The Aftermath

The most sturdy structure on our base seems to be this tucul.

The truck was parked inside the tent that is to its rear before the tent got blown about 80 feet

This is our office. The pole to the left of the building is where it used to line up with.

The women's wahsroom behind our office flipped over on its side

This is the Indian Force Battalion (Ghurka Regiment)'s admin building lying on the Zambian TCC sleeping quarters

That's where the UNPD offices are supposed to be. You can the footings in the foreground just off the road.

This was a container that housed a UNDP office and it is supposed to be on the other side of the street

The exact samething appears to have happened to this building. It was much bigger and it landed on the sleeping quarters of the our Zambian TCC.

Same building as below

The red bricks in the foreground is where the building sat before it was blown off and flipped upside down and partially landed on a generator

The Abyei Hurricane

So... I am sitting in our office at the base yesterday. It after work and I am trying squeeze all I can out the poor web connection we have here when I hear the weather getting active outside. All the windows in the office are blocked to keep the sun out and the temperature inside down... well that's the theory anyways... so every once in a while I pock my head out the door to see what is happening. The sky to the northeast is getting dark and you can tell we are going to get some rain. Now usually the around this time of the day the winds pick up and I mean they start blowing pretty strong. Yesterday was different though, they were blowing a lot stronger than I have ever seen, in my short here that is. As I opened the door I have really hang on to it because the wind wants to rip it from my hand. My face is peppered with bits of sand and everywhere I look there is a cloud of dust in the air.

It is now about 6:40 pm and I am trying to get my last post up on the blog and now it's raining and very heavily and the wind is getting even stronger. I look outside again and everything I see is blur because there is so much debris in the air and the rain is going parallel to the ground. As I walk back to the computer the office starts to move and the roof lifts up a few inches and then water pours through the crack, the noise outside is... yes like a freight train, the build is making all sorts of noise and I trying to get logged off the computer. The roof buckles again I get the heck out of there. I step outside trying to hold on to the door and have to force it shut with all my body weight. I am instantly wet from head to toe and right through to my underwear it is raining so hard. Bits of small debris go flying by at unbelievable speeds and I make for the big tucul that serves as a cafe in the courtyard of the aluminum office structures. And believe it or not that tucul isn't even budging in the wind. I look at the office again which is a one storey building built to go up quick and come down quick and it starts moving. All the while the wind and rain are so intense and loud I can't hear myself think.

I eventually duck into another office with a few of the civil UN staff and at least now I am thinking if I am going to die there will someone there with me. These offices are all attached in rows and the second seems to be faring better than the one I was in. I remember one of my colleagues in the next office and I run out in the insanity to see if I can get out of what I perceived as a coffin. I check one door no one... I try to close the door but won't latch I leave and run to the next door and as I am making my way across the 15 or 20 feet between the two the first door I checked is now airborne and almost takes my head off. The second door is locked and I start to make my way back to office with the other people when my colleague opens the second door and we go to the safer of the two buildings.

The storm last about another 10 or 15 minutes and when it is over we step outside to much cooler temperatures and the crisis that is UN Abyei Base.

More of Abyei

So this the old market in Abyei ( should be looking at these from the bottom up by the way) after the battle.

I had to get a photo of one of these buses. They pile stuff as high as they can, no regulations of course and this one isn't even the highest I have seen.

This is the main street of Abyei just to give you an idea of the sort of place it is. Of course this is after all the fighting last May. The old market... and it is old becaus it was bombed in the conflict and now there is a new one... is on the left in this photo. You are basically looking north.

The two photos above were taken in a little village almost a suburb to Abyei called Yamora. WFP was in the village and everyone was out at the school. The kids here love getting their photo taken and swarm you to see themselves on your camera. They are awesome, it is always thumbs up too. Everytime you pass them on the road you get the big one... thumb that is.

Two times the fun. Abyei helipad.

The Abyei police station. The cells are directly on the other side of the UN vehicles and boy o boy boy you don't want to do anything illegal in this part of the world. Let's say you know you are in jail in Sudan.

