Konyo Konyo Market

Konyo Konyo market is an open shopping area located in Juba's southeast part near the Nile. It is a large market that sells a lot of household and some commercial stuff. Most stalls are fairly small and jam packed with merchandise. Lanes are usually specific to products so there is a spice area, clothing and electronics areas and so on. Prices are not marked and you can negotiate a little, but the venders all seem to have the same prices for their products.

Laneways can be tight, when the market is busy merchandise is arriving as people shop, so trucks large drop off stuff along the road and then kids use wheelbarrows to move the product to the stalls.

I bought a bucket which I ended up using to wash my clothes in until my Aussie and Swedish roommates (military) fixed a bunch of washing machines at our camp. Now it’s a clothes hamper

A corner of the market

A nice bike store and yes guys will drive their motorbikes through the market.

This looks very similar to a 1940’s Raleigh police bike that the Calgary Police Service used. I am guessing this is an imitation, and hasnt been here since 1940. They wanted 200 USD for it but everything is negotiable here.  My friends and Colleagues at LEBA (Law Enforcement Bicycle Association http://www.leba.org/) would love the bike shops here; you can get stuff that can really trick out a bike.

My buddy and roommate Kevin at the spice area, it smelt good in this part of the market, unlike the fish section.

Typical lane

Bike store with lots of cool stuff.

Some tight spots in the market.

The market is pretty safe during the day and the merchants are friendly. Most common language is Arabic but you can make do with English. South Sudan still has to import a lot of merchandise from Kenya and Uganda which means you will pay more the further you go north. I was in Bentiu which is close to Sudan and prices there for some things were double that of Juba.  

Trips to Bor

Part of my Job is to travel and assist other UNPOL (United Nations Police) Advisors co-locate with the SSPS (South Sudan Police Service), which is really interesting as I will see a lot of South Sudan and meet a lot of other police officers. My first visit was to Bor which is the Capital of Jonglei State. Jonglei State has made a lot of international news with the recent tribal cattle raids. Hundreds of people in the State have been killed by raids and retaliation raids. The tribes have raided historically each other for hundreds of years but with the addition of automatic weapons and experience in modern warfare from the civil war with Sudan the numbers of people killed and hurt have increased dramatically. I ended up going to Bor twice in 2 weeks. There is a good bunch of UNPOL there who really are trying to help the SSPS pacify the area.

My ride out to Bor, I was hoping to ride in one of the Russian helicopters.

A meeting with the SSPS and the State Police Commissioner, and some high ranking State police colonels. The SSPS in Bor are in a tough position as the State is the largest in South Sudan and has three main tribes that are in conflict which each other. UNPOL officers and the SSPS are often working together on police issues. I respect the tenacity of the SSPS as South Sudan is a new nation and they work with limited resources to police their country. Canadian police officers have it pretty good compared to what these officers work with.  

A meeting with some elders at a Payom (village) just outside Bor. The Elders were very polite and offered us the shade and chairs. The Payom is along the Nile, it was very hot out about 40 degrees, the Nile looked so inviting until i remembered the crocodiles.

Some members of the Livestock Protection Unit; these officers (SSPS) patrol for cattle raiders. There is a lot of raiding on a small scale almost daily. In December 2011 thousands of youths from one tribe raided, killing a lot of people in the process. I have left out tribe names as there is a long history of tribal warfare, no one side is to blame. There is a strong need to bring peace to this area and the SSPS have a big job to do.

More LPU with one of their patrol vehicles. The Officer in the brown camo uniform is Tobias a co-worker and friend.

Bor town, that lady is carrying a bed roll on her head. The South Sudanese women work hard all day.  A lot of the women can carry heavy loads on their heads with exceptional balance and grace. There are wells throughout the Joglei State some women will carry water for miles daily.

On our patrol we came across a troop of baboons; they saw and took off with only the large males watching us.

My ride back to Juba

Juba

From Entebbe we go to Juba the capital of South Sudan and where the main UN base is. The UN is busy here and our first job was to find accommodations. You are basically left to your own means to find a place except that you can only stay somewhere the UN approves of. If you are lucky and get accommodations on the base, that’s no problem, if you have to find something in Juba that’s a problem. Well there are about 240 people waiting for accommodations on the base. Our contingent split up the lucky ones got some beds in Canada House, the others got a tent in the UN compound by a latrine pit.

Arrival at Juba

Canada House

Me and Kevin two lucky guys who got to stay in Canada House.

I would like to thank the Canadian Military for their hospitality in putting most of the contingent up for short term at Canada House. Canada House is a support base for our military in South Sudan. The guys and girls there were awesome and looked after us.

Thank You.

We did 5 days of more induction training in Juba covering some topics such as land mines, law, and of course we had to get our drivers licenses.

The UN requires everyone to be tested.

Here every vehicle is a standard drive but unlike in Entebbe we drive on the right side, so it was an easy thing to do.

After induction training we were assigned I fully expected to be sent to some far away site location (and was hoping to go), but instead I got assigned a position in Juba.

I was told I was the new Co-location manager?????????

Basically co-location is what we UN police officers are expected to do with the South Sudanese Police Service SSPS. We co-locate with them while they work and offer advice and mentorship. My job would be to facilitate that and bring in new ideas and projects. Sounds boring but after a few days I realized that it would be traveling around the country and putting a lot of work into fixing police issues.

Driving around Juba, the streets are almost all dirt with large ruts and holes. There are no signs or traffic lights. It is chaos but somehow people avoid hitting each other for the most part. Here a UN vehicle got hit by a guy who backed up to avoid a crane backing up on him.

Some kids in Juba, they made pinwheels out of pop cans.

I call this a squat box. I have yet to use one.

My temporary accommodations at the UN base, I was sharing a transient room with some other Canadian police, British military, Swedish military and Australian Military. Good bunch of guys. The tents are to protect against mosquitoes.