Michael Wilson

Our good friend and aussie lover, Michael Wilson of Bluemont, Virginia,
has signed on for a 1 year tour of duty as a Peacekeeper in the Sudan.
We find Michael's updates very interesting and want to share them
with all of our friends and associates. We have decided to dedicate a page on our web site
to Michael to show our support for his courageous decision.
Michael's wonderful wife, Karen, is holding down the fort in Virginia.
Michael and Karen own Ch Thornapple Hope Diamond and Thornapple Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya.
Good Wishes and News from Home is always appreciated!

MSU DANCE POSTER travels to SUDAN with Michael!
Karen picked up a poster for Michael at the Crown Classic in Clevelaned.
Michael enjoyed a nice vacation at home with friends and family in January.
Michael and MSU Dance Team Poster are back in Sudan
where they will reside until September!

SECTOR 3 UM SERDIBA SUDA 22 DEC 04
Season’s Greetings to all,
This is just a wish for a wonderful holiday season to all from someone who cannot send Christmas cards.
I am sending it a few days early since some of you will undoubtedly go away for Christmas. Some of you who
get this message will receive it while surrounded by loved ones in the comfort of your homes in America or Europe.
A few of the recipients will receive it, if they are able to at all, in far less comfortable circumstances. They may be
far from friends and loved ones and, in some cases, in harm’s way. (By the way, I only fit in the “far from friends
and loved ones” category.) Please, those of you in the first circumstance, do not forget those in the latter.
For those of you who believe in the power of prayer this might be a good time to pray for peace and,
even more important perhaps, freedom and justice in the world. A peaceful life of slavery is really not worth much.

Yesterday I visited the village of Angolo. This extended village of more than twelve thousand has neither
health facilities nor clinicians of any skill level. There is no electricity. Six or seven problematic wells provide the
only water; water which must be pumped up by worn out hand pumps. Sporadic rains and a plague of birds
that ate a good portion of what grain there was resulted in a poor harvest that will not in all likelihood see the village
through the year. They have three teachers for all the village children and no school facilities of any kind. When I
asked them what they needed most they responded that the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,
a more reliable water supply and some assistance with primary education for their children were their main priorities.
I could really promise them none of these, but believe that they will be in my prayers on Christmas.

If this story of those who have so little asking for so little makes your Table Grace more sincere; if it moves some
of you who would not ordinarily offer a prayer of thanks for your blessings at your holiday feast…good.
God bless you all. Michael Wilson

01 Oct 04 * Hello Everyone,
No, I didn't forget you all. I sat in Nairobi for 3 weeks while visa
problems were resolved and just arrived on site this week. Since Friday is
the Muslim Sabbath it is also our day off, and I will endeavor to get one
of these SITREPs (situation report) every Friday. I'd suggest that even
those familiar w/ military acronyms & jargon start a little glossary of
terms as some will be new and I'm only going to define them once.

I am employed by the Joint Military Commission/Mission (JMC/M), the
operational arm of the Friends of Nuba Mountain (FONM) which is body
composed of 12 Western nations with the goal of promoting peace (you may be
thinking that this is abit of a role reversal for yours truly) in the Nuba
Mountain area of Sudan. I am an International Monitor. I am part of a
(normally) 3man team consisting of 1 IM and 2 National Monitors
representing the Government of Sudan (GOS) & the Sudanese Peoples
Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). We are not here to impose a peace upon
the participants, but rather to facilitate (at the invitation of the
participants) the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) of 2002 and to move the
process along by heading off problems, providing a face saving bridge
between the parties and reporting violations of the CFA terms. To the
extent possible, we try to deal w/ everything at the lowest level possible.
I am currently assigned to Sector 3 at the town of Um Sedira. (Don't try
to find it in your atlas.) We are +/- 40 kms east of JMC forward HQ at
Kadugli (which you might find in your atlas). I won't go into
personalities now as the entire sector team is in a transition phase which
will only be completed in a few weeks. Suffice to say that there can be no
more than 1 IM from any one country on any site at any one time, so each
site is a somewhat eclectic melding of nationalities and cultures.

The Area of Responsibility (AOR): The Nuba Mountain area is right on the
dividing line between Northern & Southern Sudan. According to the CFA, the
GOS military are not allowed into the area in any but small unarmed groups.
The SPLA forces are not allowed down off the mountains in armed groups.
The flat piedmont areas in between are DMZs. The mountains are not quite
as high as the Blue Ridge where Karen & I live, and if this doesn't work
for you as a frame of reference, well, y'all just stop on by, y' hear.
Karen could use some company. The terrain is mainly flat with the
mountains rising up sharply from the piedmont area. There are no roads as
we know them in the States. Such tracks as there are are only passable at
all in 4WD vehicles. All our vehicles are 4WD Toyota pickup trucks
equipped w/ winches, mats and the usual hand tools needed to extricate
vehicles from morasses, and enjoy regular use. Other means of patrol are
helicopter (MI-2 or MI-8...check your Jane's Aircraft of the World), dirt
bike or ATV (relax Karen, we don't have any at the present time in our
sector), mountain bikes and old fashioned sole power. The rainy season is
almost over which will make the area far more accessible.