Agok and Beyond

Well I survived Agok. It was a lot of fun but I must press on. I have been placed in another team. I was with the co-location. They are responsible for visiting the police stations and trying to offer advise and identify any areas where the local police need updating and offer day training to meet those needs. As of two days ago I am working in the RRR(Return Recovery and Reintegration) office. For example, there was very little law enforcement capacity in the outlying villages of the Abyei area prior to UNMIS being here. This office along with the UN civilian counterpart, which goes by the same name was responsible for identifying villages along the migration routes of the Misseriya and having police stations built there. Also as a show of support for the police in the area UNMIS there has been a request to have them fuel their vehicles at the UN base and we basically got the paper work in line for that little project.

I am really looking forward to the new position. It seems like you actually get something accomplished and every once in a while you get to go out into the villages and check things out. I think it is going to be very satisfying.

So that's the update on my job situation. As far as everything in Abyei goes not much has changed. It is still dusty and hot, we've had trace amounts of rain since last week when I was in Agok. It is actually raining right now but not very hard. Everything is very dry again. I imagine sometime soon that is going to change though.

As far as news from Sudan. In the Jonglei area which is about 400 kms southeast of Abyei there has been some clashes, more like slaughters by the sounds of things. About a dozen villages have been burnt and since most of the men were away guess who took the brunt of the onslaught. I am told there were in excess of 150 victims. Another despicable act in a country that has seen more than its fair share.

Haggis Anyone

I forgot, Don brought some canned haggis. You know that Scottish delight made of salt, more salt and some lamb entrails.... in a can!! We cooked it up with a batch of noodles and had it for dinner and the left overs for breakfast.

How is that for a story. Two OPP officers sleeping basically under the stars in Africa and having back to back haggis feedings. Another one for the history books. This photo is of Don soiling my sleeping bag with haggis fumes

Agok Photos

This is the inside of the tent that we sleep, and eventually work in in Agok

Your friendly neighbour goats. Always looking for someone to hang out with

This one shows the condition of the tent. Notice the gaping hole and desk exposed to... now smile when you say it.... rain.

The entrance to Agok TOB after a couple hours of rain. Imagine days and days of it.

Saddle up the ambassador is ready!

Agok Report

Our little camping trip to Agok turned out to be not quite the adventure as I thought it would be instead it was a lot more fun, relaxing. Thursday started with my contingent commander and I getting our stuff together and leaving the base in Abyei at around 11:00 am. We pulled out of the base met up with a couple of the UNMO's (United Nation Military Observers) waiting in a convoy. I had heard that the Japanese ambassador was visiting Abyei and this just happened to his convoy to...of all places Agok.

We waited for all the commotion to die down, there were government looking types, Sudanese men in matching plain coloured short sleeve shirt and pants, there was a camera crew and a whole lot of security. The Zambian TCC (troop contributing country) is what we use for show of force and security in Abyei Sector VI. They are from the Zambian army and escort the UNMO's (UN military observers) around... they work for the UN. TCC rolls out in their two Toyota Landcruiser pickup trucks they are followed by a couple UN Nissan Patrol suv's and then the Landcruiser suv with the ambassador in it.

We are waiting at the back of the pack and suddenly two of the Sudanese government types jump into our vehicle. I guess the vehicle that brought them was full and so they were looking for an empty spot and we happen to be it. They didn't ask they just jumped in, but they seemed friendly enough. So hey... go with it.

As we proceeded towards Agok the sky ahead of us became increasingly dark and somewhat ominous. It looked like Agok was getting a dose of rain. On our way Don tried to offer up Wurthers candies to our Sudanese passengers but all we got out of them was a great big smile and an index finger towards the spectacle that was the sky in front of us and ... "rain".

We slowly (by North American standards) made our way towards Agok. Our government officials eventually succumbed to a second offering of Wurthers again with big smiles... friends for life!! I think there is a TV commercial in there somewhere. We made a quick stop at the site of what will be the new Agok TOB, which I am told is perfectly situated to be cut off from both Agok and Abyei when the real rain starts falling. The entourage disembarked and took a look and ten minutes later we were on our way again heading straight into what we expected, rain, don't forget big smile. they love the rain here.....???

After trying to land at the Agok airstrip the ambassador's helicopter had to return to Abyei due to the heavy rain and so did the convoy so he could get on it. Don and I did our duty at the Agok police station, and that is co-location or mentoring, community policing or community policing, getting in touch with their needs and GCVPPO (I think it means Gender Child Vulnerable Persons Protection Organization... I think) The UN is full of acronyms. Then we retired to the TOB and the photos above tell the rest of the story.

