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Everything posted here is stricktly the opinion of the poster and shall not be taken to be the official position of UNMIS, UNMISS, UN, the Norwegian Armed Forces or any other organisation whatsoever.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Know where I'm going now

Shockingly fast - according to the old hands - most of us got our postings today. One is going to Juba, two to Abyei, one already knew he was heading to Kauda, one is held back a few weeks to work with the DDR process in Khartoum and me? I'm going to Yei.

No, I hadn't heard about the place before I got to Sudan either.

Basically it's about as far south you can go in Sudan without crossing into another country. According to Wikipedia, Yei have it's origins in a clinic set up by the British in 1915, and before the second civi war it was a booming town due to cross-border trade. Due to the influx of refuges during the war, the population multiplied, and the best estimate today is that just shy of 200K people now lives in and around Yei. And while the civil war put a crimp in the economic development, there are signs that things are improving. Oh, and they grow coffee - YAY YEI!

The team site itself is rather tiny - a dozen or so UNMOs, a platoon or two of Force Protection troops and a transport section. It's rumored to be a good team site, with little trouble and lots of interesting work.  Granted, there is a bit of activity in the area from the LRA (Lord Resistance Army), so I have to investigate the results of the 'incidents' they cause... Oh well, part of the job.

I'm looking forward to getting out of Khartoum and get working - hopefully by the end of the week.

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