Jan in Sudan

Last post

2007-01-24T22:37:00.000+01:00

Well since I haven't posted here in a while most of you must have thought that I either dropped off the face of the earth or arrived back home safely. Luckily the latter is tha case. I've been back for about 5 months now and have picked up my "normal" life again. I can look back at an interesting experience in the Horn of Africa. The only real drawback was that I (and my family) found half a year away from home a bit too long.

I would like to thank everyone who read my Blog and supported me during my stay in Sudan. It meant a lot to me. Until next time......

The time has finally come...

2006-07-26T10:04:00.000+02:00

...to say good bye to my friends and colleagues here in Juba. My tour of duty is almost at an end. Last night a few of us threw a little farewell party at " the Swamp" .

This is now the very appropriate and official name of the BBQ area at the air crew accomodation. Apart from me Richard (one of the pilots) is also leaving the mission. Einar - who is just going on leave- also chipped in because he can never pass up an opportunity to drink a few beers. Also then no one can deny him the right to pluck on his guitar and utter some gutteral noises which he claims is singing.

(Einar and his trademark....a funny hat)

I won't really miss Sudan but I will definately miss some of the characters who have made this mission an unforgettable experience.

So, tomorrow I'm off to Khartoum for my final week in the mission...

Short break

2006-07-26T09:27:00.000+02:00

Last weekend I had the opportunity to fly down to Entebbe, Uganda. I joined up with Jelle to spend a weekend in Kampala, the nations capital. It's just amazing how different Uganda is compared to Sudan. It's like venturing into a whole new world and its only a 45 minutes' flight away from Juba.

(Fruit in abundance. Something you won't see in South Sudan)

Paved streets, shops, hotels you name it they've got it and the people are very friendly. The environment is completely different as well. Very green and a lot of water. Uganda borders on Lake Victoria - the worlds' second largest sweetwater lake- which is the source of the White Nile. What better way to experience the Nile than to go white water rafting. So we did...

I must say it is a highly recommended and exhilarating adventure if you're not afraid to get wet. The Nile is extremely beautiful in these parts and you even catch a glimpse of the local wildlife like monkeys and fish eagles. We didn't encounter any carnivorous treetrunks but they seem to reside more Northward where there are fewer rapids. I was impressed by the professional way the tour was set up. You get picked up and dropped off in Kampala. They serve breafast, lunch and a BBQ dinner (with plenty of beer:-)). But most important is that they have a very experienced crew and several safety boats to accompany the rubber rafts.

(I'm the one in the orange T-shirt)

Juba, it's not the end of the world....

2006-07-12T07:38:00.000+02:00

... but you can see it from here. This has been a favorite saying in these parts for the last few months. But it seems the distance to the edge is slowly increasing. There is a tremendous increase in construction activity. Recently they have started renovating the roads in Juba town. The road from HQ to the airfield that used to be a lunar landscape is now as smooth as a football pitch. The problem is that it's a sloped gravel road. New gulleys will appear after a few heavy rain showers and we'll be back to step 1 in a few weeks. Improving the infrastructure also brings about other issues. Studies have shown there is a direct link between potholes and schizophrenia.With the most effective method of speed control gone there is an increase of Michael Schumacher wannabees. There has been a dramatic rise in the number of serious road accidents. Last night one of the military observers got run over by a car while exiting a local restaurant. Hit and run. The man suffered serious injuries but is in a stable condition. Local police are investigating the incident.

This weekend the Puma crew organised a BBQ at the aircrew accomodations. Because they hadn't been been flying for a while they killed the time by making their accomodations more hospitable. An old wheel, some stones, a bag of cement, a piece of canvas, some tin cans, light fittings... et voila, "party" time. For those who don't know, we consider a social gathering of more than 4 persons a party. The event was intended to be a small birthday and going away party for about 16 people but before the BBQ was good and hot there were about 40 present. Party crashing is a favorite pastime here. AMZAR Camp was kind enough to provide us with the necessary ingredients. The rest was left up to the French flight engineers whose culinary skills exceed their mechanical skills. Fabulous pizza, tappenade and homemade paté. The kitchen manager of AMZAR was also invited and he was undoubtebly impressed because AMZAR now decided to have a BBQ every other week
.

A quiz...

2006-07-06T08:30:00.000+02:00

What is it ?

a) African art
b) A termite mound
c) A landmine or improvised explosive device

Yesterday we discovered an object on the edge of our apron (aircraft parking space) that clearly looked out of place. We noticed it because it hadn't been there before. And we didn't trust it. I warned security and asked them to send an EOD (explosive ordinance) adviser to have a look at it. At first glance it just looks like a block of wood but on closer inspection (not too close) you see part of a metal or plastic disc underneath. When the demining expert came his first reaction was; " did you bring me here for a just block of wood?" I told him it wasn't the wood that was the problem but the object underneath. We've had some trouble with locals siphoning fuel out of helicopters the past week. That night was the first night they couldn't access the helicopters and we were thinking they might have left us a small present. The adviser told us to get well back and take cover behind our vehicles while he performed a closer inspection. When he was done he called us in and showed us what the oject was...

A termite mound that some locals (probably kids) had covered up the previous day. Well it's always better to be safe than sorry. Especially with the knowledge that there are plenty of mines in the facinity of the airfield.

The past two days one of our choppers has been performing a search and rescue mission for a Kenian road engineer after the first major incident in weeks. A small convoy of civilian vehicles from an aide organisation had been attacked by bandits just 16 Km North of Juba. 5 people were killed on the spot and 11 wounded. The Kenian was seen to have escaped. Unfortunately neither ground nor air search party found the 60 year old engineer yet.