Nile Photos

If anyone is interested I finally got the photos of the Nile trip on my last day in Khartoum. I have added them to "Last Day In Khartoum". If anyone has read up on the history of the city the photos especially interesting. It was right where we stood that the Egyptian and British were held seige by the Mahdi and his forces from across the White in Omdurman. Take a look.

Abyei Times

First things first.... it hasn't been stated yet on this blog, but, there is BEER! in Abyei and having spent the last 30 plus years of my life living in Canada, especially not to mention the last 6 in surveillance, I thought I should bring it up. There is no alcohol allowed "officially" in the northern part of Sudan, sharia law and all that. In the south, and Abyei is right in the border of the two, there is no problem with alcohol, we weren't sure if it was allowed in Abyei until we got here and what do you know!? The prices are not too bad when you do all the math, but you have to do "all" the math to see it. Needless to say we... enjoy? Yeah hell who am I kidding beer is beer when there is only beer. There seems to be only three bands Heineken, Efes, and a Chinese knock- off of a German beer that doesn't exist, you go figure. I guess they just made a beer to look German with labelling and writing but it's not a copy of anything. But I am not complaining.

Now on the more serious matters...

The two bodies that were found a couple days ago appear to be that of the two missing Messeriya men. The investigation is continuing by the local police but I am very happy to say t there has been no back lash. The "suspect" is in custody... let just say the reason for holding him would not stand up to our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. But anyways the local police are on the job and the Messeriya seem to be for the moment content with the way the authourities are handling the case. So, we haven't been evacuated.

The four night camping trip has turned into a one day visit and one night stay over in Agok. We are going there tomorrow for the overnight. We were down there today and visited the local police station there. They had case last night where two people from another village came into Agok, got drunk and let fly a few hundred rounds with the standard issue AK 47 times 2. Then they headed back home. They also... get this... had nine yep, 9 women locked up for... adultery.... long thoughtful pause so as not to seem to be insulting our gracious hosts. I guess here adultery is a crime, plain and simple. If you are walking down the road with your wife and another man looks at her and she responds to his glance either by glancing back at him or smiling, she has commited a crime. And by the sounds of it they take it pretty seriously. Everyday we learn something. So Heather, what do you think about moving to Sudan? ha ha!

Another thing I wanted to let you in on is that the roads around here are absolutely horrible. They are red gravel and mud typical for the soil around here. They are so rough that at times the entire dashboard in the UN vehicles that we drive, Nissan Patrols by the way(full size 4X4 SUV's), shake so violently you think it is about pop off, every door on the car rattles all the way to Agok. It is about 35 kms from Abyei to Agok and it took us over an hour this morning. On the way back we did it in just over one hour. It is so bad at some points that vehicles make there own road paralleling one side or the other especially at the parts that are impassable because it is a soft spot and all the huge trucks have made these massive ruts. And speaking of soft.

Yesterday afternoon and this afternoon we had tremendous thunder showers move through the Abyei area. The showers left a layer of sticky mud on the ground about half to one inch thick. They only lasted about half an hour each but that is two days in a row that we have seen rain now... it's coming. The rainy season, people here are happy to see the rain, look up at the sky and gesture with their hands smiling. It' s a good thing but it also means more of what we saw in the last two days and I mean a lot more.... and the mud and the bugs and mosquitoes and snakes and not going anywhere for days at a time. Woo Hooo!

And finally.... the word Abyei is from a tree of the same name that grows in this area and Agok means monkey. Cliff facts of the day.

I am sitting in my container/accommodation, the internationals here use both phrases and realised I have a web connection. So what do you know? I thought I would add a blurb on my day. Today we helped out at a double homicide just south of Abyei. Two maybe three days ago a couple of Messeriya men were reported missing from the Abyei market. Just a refresher.... the Messeriya are the nomadic arabs. Well today two bodies turned up in watering hole just south of town. We don't know the circumstances of the deaths or what lead up to them. The local police are investigating and we are maintaining our advisery role. The deaths could have some "implications" lets say. If they turn out to be who we think they are and the wrong people are respnsible it could ignite things around here. The word around is that if this had happened last year we would be into "it" already. Two Messeriya killed and dumped near a Dinka town could have turned into an all out fully armed conflict. So I am told.

