Collapse of a Country: A Diplomat's Memoir of South Sudan by Nicholas Coghlan

Author:Nicholas Coghlan [Coghlan, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Africa, General, Canada, Political Science, International Relations
ISBN: 9780773551268
Google: RSAuDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0773551263
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: 2017-01-15T01:04:31.456000+00:00

Christmas Day, Jenny and I had a quiet lunch with Kees, the Dutch ambassador, and Christian – my EU colleague – at Kees’s house on the JDO compound, where we were living. Bor had now been retaken by the government but there was a pocket of rebel forces near Terekeka, two thirds of the way from Bor to Juba and only forty kilometres short of the capital. After our meal Ine, a rather humourless colleague who was now the sole remaining Norwegian diplomat, burst in breathlessly. “The White Army … didn’t you hear? They’re coming: they could be here by this evening!”

The airport was closed. There really didn’t seem to be anything to be done. We persuaded Ine to calm down and stay for a glass of champagne. Next morning it was back to JIA for the usual round of assisted evacuations. Ottawa was getting difficult, though, and on 26 December an e-mail arrived ordering me and Jenny out “immediately.” Although our caseload was as heavy as ever – the more people we flew out, the more seemed to appear from nowhere – HQ would not listen to our appeal to stay and help desperate people to escape. The director general for security wrote back rather shortly and in a manner that did not lend itself to misinterpretation, “Decision is not/not changed.”

On 27 December, with a great deal of reluctance, we took the last plane out. Even before Air Uganda had landed in Entebbe, Ottawa issued a “flag-lowering” statement:

Canada Temporarily Withdraws Canadian Staff from South Sudan

Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular) the Honourable Lynne Yelich today issued the following statement:

The Government of Canada takes the safety and security of our diplomats abroad very seriously. Due to operational challenges, including the unpredictable security environment in Juba, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development has authorized the temporary suspension of operations at our office in Juba.

Canada’s Head of Office in Juba will temporarily work out of the High Commission in Nairobi until appropriate measures are put in place to respond to the changing operational environment.

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