Oh, and during my leave another aircraft decided that 2500 meters of runway was too short. An MD-80 passenger plane from a new Soedanese charter landed too far on the wet runway to stop in time. It skidded off the other end of the runway than last months' B-707. Miraculously nobody was seriously injured and the plane didn't set off any landmines that are known to be present on that side of the airfield. It even left some of the mine warning flags standing. It will take some time before they remove the aircraft. This one didn't remain on all threes - the left main gear collapsed - so they can't drag it out with a few tanks. It will probably suffer the same fate as the B-707 on the "old runway"... lodging for local SPLA troops.

Back on station

2006-07-02T08:30:00.000+02:00

Well, I arrived back in Juba safe and sound after my few weeks of leave. Coming back the second time is a lot easier. At least you know what to expect. And I have the prospect of having only about 5 weeks left in Sudan. I even got a nice surprise. My other Dutch colleagues stationed here (Co, Johan and Jolanda) managed to arrange one of the new air conditioned containers for me. They were on a first come first serve basis so I consider myself lucky to have one. So from now on there's no need to feel sorry for me:). Not that there ever was. It's not all that bad here but half a year is enough in my opinion. The new accomodations still need some work to make it more "comfortable". For instance there are no walkways yet so when it rains the ground turns swampy and it's all still a bit sterile. But that will change with time...

(new accomodations)
Slowly but steadily the UN infrastructure is improving. Something you unfortunately can't really say for the South Sudanese. The remote teamsites should also improve in the coming months. As of today the 4 Russian Mi-8 helicopters recieved approval from the sudanese government to start operations. That will almost double our much needed airlift capacity in Sector one. And the crew are ready. They hjave been waiting for this moment for over a month now.

On a break...

2006-06-18T21:24:00.000+02:00

Like it says. Enjoying some time off with the family. I will be on the plane back to Sudan on June 24. By the looks of it my tour of duty will end somewhere in the first week of August. That doesn't give me much time to sort things out in Juba and get all my stuff back to Khartoum in time. Hopefully I'll have some time to go to Uganda for a few days before I leave Juba.

Seemingly just another day at the airport..

2006-05-20T14:55:00.000+02:00

It’s been a while since the last update. Well, no news is good news. Pretty much the same things go on here at the airfield. Yesterday the SPLA celebrated the anniversary of their “revolution”. This was accompanied by a parade. Especially for the occasion they rolled out some of their tanks. At first I thought they were laying a smoke screen but it turned out it was just the smoke coming from their exhaust. At the John Garang memorial the usual speeches were held which continued for 4 hours. In the evening we expected the local armed parties to fire celebrating rounds, hopefully into the air. But the festivities proceeded without any incidents.

(Dr. John Garangs' Memorial in Juba. Garang was founder and leader of the SPLA and killed in a helicopter crash July 2005)

At the airport it’s reasonably quiet. Mainly because most of our air assets are grounded due to technical problems. If all goes well the Russians will fly in their Mi-8s this weekend. That should give us some slack.

Tomorrow 5 Dutch colleagues will finally be arriving in Juba. Three of them are staying here and two of them will move on to Maridi next week. Maridi is a Team Site about 250 Km West of Juba. They should be able to reach it by road. This will take about a day.

Well this ends the part I wrote in the morning. What seemed to be just another day at the airport took a ghastly twist at the end of the day.

At about 15:45 I was standing on the apron talking to our Learjet crew who had just come in to drop off the Force Commander. We heard a bang in the distance. That’s not so unusual as the de-mining guys blow up what they find every once in a while. But somehow this time it sounded different. Not long there after there was a second explosion and rumbling. In the distance we could see a smoke plume rise to the sky. More explosions followed by the characteristic whistle of artillery shells or projectiles whizzing overhead. Our suspicions were dead on…..the SAF ammunition dump at the edge of town had blown up. Instantly killing 2 soldiers and spraying ordnance over a wide area. Even as far as the airfield 5 km away where it claimed another victim. A 105mm artillery shell landed in the middle of the Russian Aviation Unit compound. Luckily it didn’t explode but the energy of the impact was enough to rip the left foot off of one of the Russian troops that was standing nearby. He was rushed off to hospital and seems to be doing OK. Tomorrow they will remove the projectile - which is lodged 2 meters deep in the ground - from the compound.

Both SAF and SPLA had mobilized their troops in no time. AK-47 and RPG armed soldiers popped up from every corner. The situation was rather tense for a while because there have been some minor incidents between SAF and SPLA in Juba recently. Fortunately the situation didn’t escalate further than the expected panic. People - recognizing the sounds of war - instinctively running and ducking for cover.

(Impressive smoke plume even from 3 miles away)

At about 16:45 the explosions died down and the situation slowly turned back to normal.

There are some rumors going around that the "accidental" explosion was staged. SAF wanted to get rid of some munitions that they didn't want to transport back North but didn't want to leave behind either. Blowing it up would solve the problem because nobody would be able to verify the amount and types of munitions that were stored.

Just another day at the airport...

2006-05-02T16:33:00.000+02:00

Well sort of. We had a serious CB(Cumulonimbus: big cloud, poor visibility, lots of rain, thunder and lightning) hanging over the airfield this morning. At about 10 the weather slightly cleared. Cloudbase was around 750-1000 feet visibility less than 3km. Several aircraft managed to make a VOR to visual approach and landed uneventful. A Boeing 707 cargo flight passed overhead and descended to make a visual pattern at around 750 feet altitude. Turned out the pattern was a bit too close to the airfield and the pilot wasn't able to roll out on a steady final but overshot the centerline. Instead of breaking off and going around he attempted to correct the situation. He touched down on the runway but only managed to stabilise the aircraft when he was already halfway down. With only 1200 meters of slippery and wet runway left, all the reverse thrust and braking couldn't prevent the 707 from skidding off the end. Miraculously the plane came to a standstil after about 200 meters without as much as a scratch leaving just the captain with a big dent in his ego and a hole in his pension scheme. Things could have turned out much worse considering the payload...50 tons of Jet A1 fuel.

