Vietnam Police Mark in Malakal

“Witnessing with our own eyes the image of the people of South Sudan living below the poverty line due to the consequences of ethnic conflicts, we understand and appreciate the value of peace and solidarity of the Vietnamese people even more, and must make every effort to contribute to maintaining peace”. That is the constant thought of 3 Vietnamese police officers of Task Force No. 2 who are performing a United Nations peacekeeping mission at the Malakal Police Office, Upper Nile State, Republic of South Sudan. During the short days of their recent leave in Vietnam, the task force shared their harsh but extremely valuable experiences when performing their duties far from home. Daily efforts Following the successes of Task Force No. 1, in August 2023, Vietnamese police officers of Task Force No. 2, including Lieutenant Colonel Bui Phuong Lan, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thu Ha and Major Dinh Manh Cuong, set off for South Sudan. After two weeks of basic training, the three officers were deployed to Malakal Police Station in Upper Nile State, 650km north of the capital Juba. To reach this area, you can only travel by plane due to difficult and isolated road traffic.

Vietnam Police Mark in Malakal -0 — United Nations peacekeeping officers in South Sudan.

“Malakal - the capital of Upper Nile state, located on the eastern bank of the White Nile River basin, is a place that has witnessed deep conflicts between the three ethnic groups Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk. Because of the consequences of the civil war, Malakal is still unstable. This is the only place in the world with a camp for the protection of civilians established by the United Nations (UN) and responsible for ensuring security and safety for nearly 40,000 refugees in the camp. We were assigned to work in the Patrol Police Team and stand guard at the camp to protect civilians,” Lieutenant Colonel Bui Phuong Lan shared. In the camp, rows of tents covered with tarpaulins are close together and stretch for hundreds of meters. On the dusty ground in the dry season and muddy ground in the rainy season, people walk bareheaded and barefooted in extremely poor conditions. Children spend all day running and playing along the canals, while flies and mosquitoes buzz in the air. The working group is on guard duty every day, each shift is 4 hours to control the situation of people entering and leaving the camp. At 6:00 a.m., the gate is opened for people to walk out to graze goats and cows, pick vegetables, collect firewood, get water, and bathe on the riverbank. At 7:00 p.m., the gate is closed for people to return to their tents to sleep. Four hours of tense guard duty outdoors in the scorching sun and dust, the officers only have bottles of water with them. Thanks to the close supervision and protection of UN staff, the security situation in the camp is more stable, limiting conflicts, rape, and theft. After nearly two months of patrolling and guarding at the camp to protect civilians, Vietnamese police officers continue to apply for positions according to their personal abilities and strengths. Lieutenant Colonel Lan was recruited for the position of Personnel, Logistics and Organization Officer at the Malakal Police Office, Upper Nile State. Lieutenant Colonel Ha was recruited for the logistics department of the UNMISS Mission Police. Major Dinh Manh Cuong has just successfully applied for the position of Chief of the Torit Police Office, East Equatorial State. This proves that the capacity of Vietnamese police officers fully meets the requirements of the Mission. According to Lieutenant Colonel Bui Phuong Lan, the three officers are currently holding different positions, closely coordinating with international colleagues. Due to the distance between them and often operating independently, mutual support is very difficult, they have to face and solve difficulties on their own. The working group always receives attention and close direction from the leaders of the Ministry of Public Security and the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPOA); and is supported in all aspects by international colleagues. Day by day, the officers are effectively coordinating with international colleagues to perform their tasks well, while continuously updating and improving their foreign languages, skills, and peacekeeping operations. They also actively shared and promoted the image of Vietnam to international friends. Taste the "specialties" of Malakal When they first arrived in Malakal, the working group was unfamiliar and bewildered about everything. After hours of duty, they returned to the living area, a container room, to have a quick meal between shifts on guard duty. At first, while waiting for luggage to be transported from the capital Juba to the area by air, the Vietnamese officers had to overcome all difficulties in eating and resting. The tiny rice cooker that Lieutenant Colonel Ha brought from Vietnam came into play, cooking rice for all three brothers. She shared that the most difficult thing was the meals that lacked green vegetables.

