handful. Holy shit…Now where is that Vodka when I need it. Oh look…triplets!!!

Cheers,

Gonzo.

(Top: The previous Team Site Leader Mohamed HAZEM and I at his going away party. Middle: Captain John Jazz at his new bar/restaurant. He is an SSPS officer and works as an adiminstrator. He is also the leader of the police band. And yes his real name is John Jazz. Bottom: Stress Release.)

Short Range Patrol - Basunga

A few days ago I went on a Short Range Patrol with one of the Fijian UNPOL officers , a language assistant, and my Canadian UNPOL partner Wayne to a small village on the outskirts of Yambio County called Basunga. We are unable to do medium or long range patrols due to the security phase level we are currently under. The roads are terrible here especially after rain. Let’s just say that the drive there was interesting.

When we arrived we spoke with some of the locals and asked them whether or not the SSPS (Southern Sudan Police Service) have been conducting patrols in and around their village. We also asked them about any criminal problems that they may be experiencing. They stated that domestic disputes and alcohol related assaults are the main problems they are having, but that their tribe deals with these issues themselves. They also mentioned a murder about 4 months prior where two young boys between the ages of 14 and 16 got into a fight and one ended up killing the other. The suspect was taken to Yambio and placed under arrest. The status of the investigation is unknown at this time.

We then met with the chief, Mathew Bazaangban, who had a young 7 year old boy with him. He told us that 4 days ago a young man struck a pedestrian on his motorcycle which resulted in the victim losing consciousness. The victim was taken to the hospital in Yambio and the driver was taken to Yambio and handed over to the SSPS to be placed under arrest. They following day, the local villagers found the boy wandering in the village. He is apparently the brother of the driver. The Chief requested that we take the boy back to Yambio to the Police Headquarters who would be able to track down the boys aunt who is living there. So we brought him on board and did just that. The young boy told us he was 14. He is really only about 7 or 8, but that is what it is like here. Many people do not know their real age.

Our job here is to mentor, train, and assist with the restructuring of the SSPS. I am having trouble with respect to feeling that we should be doing more, but this is somewhat out of my hands. Tomorrow my team leader and I will be meeting with the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the SSPS requesting permission thath the UNPOL officers on our team become more actively involved with the investigations that the SSPS are conducting and do some on the job training with respect to this. I think it is important to take a step back though and understand that it was not up until recently where, for example, if a woman was raped, she would get arrested, and if someone committed a crime, a family member could be arrested until the suspect turned themselves in. We are taking baby steps so to speak. I think any fellow police officers would find this a little hard to get used to. It can be quite frustrating at times. Especially when you are trying to take big steps with short legs.

Cheers,

Gonzo