Now all they need to do is drag the plane out of the mud before it sinks much deeper. Wonder how they're going to do that without the help of any cranes. Maybe it will just be converted into barracks just like the other 707 sitting on the "old" runway.

The Russians are coming!!!

2006-04-28T10:54:00.000+02:00

Being left in charge here at AirOps Juba-my chief Julio is on a six week R&R- gives me some more insight in how the UN administration operates. Everything is done according to the CYA principle. For those not familiar with the UN it's the acronym for "cover your ass". First of all you have to understand that e-mail is the primary means of communication in the UN so not everything needs to be signed to be official. I recieved an e-mail the other day from the Chief Air Ops Khartoum asking me if I had made all the arrangements for the Russian Aviation Unit(RAU) coming to Juba as we had discussed (note: this discussion was an informal conversation about the possible implications of the Russians coming. There was no fixed date yet). I replied that I had not been able to do anything yet because he failed to supply me with some minor details like: How many peolple, how many choppers, when are they arriving, what are their requirements and what agreements have been laid down in the Letter of Assistance to the UN. Sure enough the reason for the e-mail touched down at Juba Airport the next morning. A Russian Ilyushin-76 has brought in the RAU advance party. Good thing nobody informed us or everything might have run like clockwork.

(RAU site near the "old runway" where we park our aircraft. Note the old 707. This is used as a barracks and protected by a .50 caliber machine gun. For those interested the two small planes are wrecked MiG-19's)
Khartoum was very enthousiastic about the possibilities of exploiting the RAU for AIROPS. They even wanted us to create an integrated AIROPS unit. despite the good idea I warned them that they might be a bit optimistic and we would be lucky if the aircrew speaks english. Well it turned out that even I- a pessimist by nature- was optimistic. Of the 8 man advance party only one spoke English. Even their commanding officer, a full colonel, doesn't understand anything beyond yes or no. Or else he's a hell of an actor. Of the full 120 man delegation only the 2 interpreters and the radiooperators assigned to the aircrews speak English. So far for the idea of an integrated office. But there are enough other issues to keep you busy. Apron space, access routes to the airfield, hangars, you name it, all still need to be constructed. Primarily HQ in Khartoum is supposed to support the deployment of the RAU. Apart from a few CYA e-mails left and right nothing much has happened so it's left to us peeps out in the field. Which is fine by me since it gives you a meaningful way of spending your sparce freetime.

If all goes well Sector 1 will be suplemented with 4 Mi-8 transport helicopters by the end of May. This will tremendously increase our capacity and we should be able to guarantee a more steady schedule of re-supplying the team-sites. Especially now road transport is becoming increasingly more difficult.

So you see there's not much time to get bored here. Which on the one hand is a good thing but on the other it leaves virtually no time to see anything of the environment. I haven't even had a chance yet to explore the city of Juba by daylight. And at night you can't see much because there are no lights. The only place I sometimes get out to are some of the NGO camps to grab a beer or two.

We has a fantastic thunderstorm a few nights ago. Only drawback was that we had a CASEVAC in progress. Two victims of a car accident had to be picked up in a small town about an hours' flight North of here. It took the paramedics more than 2 hours to stabilise the patients for transport while the storm was nearing Juba Airfield. Miraculously the storm passed left and right of the airfield leaving a clear path from the scene of the accident to the airport so the helicopter got in safely. Although there was little hope for the critically injured patient he managed to survive the night and was further transported to Nairobi. I'm sure there must have been an angel on somebody's shoulder that night.

(Our HELOG crew taking a break after yet another MEDEVAC. Far right is Jörg aka Capito, captain of the Super Puma and one of the most humble persons you will ever come across)
I got the word that my UNMO colleagues have arrived safely in Sudan and have had their first experience with the unfortunate combination of UN bureaucracy and the Sudanese way of life. They have started their induction course and if all goes well I expect to see them here in Juba in about two weeks. Question is how long they are going to stay here. Contrary to the agreement rumors are that in stead of them all being assigned to Sector 1 they will be dispersed over all sectors. Wouldn't expect it any other way with the UN;-)

Hi everyone

2006-04-18T18:16:00.000+02:00

Well, I guess it's about time for an update. As you can see I'm still alive and hangin' in there. Last week I had my first day off in the mission and I owe it to Mohammed(PBUH). It was his birthday and as a present there were no flights. Since I was supposed to return back to Juba that day I was stuck in Khartoum. To make matters worse I had to spend the whole day at the poolside at the Sudanese German Club;)

(It's a tough life in Khartoum. The ice cream just isn't the same as back home)

The last week things have been busy here at the airfield. We are in the middle of a Kenyian deployment. About 750 troops are passing through Juba. Coming in with an MD83 from Nairobi and being shutteled to their final destination by either Antonov 74, Let-410 or Mi-8 helicopter. Up till now things are running fairly smoothly apart from the fact that the relatively peace and quiet of my tent gets disturbed by Kenyian sleep-overs.

We've also had several medical evacuations, so called MEDEVACS. For this we have a dedicated Super Puma helicopter with paramedics. Very professional guys from Germany. Even for a medical situation the UN is very bureacratic. Descisions are laid down by single officials. If you don't get his approval it's a no go. For a MEDEVAC you need a doctor's assesment of the situation. Based on this the Chief Medical Officer in Khatoum gives the green light. Last week we had a person that was run down by a car in Torit and was admitted to the local hospital. We recieved a request to fly the patient out. Luckily our chopper was already there. Problem was the patient hadn't been properly assesed by a doctor(paramedics don't count). In order to get final approval we phoned a military doctor to have a look at the patient who was already at the helicopter. Doc said it was nothing serious, just a sprained arm and a few bruises. So we called the MEDEVAC of. Much to our surprise the helicopter showed up in Juba 30 minutes later with the patient. We asked the paramedics if the doctor changed his mind and OK-ed the MEDEVAC. Turns out he never showed up at the helicopter. Paramedics assesed a serious chest wound and broken ribs and thought it better to fly him to Juba. A right decision...