I guess we will wait to see what happens. In the meantime we continue do what we are here for... mentoring.

The weather is still pretty hot no sign of the rain yet at least not in Abyei. There are clouds in the sky and two days ago I did see sign of rain, drops in the dust basically and it has rained to the north south and west of us. I saw a slideshow of vehicles on the road here in the rainy season. Wow! Rutts in the road you could lose an entire family in and I am not talking about a small western family. Wait until you see photos of that!

As far as my camping trip goes our contigent commander is coming to visit next week to have a look at the place and he wants to stay there for four nights. So most of next week I will in Agok and won't have my laptop with me. There is no office as you can tell by the photos I posted a couple days ago. I will let you know how that goes.

maAa salamma

Well my camping trip to Agok has been put off. I am scheduled to go next week on the 15th April. We are having a group of visitor from Khartoum come by to take a look at the TOB at Agok, so we will see what happens.

Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire.

Actually it is "out of the A/C into the oven" I am heading to Agok tomorrow. Two of us are going down to stay two nights. I am not sure what they expect out of this and why exactly they want us there. All I can guess is that they need to have some degree of visible progression. The military is there so UNPOL has to be there also. It is not a very popular decision with the UNPOLs in Abyei. The TOB or temporary operating base that is there is at best, austere, and that is giving it a lot. I am looking forward to it in some respects, namely, sleeping in a tent in Sudan near a mud hut village, and it is only two nights every 10 or so days. This is flic of the TOB from the road.

As you can tell I have a great internet connection. This is thanks to someone that knows a lot about computers and how the get into secure servers. Not me. Anyways hope you all enjoy, there are more to come if my luck with the web hold up.

As far as what I am going to be doing, my specific job has not been made totally clear to me yet. I am hoping to start out on the patrol part of things they call it co-locating with the national police. This will be very interesting. We have volunteered for a task as merely reporters. We observe the actions of the local police and ultimately report back to the international community on what we see. This is all we do we have no authority to do anything else. They have all the power. But we have the radios so there.

There has been a push to set up temporary operating bases in villages around the area and have them staffed by not just the military but by UNPOL as well. The first one that we are going to be going to is in a village called Agok south of Abyei. It is basically three tents surrounded by razor wire and some minor reinforcements. No a/c. We are going to be spending two nights and three days at these bases. This will be a test of not the UNPOLS, that's us,(it is hardly a test when you know the answers) We know what we think about it and we know we will stand up to the task at hand. The real test is what will the decision makers do if things don't go as they thought. You will see what I mean when I get some photos of the said base. We are going camping!!! Who has the beer!?

Abyei

This is what it looks like around the village. I am hoping to get some better ones later on. They are very paranoid about phots around here, they think you are a spy or something if you are seen taking photos so I have to be sneeky.

Life at UN MSA Camp Abyei, Sudan

Abyei base from the air. The third and fourth from the top show the Mi-17 in camp on the heli-pad and the security wall we live behind. I would show you the armed posts along the wall with machine guns but I would probably get in trouble and I don't need anymore trouble

Making Our Way To Abyei

So the top two photos are of the landscape around Kadugli where we changed flights and Abyei and aboard the Mi-17 chopper. The middle photo is of the largest helicopter in the world an Mi-26 which was parked at Kadugli airport when we were there. The bottom two my partner and myself in the Mi-17 heading for Abyei and inside the Mi-17.

They Love Their Duck In Sudan

This is in Khartoum before we left for Abyei

Experience of a Lifetime

Abyei sits pretty much on the border between what has come to be considered North Sudan and South Sudan and there is oil here. So a lot of the tension here revolves around that. The two major groups in the area are the Ngok Dinka and the Misseriya. The Dinka are a large part of Southern Sudan they inhabit all of the area around Abyei and identify in my opinion as African. The Misseriya are nomads and cattle herders. The seem to identify more with the Arab North and just before the rainy season they leave this area and take their cattle a hundred or more kilometres North of Abyei. At the end of the rainy season they return, on foot for the most part I am told with thousands of head of cattle to their grazing grounds amongst the Dinka. The Dinka are also cattle herders but are not nomadic, they also grow millet and other grains. This has been happening for a very long time, generations. The encrouchment of the cattle into the farming land of the Dinka is an obvious source of conflict.