Living conditions: Our accommodations are plain but livable. At this
sector the buildings are brick & stucco w/ H&C running water, indoor
toilets, electricity, internet hookups in rooms (ours are out of service
temporarily but should be working in the near future), A/C and TV in the
dining room. Food is excellent, if not quite up to Karen's standards. We
are temporarily w/o an on site medic right now, but we a very short chopper
ride from the main forward HQ at Tillo and the Sector Cmdr has requested
one ASAP.

In conclusion: I'm alive, well and working hard at a worthwhile job. I
expect to be hear for another 11 months, but a permanent peace agreement
could change that. I'll try to get one of these off every Friday. Take
care. MICHAEL

Michael with camp associate.
SITREP 2 08 OCT 04

1. Situation: The peace talks are due to start up soon. Although the local
population here in the Nuba seems quite ready for peace, the Powers That Be
in each faction will, I am sure be in no hurry for a final resolution if
dilatory behavior can secure them a scintilla more power. It will probably
take a month to decide who will sit where at the conference table.
Fortunately, things are pretty tranquil around here at the moment so the
diplomats can dither and waffle to their hearts content. I don’t look for a
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) anytime soon.

For those of you who have inquired about the Darfur situation, I am going
to defer to my friend and colleague Brian Steidle who is there at the
moment, and who will, I am sure, provide a much keener insight into events
in that AO than I. I am presently awaiting a response to my email to him
requesting permission to fwd his emails to those of you who are interested
in the doings there. Asking me for detailed info on that AO is like asking
someone in California about events in New York. Sudan is a very large
country with limited comms and internal travel.

Sarit Airlines, the charter concern that has provided all JMC’s air assets
has had all its fixed wing assets grounded by the Sudanese Govt. (6 crashes
in 10 months) which will make logistics & travel even more difficult.
Although the grounding at first was going to include the rotary wing assets
also, apparently the helos have been released. While the fixed wing
division would frighten the bravest soul (on my flight down from Khartoum
to Kadugli none of the baggage was secured and the passengers for whom
there were no seats sat on this raffle of unsecured gear) the Ukranian air
crews on the helos seem to have their cases in much order. Grounding of the
helos would have meant suspension not only of all our operations, but also
all the demining ops in the area (carried out by various NGOs) due to lack
to lack of medevac capability in an area in which road travel is, if
possible at all, too slow to help anyone seriously sick or injured.

The nomadic herders who traveled north for the rainy season are returning
to their traditional dry season locations to our south. There are two major
routes through our AOR. While their passage may not occasion the same level
as the transit of European or American “traveling people”, there are
inevitable conflicts with the permanent populations over grazing and water
resources. Further, their presence muddies the waters of who is actually
causing problems…the nomads, or CFA violators.

2. Our Operations: Here in Sector 3 we are mainly involved in increasing
the role of the police and decreasing the influence of the military in
anticipation of an eventual CPA. We are facilitating a conference among all
the Police Chiefs, both GOS and SPLM, in our sector on Sunday. If a CPA is
reached, these are the people who will have to deal with all the problems
occasioned by the transition a nd they seem quite eager to get a head start
on a situation which will be difficult at best. More on this conference
next week.

We became aware last week of problems involving armed personnel making
incursions into the DMZ and GOS areas. At this juncture it is still unclear
whether these are SPLA personnel (which would constitute a CFA violation)
or simply armed civilians, which would be a civil crime and not a JMC
matter. Further investigation will be required, and the matter will be
brought up at Sunday’s cop conference. I know that there is someone in the
area packing because we saw an individual armed with an AK who was clearly
outside the designated SPLM boundaries. Our SPLA National Monitor called
him, but he did not stop so we are not sure who he was.

We mobilized and stood by for a “Bright Light” (rescue ’ recovery) op for
the aircraft that went down in our AOR, but were not required.

3. Local Interest: I am continually impressed by the honesty and high moral
standards of the people in our area. HIV/AIDS has not come up on the radar
here, probably because of the lack of promiscuity so common to our south.
In deference to local sensibilities we don’t normally venture out of our
compound in shorts.

A diabetic would not last a week around here! Everything is sweetened to
the Nth degree.

Donkeys and a few camels are the main local means of transport. Transport
between towns and the transport of heavier goods is by tractor drawn 4
wheel trailers.

And I’ve aggravated my carpal tunnel syndrome enough for one day. More next
week, Inshallah. Take care.