But you have to be careful with who you put on the plane. Especially in the small towns they try to get patients on our aircraft but it could do more damage to airlift a wounded or sick person if you don't know what his/her condition is.

Last night we had our first real rainfall. Turns out our tropical tents won't keep the water out if the wind blows from the wrong direction. I only felt a few drops penetrate the mesh of the ceiling but some people in other tents they got their feet wet. Most of the water was gone come morning. Good part about the rain is that the temperature drops down quite a bit which is quite nice.

The general situation here in South Sudan is reasonably stable. Up in the Northern part of the South there was an internal clash within a faction about which side to join, the SAF or the SPLA. In the resulting firefight 15 people were killed including civilians. There are a lot of acusations flying left to right in the media about infringements of the CPA. Here at Juba we see a lot of SAF troops being shipped out North. A sign that the government is adhering to the CPA. However the formation of Joint Integrated Units(JIU) consisting of SAF and SPLA troops is behind schedule. It seems that units have been designated to participate in JIUs but are still somewhat reluctant to join up. Not very strange considering the circumstances. You can't expect sworn enemies to become bossom pals overnight.

All seems quiet

2006-04-05T16:05:00.000+02:00

Well after the incidents a couple of weeks ago things seemed to have quietened down here in sector 1. But I must confess that much of the news passes me by. I am dividing most of my time between the office and the airport resulting in 12 hour+ working days 7 days a week. And that with 50C-60C temperatures on the tarmac. I'm glad I can hit the sack when I get home. Under these conditions you start to call everywhere you can sleep relatively undisturbed home. The past few weeks I have been able to fly to a couple of places to break the routine. For those interested here in Juba we host a Be-200 KingAir, Let-410, Mi-8 Helicoptes, Super Puma helo with medevac configuration and an Mi-26 transport helicopter. These are just our local assets. The rest of the UN fleet that regularly passes through consists of MD-83, B-737, Antonov 74, Dash-8, Ilyushin 76 and L-100 Hercules aircraft.

(Mi-26, now that's a HUGE helicopter)
My job along with my colleagues Julio (ex Honduran Lt Col pilot) , Einar(Norwegian Air Force major)and Shaban(local guy) is to ensure the fleet keeps flying. At least in our neck of the woods. That sometimes requires some flexibility because like the Dutch railways the UN doesn't like to stick to the planned schedule. This often leads to passengers getting stuck and having to take the next flight...usually 4-5 days later.

(plains between Juba and Maridi)
At least from the air you have a magnificent view of the landscape. The only thing that's missing is the wildlife. Well, apart from some birds. It seems most animals were poached or have fled the area because of the wars. However, they seem to be returning slowly. There even seems to be a small herd of elephants roaming the plains about 20 miles East of Juba. The only "wildlife" I have seen here are frogs, lizards, hawks and maribus. Oh and one small monkey in Torit. The maribus scavenge the waste plots around the camps near the airfield. Due to their ever increasing numbers they are starting to pose risk a risk to aviation safety.

(Maribu stork)

AMZAR CAMP...

2006-04-01T16:37:00.000+02:00

(AMZAR Camp)
Here in Juba there are several compounds ranging from simple iglo tents to air conditioned units. My residence for the coming 5 months is AMZAR CAMP. A full service tent barracks, it is run by a contractor for the UN. I have the luxury of sharing my tent with maximum 4 other persons. Since I’m a long term inmate I have claimed the back of the tent as my territory. I have a reasonably comfortable bed which I can just stretch out in. This will be a problem for some of the Dutch guys that are coming in later.

(my turf)

The tents are just fine if it remains dry. When it rains in combination with wind the water is blown through the mesh of the double roof. But look at the bright side, if it rains the temperature in the tent drops to an acceptable level in combination with the fans. The food is OK. We get served 2 warm meals a day….so much for loosing a couple of pounds. No gourmet dinners but by all means acceptable and you won’t get ill from it. Toilets and showers are kept clean and your laundry gets done daily, if necessary. So, all in all it’s not a bad deal. I’m sure I’ll think differently when the rainy season really kicks in. The site will turn into mud soup and the snakes and other reptiles will come out of their hiding places. Hopefully by the end of next month the UN will have finished building the air conditioned prefabs intended for their staff :-)

quick update....

2006-03-29T11:39:00.000+02:00

Just a quick update to say I’m OK. I’ve been on the move a quite bit the last week. I tagged along with the Dutch fact finding mission to evaluate if and under what conditions we are going to send our UNMO’s to Sudan. This week I’m on a 3 day airfield ramp training course in El Obeid, the UN logistics base in Soedan. The last weeks the situation was a bit more tense here in the South. We had an incident in Yei where people tried to rob a UNHCR compound. A guard was killed and several people wounded. In Yambio an attack on a UN compound took place. Probable agressors were the LRA. The objective was to loot food and comms equipment. 3 attackers were killed and 3 UN troops wounded. Ironically the wounded were soldiers sleeping in their tents at the time of the attack. In both cases a CASEVAC(casualty evacuation) helicopter was launched from our airfield in Juba. Kudos to the paramedics that delivered a fantastic job in treating and stabilising the victims ensuring their recovery.

When I get back to Juba I will post more information. Internet is very slow and it takes hours to get the blog info uploaded but.........stay tuned.

The Nile

2006-03-23T07:33:00.000+01:00

Last weekend was my last in Khartoum and you can’t leave without having made a trip on the Nile. Or so they say. So on Friday I embarked on a sightseeing boat tour arranged by the UN welfare department. After pizza and drinks(sorry, no booze) were loaded aboard we casted off for a trip which lasted a full 4 hours. IMHO about 3 hours too long. All I can say is the Nile is overrated in this neck of the woods (well more of an urban jungle). Very monotonous and dull surroundings.

