Pakistani sappers contain South Sudan flood damage

A man and three young girls use a canoe to transport their belongings on what was once a dry footpath leading away from Pibor’s airstrip (Alex McBride/TNH)

 

 

A hundred days and counting is how Pakistani peacekeepers with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) describe their current task which sees them up against Mother Nature in the form of extensive flooding.

When the going gets tough, the peacekeepers based in Unity State don’t shy away from the mission. On 4 January, they marked their 100th day of continuous battling against some of the worst floods in the state.

With state capital Bentiu, its 200 000 residents and their support lifeline, the Rubkona airstrip, under serious threat the engineers from Pakistan took on the daunting task of constructing flood protection dykes. Hard work was – and is – the order of the day.

Eighty kilometres of earthen embankments and the draining over five million litres of water contributed in no uncertain measure to protecting citizens from outbreaks of Cholera and other water- and airborne diseases, not to mention environmental hazards from a flooded city dump site, UNMISS reports.

The UN peacekeepers helped humanitarian partners build ramps to protect main supply and are at the disposal and service of local authorities when needed. The engineering forces pledge to do whatever it takes, for how long it may take to keep on protecting civilian lives and livelihoods.

Their remarkable dedication and efforts were duly and deservedly praised by visiting delegations, the mission said.