Eight United Nations police officers from Portugal, four women and four men, have recently joined the United Nations Mission in South Sudan for a one-year deployment. The new arrivals are the first Portuguese police officers to serve in the country.

Senior officers in the South Sudanese army (SPLA) have been meeting in Juba with a view to getting removed from the list of shame that bears names of perpetrators of grave violations against children.

Growing up, Lieutenant Nick Lytollis dreamed of becoming a world class vet. Unbeknownst to the animal kingdom, it missed out on his services. It just was not to be.

“I soon realized that I wasn’t clever enough to be a vet,” the British peacekeeper muses.