The people of South Sudan do not have a tradition of farming and growing crops, so they cannot grow vegetables and fruits to sell like in Vietnam. Dried vegetables and fruits brought from Vietnam have the opportunity to be processed. “In return, here we get to eat fish caught from the Nile River. This is the only abundant and locally available food source. Meat, vegetables and other necessities wait for the UN to transport them from the capital, which takes a whole month to arrive. Meals with a menu of rice and fish have become regular and could not be more… stable,” Ms. Ha humorously said. Upper Nile State has a low-lying, wild terrain, many Nile alluvial plains, and many river basins. The working group came to Malakal to take up the task during the rainy season, so the dirt roads here became muddy and covered with mud. There are large herds of cattle here, many bushes, so the “specialties” are fruit flies, mosquitoes, locusts and… snakes. Insects in South Sudan are a nightmare for us. Every time we leave our rooms, we have to be fully clothed. However, insects still rush to “attack”. Even though we wear GNQB uniforms, we are still bitten by fruit flies. Several months have passed and the bites have not healed. Snakes are everywhere, even “visiting” the UN police headquarters, crawling to sleep in… the photocopier. Not only on duty in Malakal, due to the mission’s professional requirements, Major Cuong also works at the Kodok Police Station – a remote area 80km away. Although he had foreseen the difficulties he would encounter, he could not foresee all the dangers that lurked. That land still had remnants of long-lasting civil wars, traffic was isolated, and there were still many bombs and mines. In response to the UN's requirement to ensure security and safety while working, Major Cuong learned from the experience of local people to move here, which is to follow the footprints of herds of cows and goats to avoid stepping on mines. There were rainy days, the water was so deep that there was no more road, so they had to stop and wait for the rain to stop, the dirt roads were exposed, and then follow the footprints of the cattle to continue working. Under the scorching sun in South Sudan, they still kept up the exercise routine to have good physical strength to handle the job. Lieutenant Colonel Ha still maintains the habit of practicing yoga every early morning. She also passed on her love and created the habit of practicing yoga to her international female colleagues. The working group is used to the unstable Internet, and calls to Vietnam to their families and teammates are often interrupted. They shared that, at the beginning of their mission, homesickness and worry for their young children kept rising and stirring in their hearts. But the busy work makes them have to suppress their emotions to focus on completing their tasks well. South Sudan and Vietnam have different time zones, when the children finish school, they are working, when they finish work, the children are already asleep. Therefore, they usually only call their families on weekends. Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Thu Ha is the only female officer in Task Force No. 2. To arrange family matters and children to go on a long mission for her is a lot of effort, determination and courage. A whole year before leaving, she did ideological work for her 8-year-old daughter so that she could get used to her mother being away from home. “The most difficult thing was to convince her to cut her long hair so that she could wash her own hair. In the first days I was away, she missed her mother so much that she cried all the time. During the calls, I suppressed my emotions and brought up happy things to tell her. But when I turned off the phone, tears flowed. Now she has gradually gotten used to it, and is independent in her studies and daily activities. I want to be an example for my children, always trying to overcome difficulties to fulfill my duties well,” she emotionally shared. Over the past six months, the officers of Task Force No. 2 have gradually become accustomed to the pace of life in South Sudan. With a jumble of buckets, barrels, and water bags, they patiently collect water from a communal water tank a few hundred meters away from their residence every day and carry it back to their residential area. Although the water is not really clear, thinking of the people out there who are hungry and thirsty for clean water, they always save and economize. Turning over a thin layer of soil, they touch rocks and stones, and growing crops here is not easy. However, they still take the opportunity to improve the soil to grow vegetables to improve their meals. The packages of water spinach, mustard greens, and jute seeds brought from Vietnam are planted and watered, sprouting and growing green leaves in the rocky land of Africa, like the resilient Vietnamese people who are staying here to preserve peace.

World Security Newspaper

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