Counting the days

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.