In more recent times the conflict in Sudan has given birth to numerous rebel and guerrila forces. The SPLA, Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army, has become the internationally recognised force in the South and is mostly made of the Dinkas in this area. They will more than likey be the army in a South Sudan if that proposal ever comes to fruition. The Misseriya continue to be nomadic as stated and are armed to the teeth, like the SPLA. The SPLA has armour, and by armour I mean battle tanks, old russian T55's I am told. I don't think the Misseriya are that "lucky".

The other player in this conflict is SAF, Sudanese Armed Forces, they have tanks also and are also very well armed. Last May Abyei was literally destroyed by fighting between SAF and SPLA and the UN base that I am staying at was caught right in the middle of the fighting, literally. SAF held a position North of the base in town and the SPLA advancing on their flanks from South of the base. In between the advances the two sides were launching mortars and everything else that they had at each other over the base. Needless to say there are pretty robust evacuation plans for the base should this sort of thing happen again. There are numerous changes in the camp, upgrades so to speak, to help those caught in such a situation weather the wait for the choppers.

There has also been a measured progress made on the Misseriya/Dinka front and that is part of our job here also. Joint policing and committee efforts with both sides to stave any small issues that could inevitably lead to huge battles as they have done in the past.

So given this atmosphere I must share with you an experience that will live with me for eternity. I hope I have the literal skills to relay it to you purely and accurately so you can see that it has had an incredible impact on me.

Myself and my fellow Canadian police officer were taken to a meeting in a village not far from Abyei and it was all by chance. There was no planning on going there the day before on our part we just sort of happened into it. We were asked by our sector commander after the morning briefing yesterday if we wanted to accompany him and a convoy of UN military and police personnel to this meeting. The meeting was with a SPLA commander on his turf regarding certain issues that needed to be brought to his attention regarding movement of his personnel. The content of the meeting wasn't as striking as the fact that here was this OPP constable sitting at a gathering of high ranking military officers from the international community and a former rebel commander in SUDAN discussing.... stuff! Everyone was very dilomatic especially the Zambian officer that seemed to be head of our little contingent. The SPLA commander was quite aminated, pointing at everyone and the table to emphasis his statement, to me he seemed tired and he was definitely put aback by certain procedures and steps the UN had taken regarding this particular situation.

The atmosphere for me at first was one of great apprehension. We arrived in the village and were greeted by SPLA soldiers in uniform with AK 47's and quitely and politely ushered under a straw and wood shelter in a compound surrounded by a straw wall. I use the word straw... that is what it looks like, but I am sure it is a lot thicker than straw you use on farms in North America. I saw atleast seven SPLA with assault rifles. The shelter had a dirt floor and its supports were trees and branches cut from the local bush. It had a large opening to one side and we all sat facing that opening towards the inside of the compound where all the AK's were hanging around.

Within a minute or two the commander entered the shelter accompanied by several other "official" looking types. He didn't wear a uniform. He wore typical Dinka clothing loose fitting, matching, pants and shirt. One of the men who accompanied him was the splitting image of said commander only much younger, his son I figured. I mentioned that they very tall people and the son was no exception to this, in fact he was almost 7 feet. The meeting lasted hours. After a while I started to relax, a little. Eventually there were more and more moments of laughter but the atmosphere remained generally serious. The soldiers with the guns maintained their presence, did I mention that none the attendees within the shelter were armed that I could see. I know I wasn't.

We left the meeting with points well made on all sides, at least it appeared that way to me. Drove back to Abyei in convoy running the previous two hours over and over in my head. It was one of those surreal moments but one of great impact. I don't think many people go through experiences like this it is somewhat intoxicating.

Abyei! Abyei! Abby Yeah!!!

Well everyone I got to my post in Abyei yesterday and confirmed my intel that the internet here is very sketchy. I have only been able to post one short post so far but I have so much more to share with you, and as I type this I can see that my connection is going again so I am not sure if I will even get this posted.

