Michael Wilson

Our good friend and aussie lover, Michael Wilson of Bluemont, Virginia,

has signed on for a 1 year tour of duty as a Peacekeeper in the Sudan.

We find Michael's updates very interesting and want to share them

with all of our friends and associates. We have decided to dedicate a page on our web site

to Michael to show our support for his courageous decision.

Michael's wonderful wife, Karen, is holding down the fort in Virginia.

Michael and Karen own Ch Thornapple Hope Diamond and Thornapple Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya.

Good Wishes and News from Home is always appreciated!

MSU DANCE POSTER travels to SUDAN with Michael!

Karen picked up a poster for Michael at the Crown Classic in Clevelaned.

Michael enjoyed a nice vacation at home with friends and family in January.

Michael and MSU Dance Team Poster are back in Sudan

where they will reside until September!

MICHAEL’S WORLD:

This will probably be the last Sudan SITREP, as I am not certain that we will still have internet

access in another week. Also, most of the time will probably be taken up with matters of minimal interest

(admin, farewells, etc) to you the readers.

There will be an after action report (AAR) at some point after my departure. This will deal with matters

which for reasons of operational security I would prefer not to discuss until the mission shuts down,

and will cover a number of items alreadydiscussed in greater depth.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of you who kept in contact with me during this deployment.

Your interest, concern for my welfare and safety, news from home and prayers are appreciated more than

I can properly express. Knowing the vast support net to which Karen could turn if necessary enabled me to

carry out my work without much of the worry that would otherwise have attended a separation of such

long distance and duration .

I would also like to thank Ellen Brandenburg of Thornapple Australian Shepherds who kindly and

voluntarily posted all of these SITREPs on a page she devoted to me and my work on her excellent web site.

The Thornapple web site rivals their breeding program in excellence, and that takes some doing.

Thanks again, Ellen.

So until I see you all again, take care and keep well. That’s it from this end. Michael

Thank You MICHAEL WILSON for your service to our country!

Welcome Home!!!! · SITREP 3 & 4 · SITREP 5 & 6

SITREP 7 & 8 · SITREP 9 & 10 · SITREP 11 & 12

SITREP 13 & 14 · SITREP 15 & 16 · SITREP 17 & 18

SITREP 19 & 20 · SITREP 21 & 22 · SITREP 23 & 24

SITREP 25 & 26 · SITREP 27 & 28 · SITREP 29 & 30

SITREP 31 & 32

A Christmas Mesage from Michael Wilson, Sudan:

SECTOR 3 UM SERDIBA SUDA 22 DEC 04 · Season’s Greetings to all,

This is just a wish for a wonderful holiday season to all from someone who cannot send Christmas cards.

I am sending it a few days early since some of you will undoubtedly go away for Christmas. Some of you who

get this message will receive it while surrounded by loved ones in the comfort of your homes in America or Europe.

A few of the recipients will receive it, if they are able to at all, in far less comfortable circumstances. They may be

far from friends and loved ones and, in some cases, in harm’s way. (By the way, I only fit in the “far from friends

and loved ones” category.) Please, those of you in the first circumstance, do not forget those in the latter.

For those of you who believe in the power of prayer this might be a good time to pray for peace and,

even more important perhaps, freedom and justice in the world. A peaceful life of slavery is really not worth much.

Yesterday I visited the village of Angolo. This extended village of more than twelve thousand has neither

health facilities nor clinicians of any skill level. There is no electricity. Six or seven problematic wells provide the

only water; water which must be pumped up by worn out hand pumps. Sporadic rains and a plague of birds

that ate a good portion of what grain there was resulted in a poor harvest that will not in all likelihood see the village

through the year. They have three teachers for all the village children and no school facilities of any kind. When I

asked them what they needed most they responded that the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,

a more reliable water supply and some assistance with primary education for their children were their main priorities.

I could really promise them none of these, but believe that they will be in my prayers on Christmas.

If this story of those who have so little asking for so little makes your Table Grace more sincere; if it moves some

of you who would not ordinarily offer a prayer of thanks for your blessings at your holiday feast…good.

God bless you all. Michael Wilson

The camp in Sudan where Michael lives.

Michael Wilson * Peacekeeper

01 Oct 04 * Hello Everyone,

No, I didn't forget you all. I sat in Nairobi for 3 weeks while visa

problems were resolved and just arrived on site this week. Since Friday is

the Muslim Sabbath it is also our day off, and I will endeavor to get one

of these SITREPs (situation report) every Friday. I'd suggest that even

those familiar w/ military acronyms & jargon start a little glossary of

terms as some will be new and I'm only going to define them once.

I am employed by the Joint Military Commission/Mission (JMC/M), the

operational arm of the Friends of Nuba Mountain (FONM) which is body

composed of 12 Western nations with the goal of promoting peace (you may be

thinking that this is abit of a role reversal for yours truly) in the Nuba

Mountain area of Sudan. I am an International Monitor. I am part of a

(normally) 3man team consisting of 1 IM and 2 National Monitors

representing the Government of Sudan (GOS) & the Sudanese Peoples

Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). We are not here to impose a peace upon

the participants, but rather to facilitate (at the invitation of the

participants) the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) of 2002 and to move the

process along by heading off problems, providing a face saving bridge

between the parties and reporting violations of the CFA terms. To the

extent possible, we try to deal w/ everything at the lowest level possible.

I am currently assigned to Sector 3 at the town of Um Sedira. (Don't try

to find it in your atlas.) We are +/- 40 kms east of JMC forward HQ at

Kadugli (which you might find in your atlas). I won't go into

personalities now as the entire sector team is in a transition phase which

will only be completed in a few weeks. Suffice to say that there can be no

more than 1 IM from any one country on any site at any one time, so each

site is a somewhat eclectic melding of nationalities and cultures.