(Nile at the Khartoum marina)

On Saturday I relocated to Juba. This fortunately coincided with an afternoon BBQ the Air Ops team had planned on location. Courtesy of the Regional Administrative Officer an Australian chap that goes by the name of Andrew. Now unfortunately the rainy season has begun in the South so the BBQ got rained out. Nevertheless when, the weather cleared later on Andrew dropped us of with his speedboat on a small island in the Nile. The island is inhabited by a family who lives traditional African huts or so called “tukuls” Contrary to the North the Nile here is quite beautiful. The contrast and variety of green colors is absolutely amazing.

(Nile at Juba, foto taken from Mi 8 helicopter)

What else is amazing is how the captains navigate their barges through the river. They have to maneuver these sluggish vessels past rocks and shallows for risk of getting stuck or worse…sink.

(Barge navigating currents and shallows of the Nile)

Air Ops

2006-03-13T11:49:00.000+01:00

I had a brief meeting with the chief Air Ops here in Khartoum. His name is Kevin and he's a civilian UN staff member with a background in aviation engineering. It probably doesn't surprise you but they weren't expecting me. However they have been waiting for a Danish staf officer for about a year now. He still has to show up. But since I fit the bill I'll do for the time being.

The UN has 31 air assets to run their operation here in Sudan. Ranging from Mi-8 helos to a boeing 737 and several large Antonov cargo aircraft. They are expecting more helicopters to arrive within the next few months. Surprisingly the civil aviation authority is still in tact in this country so they take care of all the air traffic control related issues. Air ops basically does scheduling of the UN air assets and monitoring their whereabouts. They also co-ordinate the necesary logistics to keep the planes in the air and the pilots happy. You can compare it to a small airline company. Right now Trish ( a British lady with operations experience at Hapag Lloyd) is introducing me into the fabulous world of UN aviation. Since I'll be going to Juba I won't recieve any training here. This is due to thje fact that Khartoum does mainly planning and flight authoristion. At Juba the main task will be co-ordinating with local staff and air crews and forwarding any requests for aircraft to Khartoum. Since the rainy season has just started in the South there will be a run on helicopter transportation because it will be nearly impossible to use the fixed wing aircraft on the dirt strips. Two feet of water on parts of the runway is not uncommon. Another problem is that people want to call in air transport for nearly everyrthing. There have even been requests to use helicopters to blow away the freshly cut grass at landingsites. That's a mighty expensive rake.

Contrary to my earlier report I will probably be leaving for Juba coming saturday. Why not earlier? Most of the Air Ops staff is heading for Juba on saturday anyway. They've planned a barbeque there. Well that suits me just fine. That means I can go to a barbeque Jelle and I were invited to on thursday. BBQ's seem to be THE socialising events amongst the expats here in Sudan. Apart from them there isn't really much else to do but work:(

The driving test

2006-03-12T21:48:00.000+01:00

Today I took my UN driving test along with several others. This is mandatory if you are going to drive a UN vehicle. Normally you drive a 4x4. You would expect to get some extra training using these larger than average cars. Well you don't. The test itself is pretty simple. Actually it's so easy that anyone without any previous driving experience whatsoever should be able to pass. Guess what.... some don't:)

(standard isssue Nissan patrol. Note the all-season tires. Very useful in terrain)

An Indian paratroop engineer almost made us ellegable for the Purple Heart. He was however a model soldier and instantly carried out the instructors orders. Undoubtetly in the assumption that all the other vehicles were also aware of said orders. He maneged to not once check his six, sides or miorrors before changing lanes. The "pièce de resistance" was the U-turn on a 6 lane street. Again the instructors instructions were performed without hesitation. In no time we did a 180 causing the cars from the opposite direction to slam their brakes and come to a screeching halt. Our heartbeats racing up to 200+ and all this without the slightest change of composure in our Indian friend.

First impressions ...

2006-03-10T21:32:00.000+01:00

Men wearing dresses and holding hands....need i say more:)
Sudanese aren't lazy. They're just a bit slow and unstructured :p

First of all I would like to apologise to my fans for being so late in updating my blog :p

After our troublesome start we started the proces of checking in at the UN. Remarkable how such a large organisation can adapt to the Sudanese lifestyle so quickly;). At least we managed to finish our induction course this week. This means we can go to work starting sunday ( but I think Jelle and I are still a bit too eager).

(view from UNMIS HQ)

If all goes well I'll ship out to Juba on tuesday or wednesday. I still don't have a clue if they are expecting me. The UN is mostly about figures and statistics. When you've checked in you can be added to the list and when you check out you can be deleted. What happens in between seems to be of no concern to the deskjockeys. For instance you would expect the personnel department to know what and where your posting is and who will be your boss. Questions in this direction often cause blank expressions with the staff. Ah well. I guess we'll just have to learn to live with it as we are learning to live with the climatological circumstances. Slowly we are adapting to the temperature. However we are now having more problems with the ever present dust in the air. Stuffy nose, itchy eyes and such.

As for the present political situation. I don't have any aspirations of becoming a novelist (I'll leave that to Hemi) so I'll keep it short. The situation is ever changing here. Darfur is the hotspot at the moment. The African Union (AU) is going to end their mission there and the UN would like to take over from them. This is something the Sudanese about. The UN tends to take the reporting of treaty violations more seriously than the AU so the Sudanese government isn't to pleased about UN presence in the Darfur area. Since it is alleged that the government is supporting several rebel factions in the area you now understand why. To underline this there was a "spontaneous" demonstration against the UN in Khartoum last thursday. It was of course all perfectly orchestrated by the government. Countries like Sudan don't have spontaneous demonstration. Result was that we were confined to the compound the whole day. Despite these incidents we still feel pretty much safe here. The people are generally friendly, but what do you if you're being considered a walking wallet:)

As I mentioned earlier I hope to be heading for Juba next week. This means AFRICA. Khartoum is more an Arabic city and reminds me of Turkey in many ways. The big difference is that Turkey is climbing on the economic ladder. Khartoum is anything but a rich city albeit for culture. And even in this aspect there is not so much to see. There is only one large paved road that is in good condition. The others are riddled with potholes the size of craters. And there is dust and sand...and some more dust and sand. But like I said the peeps are alright.

