The making of a peace conference: How an UNMISS field office brought opposing sides to the table in Upper Nile

5 Apr 2019

The making of a peace conference: How an UNMISS field office brought opposing sides to the table in Upper Nile

Janet Adongo

It’s a hot Friday afternoon in the UN mission’s Malakal office. Everyone seated around the table in the conference room knows that it is going to be yet another working weekend. The atmosphere is tense, yet calm.

The people in the room are preparing to bring eight area governors from the Upper Nile region, their most senior military commanders and 10 other representatives from their areas, for a three-day conference. The delegates represent both government and the opposition.

Sounds straightforward enough.

Yet three days to the expected start, UNMISS Head of Field Office Hazel Dewet is grappling with whether to proceed with or postpone the conference – again. As she sits at the table’s head, she bears the weight of the importance of what lies ahead.

“This was a Herculean task, largely because of the vastness of the region, the lack of connecting roads and the variable communication connectivity,” she says, “We had to throw in all our assets and even then, I had trepidations as to whether that would be enough.”

The Upper Nile region is known more for its unpredictability and volatility than its rich mesh of cultures, its fertile soils, and oil fields. Malakal, for instance, one of South Sudan’s largest town, changed hands more than ten times during the peak of the conflict in 2015.

Many of the key players in that conflict now hold positions of power both in government and the opposition. And it is these people who have to sit across from each other for three days, put aside years of mistrust, and engage in conversations aimed at implementing the revitalized peace agreement.

It took months of calls and intense lobbying, to get everyone to agree to come together. It took hundreds of calls and intense negotiation to agree on when they would come together. And still, there were no guarantees.

Once the political hurdles were jumped, the mission had to figure out how to move dozens of people from far and wide and gather them in Malakal. The mission support department mapped out routes, timings and helicopter landing sites.

The man in charge of all the logistical components was Field Administrative Officer Nigel Wilson. He depended on his teams’ cooperation and dedication to pull it all off.

“There were several complex details that had to come together quickly. Things that would otherwise require longer processes and procedures,” he says, “If just one person had slacked, the whole plan would have fallen apart. No one, and nothing, was insignificant.”

 Military personnel planned their security protocols and responses. Substantive units worked on content and commitments for the conference.

A secretariat was established. Stacks of documents with pictures of the delegates piled up for verification and authorization. Staff members were sent to each location to verify and ensure the right people got on the flight. When peace is at stake, nothing is left to chance.

Once the first delegation arrived, there was no turning back. Choppers landed and then took off again to areas located hours away to bring together the special group of people holding the future of Upper Nile together. UN buses did airport runs with staff on board to keep everything moving.

At the conference site, UNMISS engineers worked against all odds to ensure there were working fans, a sound system and electrical ports – in a town with no electricity or running water. Outside, tents were set up for catering and a UN water bowser was at hand. Derelict vehicles from the war were removed by forklift.

This is the largest VIP visit Malakal has hosted and a lot of construction work went into ensuring people had functional accommodation.

In addition to the delegates from Upper Nile, key players from Juba were also present to lend credibility to and support the process. The entire weight of the mission was thrown in, to ensure a tangible result was achieved.

Finally, after several tense moments, an agreement was signed. Hope restored. Dancing and celebration signaled the end of the conference. nearly a week since the first helicopter landed at the Malakal airport, we were back to our not-so-normal business of peacekeeping.

The Special Representative to the Secretary General Mr. David Shearer has repeatedly urged the international community to get behind the peace process and push it forward to avoid a situation where the country slips back to where it was in 2016. The mission’s field offices are encouraging leaders at the grassroots to own the peace process and support the implementation of the agreement at their level.