Gunny, I agree with you on this one. Why use the military if they are not armed? Why not hire a security firm?

What I don't get with the mission, what good comes out of counting infractions? Especially when they just sit back and watch without intervention on the spot? Do the infractions counted, just get filed away in a report to be discussed over lunch in New York sidewalk cafe's by UN members?

the UN and Sudan

Doesn't look too promising. If he's still going, I really would advise that he does take along at least a pistol.

Gunny:

talked to him last night. He's having some last minute fubar issues with the 'paymaster general' [ i.e. some snot nosed corporal in the fin office who can't ' interpret' the rules and regs to save his scrawny butt ] over what goes and what stays to help the missus and kids while away and at what level he's being slotted.. [ he was in line to be promoted to his majority prior to 'activation ' but the chain of command thought it would be 'fun ' if he was kicked up another notch in the fall when the Duke comes over for a visit -all numpty since, if he's in the Sudan he won't be here to be ' pinned' anyway..oh the military mind ]..

anyway, he's buried in briefing and sitrep paperwork and will be given a risk assessment protocol when he gets to Khartoum, or so he's been told..
fun and games...

BTW The Good Padre came back from her Brigade Office last night to tell me she's off to Portugal in two weeks for a little NATO get together fortnight leaving me and the dog to man the homeguard battlements.. I'm stockpiling the usual provisions and opened the supply lines to the Pizza Palace and Blockbuster and have a replacement liver on standby in case the recreational liquid intake has an adverse effect on quality of life...now if I can just offload the grandkids rugrat recruit/basic course I promised the daughter I'd run while she did some ' errands' I should be in fine shape to make full use of the ' quiet time ' I seem to have been allotted...

Son's been giving me briefings on the Sudan issue.. He's off to Kingston for one month's orientation in May then leaves in June for the hotspot.

Got to admit to pleading ignorance of the situation.. Here's some Sitrep intel..
sudan is slightly bigger than Quebec [and that's big. ] the largest country in Africa has 40 million inhabitants speaking 134 distinct languages broken down into dozens of ' tribes' many with a history of ' animosity ', mostly Islamic north, animist/Christian [ nominally] south and then throw in the radical elements like the Lord's resistance army, the cross-border Dinka nomads [ who herd their cattle with AK47's ]..

Sudan supplies China with 10% of its oil, supported Iraq in the war and ' sheltered' Osama in a previous lifetime all of which put it on the badboy list of Dubya and the UN.. Itys seen about 2 million of its people killed in ' hostilities ' and, of course, makes the news occasionally over the ' problems' in the eastern region of Darfur where it spills into neighbouring chad. its been kncoking heads in a civil war for 20+ years.

In March 2005 the Un fianlly decided to put it slipper down and say, enough and agreed to send a 10,000 person mission to monitor the agreement

There is supposed to be 750 UN observers, supported by a 4500 soldier ' protection force' and the rest filled out by aid, support and civilian staff.. Right now there are only about 500 observers of which 32 are Canajans.[ the rest are from Mongolia, egypt, Bolivia, China - surprise that - Russia, Greece, Britain and others - no US, though ]
Each day the Sudanese factions wake up, set up their gun emplacements, sight their mortars and make breakfast.. they are prepared to defend whatever little ground they have. green oasis, dried riverbed, square inch of desert, whatever.. all they need is a ' spark ' to set off a new round of shooting. into this goes the UN Observers to make sure the spark isn't there.
they do this by patrolling the towns, villages, border areas, etc. etc. making sure one side or the other doesn't sneak their tow across the lines drawn in the sand. make a note in a little book and use the fact that one side or the other doesn't want to be seen as the one who started things up by provoking the other, while still standing up for its rights. etdc..
The UN guys are unarmed to ensure that they are not seen to be favouring one side or the other, being ' partisan' or perhaps allowing emotion to cloud their judgement.. After all the Muslim side might be ' fully justified; in emptying the contents of their Chinese-supplied tank into the mud hut of a tree worshiper because he dared to pick up some firewood that blew across the line in the night..
to protect the UN observers, there is, instead a foreign military presence.. In the case of one Canadian offier it is pick-up trucks loaded with 40 soldiers from Mogadishu aremd with 50 cal machine guns, grenade launchers and RPG's..

