An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir July/August 2016 www.dfmagazine.ie 16 | by NOREEN O'GALLAGHER Working for the L eaving South Sudan was never going to be easy for me; after six years in a country it becomes part of you and the people have become friends, colleagues and neighbours. I have an ad- ditional problem in my inherent interest in the region, including the politics, news and media, which means I spend too much of my time analysing information to see how it might affect the bigger picture. I simply don't know how to switch off my obsession with South Sudan and I feel my next move will either help or make me worse. In what seems such a long time ago now, I arrived in the capital, Juba, in 2010 in what was still Southern Sudan. This was a year before they held a referendum on separating from Sudan and 18 months before realising their independence. I worked with a team from the UN Mission as Head of Information for Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration (DDR), working directly with the government commission providing information to combatants, communities, government, the UN, and donors. DDR is the process of 'right-sizing' the military at a time of peace by way of providing alternative vocational and life skills to members of the army or other armed groups, so that parties to the conflict have a future which is not dependent on fighting to make a living. This is part of a wider security sector reform for stability in post-conflict countries. I've headed the information unit for DDR in both Haiti and South Sudan, but at a time of elections or war it is not possible to carry out this work. In the transition preceding independence, we had the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, during which was DDR in Northern and Southern Sudan. For the latter we com- pleted the demobilisation and reintegration of 12,525 combatants, including women associated with armed forces. The rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was formed in 1983 and in 2011 it became the regular army for South Sudan when se- ceding from Sudan, with an estimated strength of 210,000. It also has one of the highest ratios of generals in the world: in March 2014 there were reportedly 745 generals. In addition, in January 2016 the SPLA in Opposition (SPLAio) announced that it has promoted a further 400 of its senior officers to the ranks of: general; first lieutenant general; lieutenant general; major general; and brigadier general. Independence came on 9th July 2011 and it was the most extraordi- nary day when South Sudan was officially born. People came by foot, bus or air, from all corners of the country and the world to take part in the celebrations. From early morning my information colleague at the DDR Commission, Johanna Laurila, and I spent our time with the different tribes, wearing their traditional dress, and laughing and chat- ting with the assembled groups with their homemade banners stating where they were from. There was zero shade in the park and the heat was relentless, but although we had the option, through our VIP passes, to spend it on the media platform, we chose to remain danc- ing with the various communities, which was way more fun for us. Child Protection outreach, Pibor (June 2014)

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