(ferry crossing at the Nile)

Arrived safely in Sudan

2006-03-04T21:16:00.000+01:00

Jelle and I arrived safely in Sudan at about 18.45 local time after an uneventful flight. Everything after was less uneventful. But this didn't really come as a surprise. First off it took us more than 3 hours to clear customs. This was mainly due to the fact that people gennerally tend to take on a more leasurely pace in hot countries. And it is pretty hot here. It was 37 C on arrival and the mercury is expected to rise to a scorching 43 C tomorrow. it is expected to things generally take more time. Secondly we didn't have the proper customs documents for our firearms. After about 10 people took interest in our equipment the top honcho finally showed up and said we couldn't take the guns in. They would have to be cleared tomorrow after the UN provided them with the proper documents. Speaking of the UN...they didn't know we were to arrive today. And of course we didn't have a phonenumber at hand. Why should we? New York assused us that everything was arranged. A friendly lady from KLM groundhandling called a guy from the UN she knew and that got things rolling. All in all we were treated very kindly and with respect. The only thing customs made sure of is that we weren't destined for Darfur. That's kind of a touchy issue here. At least we can't complain about the hotel we're staying in. It's got airconditioned rooms - something more of a necessiety than a luxury- and they are clean! Well, my kebab is about to be served. After that, a good nights sleep should sort us out to tackle tomorrows bureaucracy.

Last post from the safety of home..

2006-03-03T13:20:00.000+01:00

Tomorrow morning I'll be on my way to Sudan by means of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. That means that my next post will be done in Sudan. Kind of an odd feeling right now. Over here there's a 10cm pack of snow with more to come. In Khartoum it's a comfortable 28 C. I think I can leave my polar socks and undergarments home. I don't know what to expect when we arrive there. We have no clue yet as to who and if there will be someone to pick us up. Another uncertainty is our luggage. The carry-on luggage shouldn't be a problem but it might take a while for our pallets to clear customs. Also they didn't pack all of our gear. Some of the stuff is still on the pallets that are packed for the group of observers that will hopefully follow about a month later.

I said goodbye to the kids today. It's heartreaking to see how difficult this situation is for them. Especially since there is no real way to comfort them. Hopefully Ill be back before the summer holidays are over so that we can still take a vacation.

Latest news is that the Sudanese peolples are becoming more hostile towards the UN presence. Not a very comforting feeling. However this seems to be more the case in the Islamic North than in the South. I wouldn't surprise me if it still has to do with the recent "cartoon" business. Another aspect is that the Government of Sudan(GoS) is not in favor of UN presence in Darfur. A major issue since the UN is the only organisation at this moment willing to fill the void that the African Union will leave behind when they retire from the area. Also the team of one of our colleagues on another mission(IMAT) in Sudan were paid a visit by the national security force. They had to hand in their PC's, communications equipment and vehicles. Some of the equipment was returned later. The valuable lesson learned here is that an AK47 puts more weight in the scale than diplomatic immunity. A minor detail is that the IMAT mission does not have an official status yet, so the intruiging game of power and politics can commence...

Flight scheduled March 4

2006-02-23T22:49:00.000+01:00

Got an e-mail today saying the flight to Sudan is planned for saturday march 4. Looks like it's really going to happen this time. Yesterday I was at the Ministry of Defence for a final briefing on the situation in Sudan. We were joined by a cpuople of folks from the Foreign Affairs Ministry. They were there to give us a background as to why it's so important that we participate in this mission. It comes down to the fact that the Netherlands changed their third world aid policy. In stead of giving a little to a lot of countries the just want to focus on a few and give them substantial support. For the African continent the main focus is on the Horn of Africa. As for peace keeping operations; Africa is booming business.

It is still not sure if and when our 15 observers will ship out to Sudan. The UN still hasn't deployed any of the 80+ observers already statiobned in Juba to any of the remote team sites. Reason is the sites aren't fully deployed yet. Some lack essential basics such as clean drink water facilities and health care units. The delay is mainly caused by underestimating the poor local infrastructure and geography. Things will only get worse with the rainy season starting in a couple of weeks. Another issue is that the Russians haven't fulfilled their commitment to supply a helicopter unit yet. And by the looks of it this won't happen any time soon either. This means it will be extremely difficult to evacuate any staff from remote locations in case of an (medical) emergency. This could be a reason to keep our observers home unless the UN come up with a creative solution. It seems the level 2 hospital in Juba is almost fully deployed. So no reason to keep me home ...

Latest news from the medical front is that Cholera has reared its ugly head in the South of Sudan. So far about 100 people have died of this highly lethal disease and it is reported to have spread to Juba. I have been vaccinated for about every illness possible. Unfortunately there is no vaccination for Cholera. Just have to keep my fingers crossed I don't catch it.

Thanks Gilly...

2006-02-16T22:42:00.000+01:00

For the nice card you made me:)

Counting the days

2006-02-15T22:05:00.000+01:00

Two weeks to go now. On the one hand I'm looking forward to this mission on the other it's a burden for the home front. Have all my things packed that need to be shipped in advance. Even added a couple of rolls of soft toiletpaper to ease the buns when I get the runs.

We' ve had the first feedback from our fellow countrymen in IMAT (international military advisor team). This is an international team of military experts that is supposed to aid Sudan in reorganising their armed forces. However we learned that the Sudanese are masters at stalling tactics and that much work still needs to be done to kick this thing off. Furthermore it seems that many of the counsils and fora which were supposed to be installed according to the CPA only exist on paper. This means that it will take even more time to achieve all the goals stated in the CPA. It also seems that not all of the Sudanese army units have retreated out of the key cities in the South where they were supposed to hand the scepter to the SPLA. Only time will tell what consequences this has for the peace proces. All in all the situation in the South doesn't seem to be as stable as the UN leads us to believe. This is backed-up by an email I recieved from a Dutch aid worker who's stationed in South Sudan. I guess I'll learn more in about two weeks time...