add to this the heavily armed and authority flouting Lord's resistance who operate cross-border as they are interested in overthrowing the government of Uganda more than they are in destabilizing the sudan, but they ' recruit' from the neighbour and ' re-supply ' as well.
so this mission, is essentially a race against encroaching chaos In any post-conmflict situation there is a window of time where hope emerges and peace has its chance. If progress is slow or uneven, hope may vanish and no Western nation wants a shooting war in the sudan..but, buggerme, I can't see how this is helping any if the big boys in Khartoum are happy to suck oil from the sands and send it to China while china sits smugly at the Un and says that it shouldn't ' interfere' in internal matters of a soverign state [ mainly because it hates others poking their noses into its own ' soverign state internal matters' like rights abuses, imprisonment without trial, mass executions, etc., etc. ]

Kudos to the lad for volunteering when asked to step up and count but, when all is said and done, it ain't gonna matter one bit unless the big boys start cracking heads and tell the Muslims and the Animists and the Chrisians that, if they don't play nice and share in the sandbox, they'll all be dead before the next millenium and someone else will be helping themselves to the goodies...

The lad got home on leave this weekend from his ' peacekeeping training '...he's got six weeks to play with the kids, kiss the wife and put papers in order before shipping out to Khartoum..be gone essentially from June to December..given the recent ' hiccups' in Darfur and with the Sudanese gov'mint going still more rancid.. I think his tour will be a bit more bumpy than the brochure claims...

Great, just great..

with less than a month before my son ships out to the Sudan where, except for the junkiweed idiots in Darfur, things have been pretty quiet...but then, the softy lefty nimnuls in Hollywood with time on their hands between pictures got bored and had to pick on the Sudan as their cause celebre du jour.. Thanks a f**k of a lot George Clooney and pals.. Now the Sudan is getting all stirred up and the UN is wringing its hands over matters, and the Chinese are giving the governmnet in Khartoum more guns and ammo, and all things are getting attention and hot under the collar..

sheesh..
and him still with only a pen and notebook for defense,,,

crapity crap crap..

yeah, I saw that bit with georgie boy. pretty sad that they stirred up the pot again. couldn't leave well enough alone.

I still recommend you slip a little PPK into his bag.

This is a summary of an article about Sudan and recent events. The full article gives some history/background and a few more Al Qaeda in Sudan details. Hamas seems to be noting (as many other groups are) that INTERNATIONAL terrorism will be hunted down. "Let's just say we're a 'local' group, USA doesn't seem to care to hunt them down as much."

Can PM or post full article if you like.

"Bin Laden Tape Urges Support for Sudan," by Judy Pasternak, Los Angeles Times, 24 April 2006.

A newly released audiotape attributed to Osama
bin Laden urges Muslims to prepare for a long war in Sudan and attacks the U.S. and European cutoff of aid to the Palestinian government, now
controlled by the militant group Hamas, as proof of "a Zionist-crusaders' war on Islam." Bin Laden contended that the West was trying to divide the country of Sudan. The tape, broadcast on 23 April, is the first reported message from the Al-Qaeda leader since January. There are no overt connections between Al-Qaeda and Hamas, and the organization quickly distanced itself from bin Laden's comments. Hamas leaders have said they are fighting only Israel and are not part of the global Islamic radical movement.

Guess you been watching the news...well at least now there's plenty of company out there...

Update:

the lad has touched down in ' beautiful downtown Khartoum ' got a sat call from the boy.. He was on the roof of the hotel so as to boost a clear signal.. all uneventful flights [ except for $ 800 in overweight baggage charges! - thank goodness the gov't re-imburses him.. though won't hold breath on when the claim cheque comes back LOL ]..

He's promised to send regular updates and ' insights' as much as OPSEC and Milregs allow...

Got my first SITREP from the Son in the Sudan -culture may be strange but the situation is familiar to all military personnel past/present and probably future.. FUBAR...

no one on the ground in ADMIN knows what, where, when and how so he's sitting out first week of deployment in ' realx mode '.. did get to meet former Canadian Ambassador to Iran, Ken Taylor - he of the rescue of Americans fame back in the late 70's - who is now involved in some UN enterprise..also scoped out what countries have feet on the ground..also got the unofficial ' horror' stories of those coming off deployment.. Seems that Darfur is on the table now for a posting so he's anxious to find out where he's being sent...

Can post a bit of his report/observations if there's an interest as its been vetted for general consumption.

One interesting factoid.. Khartoum is an ' invisbile' city.. No photographs are allowed to be taken by anyone of anything...

Ken Taylor....he helped my company EDS and Ross Perot, rescue our employees that Iran arrested way back then.

By all means, post any and all information about the lad. You did slip him a PPK?

Best wishes and best of luck to your son, Rocketeer, in his deployment. Sticky situation. Wish they'd done what you wrote in April--

quote:

Kudos to the lad for volunteering when asked to step up and count but, when all is said and done, it ain't gonna matter one bit unless the big boys start cracking heads and tell the Muslims and the Animists and the Chrisians that, if they don't play nice and share in the sandbox, they'll all be dead before the next millenium and someone else will be helping themselves to the goodies...