To me Abyei is Africa... Khartoum seems like the middle east it doesn't look like what I stereotypically think of when I think of Africa. Khartoum and the north of Sudan is all desert. From the air it is a brownish red puncuated by spots of beige and scared by dried up water courses. The city itself is quite big and you can't help niavely slipping into thoughts of the sea and beaches given all the palm trees that line the boulevards and yards. As you fly south you notice a shift in the landscape from red to an olive, and almost khaki appearance and from 20,000 feet it almost looks like military combat pattern with dark spots here and there in some places and everywhere in others that are villages and towns. Keep going further south and you start seeing more and more vegetation. It starts out in the dried up river beds then patches appear on different coloured soil than the red stuff that still persists until suddenly south a good sized river it all changes. As we touched down in Kadugli, where we changed flights, the hills and mountains there reminded me of the southwestern US like Nevada. There is abundant vegetation but it is incredibly dry.

The red earth returns in Abyei, it is everywhere and like talcum powder. It gets into everything especially electronics and sticks to your clothes and shoes and your sweaty face because it is very hot here. I know I have made that statement before but the tempurature here is atleast 10 maybe 15 degrees hotter than in Khartoum and at night it doesn't change. 9:30 pm we left the canteen on the UN base, (everyone that is working for the UN and is a foreigner stays on the UN base there is nowhere else to stay if you were crazy enough to want to) and you are struck in the face with the hottest wind. You only cool down when you sweat or you go into an airconditioned room. Thankfully just about everywhere on the base has a/c.

The people in this region are Ngok Dinka for the most part. They have very black features, the blackest I have every seen and they are on average quite tall and slim. So far the only dwellings that I have seen are what they call tukul, (spelling... someone help?) pronounced too cool and you drop the "L" at the end. Basically mud or stone and wood huts usually round in shape covered with a straw thatched roof. There is no plumbing or electricity at any of the houses and some of the richer people have 6 foot straw walls around their yards. There is dust everywhere. The main road that goes from Abyei to Agok to the south is dirt and when the rainy season hits in about a month will be impassable.

The vegetation here is abundant but the trees are not very tall not like in a forest, but more like bush and they are brown. I am told that in the rainy season everything is green... and brown of course, you cannot forget the mud. You eat, breath and sleep with it.

As far as wild life goes so far we have seen a pair of baboons. They are big and strong and sometimes apparently they can get quite cocky. If approached sometimes they point at you with their index fingers. They also start slapping trees or the ground as if to say... "come and get some!" I think I saw one doiong donuts in a parking lot in a red Pontiac Trans Am with flames down the sides. Ha Ha.!

Well I have a lot more to share with everyone but I have to try to save this somehow and start with a new post. I also have some photos to share so stay tuned.

Last Day In Khartoum

Since we completed our induction training last week we have had nothing to do. It is mandatory that we sign in at the UN base in the morning and then the rest of the day was ours until 4 pm when we are supposed to sign out. So on our very last day in Khartoum a small group of us took a taxi to where to two Nile Rivers meet, it is in the north end of the city and is quite interesting historically. We got some photos but I of course didn't bring my camera and I have to wait to get some photos from some else. So until then that's all I really have to say.

Ok, I finally got the photos added that I said I was. Their are not super professional or anything like that. The focus is on the locale. There is so much history this spot I thought it would be nice to have some flics of the spot now.

The very top photo is looking basically north. On the left is the White Nile on the right is the Blue Nile, straight ahead is The Nile. The second one from the top is basically the same as the first one but right at waters edge. The third one from the top is looking west at the White Nile. Across that bridge is Omdurman. The fourth one is looking back east up the Blue Nile.

You Got Sick Where?

So we've learned some things here.... lots of differences not just physical but the obvious cultural ones as well and then the language that's a big one. All so different than in Canada. Well here is something that most would people wouldn't realize until you actually experience it. You can't read about it anywhere, or see a movie about it, there are no websites that tell you about this and it definitely isn't in Lonely Planet (best darn travel books this side of the freaking universe!!) In Sudan you go to the hospital to get sick.... let me say that again. If you are looking to get sick, and you happen to be thinking where would be a good place to go? Guess what? Bin there dun that. Well not exactly but witnessed it first hand anyways. So remember the person I was in the hospital with? The UN sent them to a local hospital with really what amounted to ones body adjusting to environmental change and left the hospital with an infection in a vein and dysentery. Spent the next three days with a straw as a best friend. Moral of the story is don't go to the hospital unless you are dying.

A Group Shot at UNMIS HQ