Good news is that Ruud, the Navy captain who's deputy commander of IMAT, arrived safely in Sudan last week. He also recieved all his luggage that was sent in advance. A previous party had to wait more than 4 weeks for their luggage to clear customs.

Decision is made

2006-02-08T17:31:00.000+01:00

My departure to Sudan together with Jelle is now officially planned for March 1st ( or whenever there's a flight available around that time). In the meanwhile I'll be hanging around at work and getting the last odds and ends sorted out. Since all my tasks are divided over the remaining staff, and it seems to be going OK, there's not much left for me to do. Tomorrow I have planned a day at the shooting range. Contrary to the obeservers I will be be issued a sidearm. It can't hurt to get in some more practice on the GLOCK 17.

Ping Pong

2006-02-03T10:51:00.000+01:00

Recieved a call from Operations again; "The UN is breathing down our necks to send some staff". This means I'll probably ship out before April 1st. First indication is in two weeks' time which is not very convenient for me to say the least. I hope they can extend it till at least the 1st of March. This whole go/no- go situation is really starting to get frustrating. Seems like no-one is in control and we are just pawns that can be moved around randomly as political small change.

Preparations continue...

2006-02-01T21:37:00.000+01:00

Since our deployment has been postponed we have some time to aquire additional skills. Jan (aka Jack) - another guy on our team - works for the defence driving center. He arranged for us to have a course in all-wheel driving. We figured this could come in handy when we have to navigate the dirt trails down in Africa. And with the rainy season coming up these will transform into muddy gullies.

This was my first experience with all-terrain driving and in one word it's AWESOME! After being taught the basic academics of 4x4 driving we took the vehicles into the field. In this case the standard Army Mercedes Benz 290GD. The training center caters to all vehicles from the new FENNEK recon vehicle to the Leopard II tank and has various tracks to practice on.

(brand new FENNEK reconnaisance vehicle. Pity we're not taking these along)

After a leasurly morning drive in the loose sand and woods the instructors had a treat in store for us. In thew afternoon we were allowed on the track that's used to test the limits of our terrain vehicle. This particular track is usually off limits for the regular course. Just the other day one of the cars toppled over and was totalled because it exceeded the 38 degree roll angle. But it's just amazing what a 4x4 is capable of if driven with tact. It requires a different mindset compared to normal driving. The key is patience and anticipation.

(Jeroen full of confidence, urging our car forwards...)

(...Jeroens' car 5 minutes later)

Rumors are overtaken...

2006-01-26T12:51:00.000+01:00

Just got off the phone with Operations and there has been another change of plan. The deployment of our group has been postponed till the 1st of April (no joke;-)). This also applies to the 2 staff officers (Jelle and I). Preparations will continue but at a slightly more moderate pace...

Rumors travel fast..

2006-01-24T12:26:00.000+01:00

Still no definate info on the date of departure and the duration of my rotation (4 or 6 months) but well informed channels say I'll be heading for Sudan on the 6th or 8th of February. This means I'll travel with Jelle to Khartoum. Jelle - an army major with a logistics background- will be our man in Khartoum. I expect I will be helping out getting things sotred out for 1st Dutch Detachment in Sudan and of course learning whatever it is that I'm supposed to be doing down South. Rumors have it that the observer team will arrive at a yet to be determined later date. None of this is official of course until I get the writen order and knowing the speed at which our red tape operates this will probably be forwarded to me..... in Sudan.

Exercise UNPAMO

2006-01-22T23:32:00.000+01:00

Last week we held our end exercise for the course. The exercise was designed to have us face as many different observer situations as possible in the short time given. This means compressing a whole mission period into one week. The exercise took place in the central part of the netherlands where all of the participants were divided over 3 team sites. Our task was to see that all of the warring factions- 4 in all- stuck to a ceasefire agreement. This means setting up patrols to monitor and observe and also getting in touch with the local warlords to negotiate infringements on the agreements. One of the most difficult aspects of being a neutral observer is the fact that you are not allowed to react to many situations and have to maintain a "distance". I can tell you that your fingers really start to itch from time to time and you get totally frustrated.
Apart from the interesting scenarios we faced it also gave us a great opportunity to get to know one another. Not unimportant considering you’ll be cooped up with some of the group for a good 4 months. I was stuck with Co, Edwin, Cas and Harry in Team Central. I must say I had a great time and couldn’t have hoped for a better bunch of teammates. A lot of laughs and open communication. One of the most hilarious moments was when a female role player left our site one evening and on the way out - seeing a fruit basket- said to our team leader, "Can I ask a brutal question... may I have a banana?". This is NOT something you should say in a room with 5 guys living under primitive circumstances. You can probably imagine we had the most difficult time to hold our laughter till she closed the door on the way out.

(role players take their jobs seriously)

("jarhead" Cas and Edwin in Team Centrals'
improvised command post)

Also kudos to our instructor team. It was one of the best organised exercises I’ve ever seen. Excellent role players - even an ex-Knesset bodyguard whom I owe a box of cigars - that made life miserable for all of us ;-)

I think I can speak for each and every one of the participants that we look to the upcoming mission with a lot more confidence than 3 weeks ago. Heck, some of us are even starting to look forward to it ....:-)

(Me talking with the Director of Operations
Maj-Gen Eikelboom(r))

Pieces falling into place...