(Khartoum always makes me think of Chinese Gordon and 1885.)(was one year off before)

Letting territories falling to radical Islam can't be tolerated much longer. The West hasn't had such a dangerous enemy since that Austrian housepainter. Imagine if that one had had the support of the Hollyweird Left!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: PT,

Some reports from the lad in the Sudan:

" Khartoum airport is smack in the middle of the city - surrounded by a high wall and anti-aircraft gun emplacments. no arrival and departure gates - just down the staircases to the tarmac. the immigration offical at the airport didn't know about our arrival..."

"...had my first experience with a public toilet in the sudan..it did flush [ sort of ] but was fed by a garden hose, tap lifted clear out of the sink when I tried to wash my hands. ."

" This morning we headed for the UN HQ to get our in-clearance administration done - absolute dog's breakfast, no one seemed to know where we needed to go, or in what order. Unbelievable that no one from the Un has a grip on the arrival of all of us, not just six Canadians, but also Austrians, Egyptians, Guatemalans, etc..."

" Went grocewryshopping after work today - quite a hike there and back: red dust everywhere, only the very odd house has grass. Arterial roads in Khartoum are paved, but what passes for residential streets are just sandy tracks.
Khartoum has a population of some 7 million...but sports demolished and dismantled building everywhere, men with donkey carts collecting bricks from vacant buildings, stray dogs and cats all over. Burning garbage at night, smell all over the city."

" Drove to the UNMIS HQ - more paperwork - spent the rest of the time watching GayTv [ yup just what it sounds like ] in the Italian Army Canteen while waiting for our ride. Italians have a small PX and internet cafe set up [ funny , though, I haven't actually seen any Italian soldiers ] "

" So far on this mission are military/civilian police from : argentian, Australia, Bangladesh, brazil, Croatia, denmark, Egypt, Finland, Gabon, Germany, Guatemala, India, Jordan, Malawi,Nepal, new Zealand, Nigeria, norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Philippines, Rwanda, Sweden, Ukraine, Zambia..."

" Invited on a riverboat cruise Canadian UNMO supposedly knew where it was arrived to find various Un types, but discovered that this cruise was for CITES [ UN Endangered Species types ]and not the one we were looking for. Cell phone call and second speedboat trip later, hooked up with right group. "

" Met Embassy staff [ all 3 of them ] UNMIS RCMP officers and executive from Skylink that operate air transport for the UN - Ken Taylor of Iranian Ambassador fame is head of Skylink here.. drank warm Coke [ no ice to avoid possibility of Hepatitis ] but moved onto several shots of Stolychnaya forced on us by hosts. Barbecued lamb.. the boat was quite the tub with no life jackets anywhere. Pitch black on the Nile and moving at flank speed..."

" began walking home after the cruise, then hailed a cab who almost ran us down outside a cemetary. Cabbie only spoke arabic but with emphatic gestures and a recollection of the name of the district we got back. No meters in the cab so had no idea of the going rate. Paid him 1000 Sudanese dinars [ about 222.5 to the US dollar ]"

" Power outaged a daily occurence. Thermometer in kitchen says 40C about ten degrees cooler than outside."

"...Bit of a breeze today, keeping temp at 44C [ according to the BBC ] but it stirs up the sand. red have over the entire city visibility reduced to 500 metres. didn't take us long to be covered in orange grit. "

" visisted Sudanese National Museum, which was seemingly quite impressive in days gone by, since fallen into disrepair. Most of the galleries are closed and falling part. ..UNESCO putting a lot of money into restoring the museum ..."

" ...walked to the White Nile Bridge...saw the spot where the two Niles meets [ unfortunately not as impressive as it might sound ], then hailed a taxi to the Khartoum Hilton and the Afra Shopping Centre...Sudanese Walmart..bought a couple of bags of crisps [ imported from Saudi Arabia ] not much else interesting. I opted for lunch in the ' food court ' had a Jumbo Afra Burger which came complete with fresh cucumber, tomato, cheese and French fries - all in the bun. "

" Curry for supper.. back to Canadian Staff Officer's apartment to sign for satellite phones and mine prodders. "

" Waiting for orders [ again ] .. spent the day playing cards, watching TV..."

