President Salva Kiir

We were paid an impromptu visit from the President of Southern Sudan (also the First Vice President of Sudan) Salva Kiir MAYARDIT. Salva Kiir was one of the founders of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and was a key figure in the peace process that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War in January 2005.

I attended the Torit airstrip with one of the Civil Affairs staff and watched the helicopter carrying Salva Kiir land. It seemed as if the entire town of Torit was waiting at the airstrip for his arrival including a group of Latuko tribal people wearing traditional dress and engaging in traditional dance. I noticed a cow in the middle of the air strip laying on the ground being held by three men. It did not take long to figure out what was going to happen next.

Salva Kiir walked off the helicopter with his entourage in tow and as he approached the cow, one of the three men started cutting it’s throat almost taking it’s head right off. Then they sliced open the belly and started pulling the guts out. Salva Kiir said his hello to these men and proceeded to a greeting line of government officials shaking hands with each person. After a quick wave to the crowd and a short dance with the Latuko tribal people, he was whisked away in a vehicle to start a long day of governmental meetings.

We were invited to a dinner for the President Salva Kiir. I was asked if I had my traditional dress uniform to wear. I didn’t. Too bad. It would have been great for PR. Dinner was at eight, but of course it did not get started until 10:30 Sudanese time. Probably over a hundred people were in attendance eating and drinking. All free on the governments dime of course. The dinner was brief and then President Salva Kiir went behind closed doors again for more governmental talks.

Torit is going well for me. I am spending my time right now organizing and implementing new training initiatives and coordinating and planning long range patrols. Long range patrols are important to our mandate. These are places where police stations and posts exist, but there is no UN presence which is why it is necessary that we visit these places, unfortunately we have not been to any of them in over a year.

Torit is a little different than Yambio especially when going on patrols and there are several factors to take into consideration. Cattle raiding is prominent and usually includes a gun fight. Torit and it’s surrounding counties which are in our area of responsibility are also riddled with landmines and UXO‘s (Unexploded ordnance). I was able to obtain a detailed map of landmine and UXO sites in and surrounding Torit from a colleague in Juba that works for UNMAO (United Nations Mine Action Office). It should come in handy.

All in all things are good. I am planning my last and final leave to Amsterdam which is where I will be spending Christmas. Hopefully fly to somewhere warm from there. On the downhill slide now with only a couple of months to go.

Cheers,

Rory

(Photos from top to bottom: 1) Salva Kiir MAYARDIT, 2) South Sudanese men awaiting presence of Salva Kiir to sacrifice cow, 3) Just after the cow was sacrificed, 4) Latuko tribal dancers, 5) Salva Kiir again waving to the crowd.)