The Area of Responsibility (AOR): The Nuba Mountain area is right on the

dividing line between Northern & Southern Sudan. According to the CFA, the

GOS military are not allowed into the area in any but small unarmed groups.

The SPLA forces are not allowed down off the mountains in armed groups.

The flat piedmont areas in between are DMZs. The mountains are not quite

as high as the Blue Ridge where Karen & I live, and if this doesn't work

for you as a frame of reference, well, y'all just stop on by, y' hear.

Karen could use some company. The terrain is mainly flat with the

mountains rising up sharply from the piedmont area. There are no roads as

we know them in the States. Such tracks as there are are only passable at

all in 4WD vehicles. All our vehicles are 4WD Toyota pickup trucks

equipped w/ winches, mats and the usual hand tools needed to extricate

vehicles from morasses, and enjoy regular use. Other means of patrol are

helicopter (MI-2 or MI-8...check your Jane's Aircraft of the World), dirt

bike or ATV (relax Karen, we don't have any at the present time in our

sector), mountain bikes and old fashioned sole power. The rainy season is

almost over which will make the area far more accessible.

Living conditions: Our accommodations are plain but livable. At this

sector the buildings are brick & stucco w/ H&C running water, indoor

toilets, electricity, internet hookups in rooms (ours are out of service

temporarily but should be working in the near future), A/C and TV in the

dining room. Food is excellent, if not quite up to Karen's standards. We

are temporarily w/o an on site medic right now, but we a very short chopper

ride from the main forward HQ at Tillo and the Sector Cmdr has requested

one ASAP.

In conclusion: I'm alive, well and working hard at a worthwhile job. I

expect to be hear for another 11 months, but a permanent peace agreement

could change that. I'll try to get one of these off every Friday. Take

care. MICHAEL

Michael with camp associate. · SITREP 2 08 OCT 04

1. Situation: The peace talks are due to start up soon. Although the local

population here in the Nuba seems quite ready for peace, the Powers That Be

in each faction will, I am sure be in no hurry for a final resolution if

dilatory behavior can secure them a scintilla more power. It will probably

take a month to decide who will sit where at the conference table.

Fortunately, things are pretty tranquil around here at the moment so the

diplomats can dither and waffle to their hearts content. I don’t look for a

Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) anytime soon.

For those of you who have inquired about the Darfur situation, I am going

to defer to my friend and colleague Brian Steidle who is there at the

moment, and who will, I am sure, provide a much keener insight into events

in that AO than I. I am presently awaiting a response to my email to him

requesting permission to fwd his emails to those of you who are interested

in the doings there. Asking me for detailed info on that AO is like asking

someone in California about events in New York. Sudan is a very large

country with limited comms and internal travel.

Sarit Airlines, the charter concern that has provided all JMC’s air assets

has had all its fixed wing assets grounded by the Sudanese Govt. (6 crashes

in 10 months) which will make logistics & travel even more difficult.

Although the grounding at first was going to include the rotary wing assets

also, apparently the helos have been released. While the fixed wing

division would frighten the bravest soul (on my flight down from Khartoum

to Kadugli none of the baggage was secured and the passengers for whom

there were no seats sat on this raffle of unsecured gear) the Ukranian air

crews on the helos seem to have their cases in much order. Grounding of the

helos would have meant suspension not only of all our operations, but also

all the demining ops in the area (carried out by various NGOs) due to lack

to lack of medevac capability in an area in which road travel is, if

possible at all, too slow to help anyone seriously sick or injured.

The nomadic herders who traveled north for the rainy season are returning

to their traditional dry season locations to our south. There are two major

routes through our AOR. While their passage may not occasion the same level

as the transit of European or American “traveling people”, there are

inevitable conflicts with the permanent populations over grazing and water

resources. Further, their presence muddies the waters of who is actually

causing problems…the nomads, or CFA violators.

2. Our Operations: Here in Sector 3 we are mainly involved in increasing

the role of the police and decreasing the influence of the military in

anticipation of an eventual CPA. We are facilitating a conference among all

the Police Chiefs, both GOS and SPLM, in our sector on Sunday. If a CPA is

reached, these are the people who will have to deal with all the problems

occasioned by the transition a nd they seem quite eager to get a head start

on a situation which will be difficult at best. More on this conference

next week.

We became aware last week of problems involving armed personnel making

incursions into the DMZ and GOS areas. At this juncture it is still unclear

whether these are SPLA personnel (which would constitute a CFA violation)

or simply armed civilians, which would be a civil crime and not a JMC

matter. Further investigation will be required, and the matter will be

brought up at Sunday’s cop conference. I know that there is someone in the

area packing because we saw an individual armed with an AK who was clearly

outside the designated SPLM boundaries. Our SPLA National Monitor called

him, but he did not stop so we are not sure who he was.

We mobilized and stood by for a “Bright Light” (rescue ’ recovery) op for

the aircraft that went down in our AOR, but were not required.

3. Local Interest: I am continually impressed by the honesty and high moral

standards of the people in our area. HIV/AIDS has not come up on the radar

here, probably because of the lack of promiscuity so common to our south.

In deference to local sensibilities we don’t normally venture out of our

compound in shorts.

A diabetic would not last a week around here! Everything is sweetened to

the Nth degree.

Donkeys and a few camels are the main local means of transport. Transport

between towns and the transport of heavier goods is by tractor drawn 4

wheel trailers.

And I’ve aggravated my carpal tunnel syndrome enough for one day. More next

week, Inshallah. Take care.