" Went to dinner with some of the staff officers. ..Havana Restaurant..hasn't got a single Cuban dish on the menu..but a number of very good Middle Eastern items: hummus as an ' abitizer ', ' Maxican chrimps ', ' lamp shops ' topped it off with Turkish coffee [ 2000 dinars ]..met Malaysian-canadian Oil man working for GNPOC - Greater Nile Petroleum - formerly Talisman Oil [ Canadian ] which sold out to Indian-Chinese consortium.. pump 300, 000 barrels a day for the Communist Chinese regime/economy .."

" Tomorrow we have to go to UNMIS HQ for some as yet undisclosed administration with the Croation Colonel at the military personnel office..."

" not a whole lot to tell...yesterday morning pretty dead - water off, again... Had to meet with Major Markovic, so we all got up put on uniforms and trekked to the compound just for him to tell us a bunch of stuff we already knew..then met with Captain Bartolic wh told us the same trhings, handed us a bunch of forms we already had..filled them out, again...while we were sitting waiting to catch the bus back home, Canadian liaison came in and gave us entirely different intinerary for the upcoming two weeks, after having spoken to the chief of military personnel an Egyptian colonel.."

" Had a haircut.. barber unwrapped a fresh Wilkinson razor blade and with a spritz of water shaved the back of my neck holding the bare blade in his hand..."

" Lots of fishmongers along the river, but not sure I'd be interested in eatinganything caught in this part of the Nile. People herding cows and goats all over the place...found the ruins of the circa 1880 mosque sacked by Kitchener's army and the Khalifa's house, now a museum, but a trio of policemen armed with AK47's informed us that despite what it might say on the sign, it was not open to the public."

" ...Australian captain staying weith us is pretty ill.. hope it isn't catching.. "

" yesterday morning we had to go to HQ to write our four-part English language proficiency test. Part 1 was a series of English multiple choice questions which required defining certain words, Part 2 was really the same thing, putatively based on a reading passege, but it wasn't necessary to have read the passage to answer the questions. Part 3 asked one to provide directions to a motorist and the last part was to write a briefing about our home country. The most curious aspect of the test was that it was obviously not set by a native English speaker in thefirst place, it was riddled with grammatical and typographical errors which made it almost as confusing to me as I'm sure it was to those whose first language was not English ."

" We also had another taste of UN bureaucracy, and our first of the infamous staff officer [SO] military observer { MO] rivalry. The SO's work a regular 5 day week [ Sunday to Thursday ] while we work 7 days straight. As compensation for working weekends, we are allocated 6 compensatory time off days per month, which we can bank and take as additionasl leave days [ 24 days CTO plus 9 days normal leave the UN allocates everyone ] The UN also pays a subsistence allowance because we're expected to live off the local economy while the SO's get more provided directly by the UN. Staff get cushy desk jobs in air conditioned comfort, MO's get the mud huts in the middle of no where...
Captain Bartolic insists that we show up at UNMIS HQ every day even if we have nothing to do..This morning we drove in and sat in the cafeteria for a half hour [ to be seen ] and then went off to join the australians in watching Apocalypse Now. Of course, no conversation can go on now without someone quoting lines from the film, much of which seems strangely apropos at the moment [anyway it beats yesterday's film - a really low budget porn flick ]..."

" First day of Integrated Induction training today...lots of general briefings about structure of UNMIS, geography of Sudan, cultural diversity, current political situiation, security..etc..Government of Sudan doesn't seem to get along with anyone, either inside or outside the country. One briefing by a Nigerian Major who constantly complained that the slides were all wrong."

" A number of Australians are on the course with us, seems to be an natural affinity among the ' colonials ' we all sit at the back of the room actring like the ' cool kids ' [ No American military here, but some cops from Vanuatu!, ] Number of Rwandan Majors here as UNMOS =-peculiar..."

" Experienced first haboob [sandstorm ]didn't last long, though they can go on for days. followed by a magnificent lightning storm and torrential downpour..thunderstorm did reduce amount of dust in the air, but had no lasting effect on temperature, back over 40C again "

" Another day of induction training.. boring stuff mostly .except for mine and medical briefing..some presenters English so bad, difficult to follow.. Kenyan officer gave AIDS/HIV lecture. A very controversial topic to discuss in an open forum, given the cultural background of many of the mission members. Sudan has one of the lowest incidences of AIDS when compared to Africa as a whole, but one of the highest when compared to the Arab world. Barmaids [of which there are officially none here ] and tea sellers are statistically more likely to have the disease than the sex workers. ..UN has Zero tolerance for sex exploitation, but still they showed us how to use condoms. "

" Another day of lectures, including more on sex exploitation [ this is really a serious issue for UN missions ] one on UN policing, Sudanese culture...etc.. very little else to note, though a package of Tim Horton's coffee arrived from Canada. "

Sounds like the boy is having a sh*tload of fun...