2006-01-12T21:47:00.000+01:00

Just two weeks ago we were all full of questions about our mission. A lot of things still had to be arranged and nobody really had all of the answers yet. Well, we still don't have all of the answers bur we're getting there. Our gear is almost sorted out and we are getting some additional usefull stuff like a medical kit(with syringes and such), aluminum crates, portable closets and stretchers that are large enough for us Europeans. We had some first hand intel that the available cots were more suitable for our Bengalese friends. At least we are getting more and more confident that the logistic side of our deployment will work out. Jelle, who will be stationed in Karthoum has made arrangements for the mail service. As far as we can see now I will be the link between HQ and our team of observers in the field. As for the mission itself we haven't recieved much more information apart from what we can gather from the news or Internet. At the end of the month there will be another fact finding mission to check if the UN has fully deployed in the AoR as was agreed. Our definate date of departure will be based on the report of the fact finding mission.

Next week we will discover if we payed enough attention in class. The course will end with a 5 day field excercise where we will get the chance to demonstrate our newly aquired skills of observing and negotiating. Thanks to our highly motivated and dedicated instructors I'm sure we'll all do just fine.

Practice makes perfect

2006-01-12T20:50:00.000+01:00

After a tiresome week and a half of classroom lectures - there's an awful amount of information we have to digest - we went on a field trip to the Army Mine School. Topic of the day: mine and improvised explosive device(IED) awareness. Apart from road traffic landmines are one of the greatest hazards in out of area operations. Sudan has an estimated 500.000 - 2 million landmines buried in the soil. Unfortunately most of these are deposited in our Area of Responsibility (AoR). At the mine school we are taught how to best cope with this threat. Rule of Thumb is to not stray off the (cleared) roads or paths. In the unfortunate event that we should get caught in a mine field we practiced clearing a path through the area by "poking" a rod or other pointed object. Justt to make it more realistic they used dummy mines with small charges. The drawback of this method is that it's very time consuming and should only be used as a last resort.

(Ric and I gentlypoking for mines, you may also notice the tripwires)

A favorite spot for IED's are guardrails. This is the reason the were removed from the highways in Irak. Below the effect of just 2KG of explosives on a passing Jeep.

A day like this is extremely useful for us folk accustomed to moving around in a safe environment.

Shopping heaven...

2006-01-06T23:14:00.000+01:00

...where else can you can fill your shopping carts full of goods and not have to pay for them? It's beyond me why they can't get more women to join the service;-). No seriously, we had to pick up "some"extra gear for the mission to complement our regular kit. Since Southern Sudan is a jungle region we get all the appropriate attire to be able to cope with the hot and sticky climate and more... we even got cold weather socks and turtleneck shirts. Now comes the hard part of figuring out what all of the kit is actually for, how you fit it on and how much of it we really need to take along. You have to bear in mind that you will have to carry it all yourself at some point. And that some point is about 5000 km away from here in 35C +.

On a different topic. The trip to work this morning was quite spectacular...

(Yes Hemi, it's a truck on fire;-))

Preparations for deployment have started.

2006-01-04T23:15:00.000+01:00

To prepare for the mission I have to follow a 3 week training course at the Dutch Army's Peacekeeping Mission School along with the 16 other candidates. The other people come from all military disciplines and vary in rank from luitenant to colonel. Turns out that the mission was as much a surprise to the school as it was to all of us. Normally you need at least a couple of months for a decent preparation. So with just 5 weeks till D-Day it wasn't a surprise that not all of the necessary information was available. I can tell you this is pretty frustrating because there's a lot to be done. Apart from training you need the proper vaccinations, gear and red tape sorted out. Fortunately we have a great group of guys and a gal and our instructors are doing their best to help us out.

Getting used to the idea

2006-01-04T22:14:00.000+01:00

After the initial 'shock' I soon got comfortabel with the idea of going on the mission. After all it is part of being in the military and it gives reason to why you joined up in the first place. I can't say the same for the 'homefront'. Being away for 6 months has - as we say in the military- a major impact on daily operations. But most of all it will affect Brennain and Darren who will have to do without daddy for a while.

During the Christmas break I have been gathering as much information as I could find on the current situation in the mission area. Most of it I found here on the UNMIS webpage http://www.unmis.org/english/en-main.htm. In a nutshell:

Sudan is roughly 50 times as large as the Netherlands (or 5 times as large as France). The Southern part of Sudan is, opposed to the Islamic North, a mainly Christian oriented region. The region is also rich in natural resources which have yet to be fully exploited. The area which is in hands of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) is reasonably stable. The incidents that do take place are mainly bandit attacks staged from Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army directed towards civilian targets. Looting, rape and murder are the result. With the dry season starting (Southern Sudan is a tropical jungle environment) it is expected that the number of incidents will intensify. Roads will become more accesible thus more commerce will take place hence more loot. It is expected the biggest challenge is the repatriation of the hundreds of thousands of refugees and their millions of livestock.

North and South Sudan have been in a state of civil war for all but 11 years since 1955. The UN task is to monitor if both the government of Sudan (GoS) and the SPLA abide to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement(CPA) which was signed in january 2005 and is ultimately supposed to result in an independant Southern Sudan in 2011.

While this conflict is being resolved the atrocities and suffering in Dafur (West Sudan) continue...

Can it get any worse?

2006-01-03T21:03:00.000+01:00

Wednesday December 14. I finish lunch with a hole the size of the grand canyon in one of my molars. It cracked completely in half after biting on a grape pit. Not much pain at the time but still very annoying. Just my luck that I'm stuck in Luxemburg for a 3 day course. The dentist will have to wait till I get back. I give him a call to make an appointment. He's got time....in 3 weeks. Can it get any worse? Unfortunately... yes. I get a call from my boss later that afternoon, "Jan, there's been a last minute request to supply a candidate for the United Nations Mission in Sudan. You're seriously being considered. Just thought I'd let you know."

Wow, that came out of the blue. It takes a while for it to sink in. The next morning I got the final confirmation. I'm to be appointed Senior Officer Air Operations in Juba, Sudan for a period of 6 months. I leave in February. That leaves me just 7 weeks including the holiday season to get everything sorted out. I'm sure this is only the first of many challenges to come...