Vietnam’s two first-ever UN peacekeepers wrapped up their more-than-one-year service in South Sudan in Africa in mid-2015, with the experiences lingering on their minds until now.

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Lieutenant Colonel Tran Nam Ngan and Lieutenant Colonel Mac Duc Trong concluded their UN peacekeeping mission in the war-torn African country in July 2015.

Lieutenant General Yohannes Gebremeskel Tesfamariam of the Ethiopia Force Commander of the UN Mission in South Sudan awarded grade 1 and 2 UN Peacekeeping medals to the two Vietnamese officers in recognition of their exceptional performance.

Stationed nearer to Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, Lt. Col. Ngan was in the city earlier than his compatriot for procedures.

As soon as Lt. Col. Trong was about to leave his station for Juba, war erupted in the area, bringing all UN flights to an abrupt halt.

Lt. Col. Ngan waited for him in Juba for a week.

The plane carrying the two men landed at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on July 3, 2015.

“I was overwhelmed by mixed feelings on my way home from the airport, as I was in a deprived war-torn country just the previous day, and I’m now back to a peaceful nation where citizens are blessed with everything,” Trong said.

He added there was some work he had not had the chance to complete, including searching for a local worker working for the UN.

The officer could not put his uneasiness to rest, powerless at an earnest plea of a local UN officer to return his wife to him.

During peacetime when races would live in perfect harmony, the man, of Dinka people, the major ethnic group of South Sudan, married a Nuer woman and the couple had two children.

When clashes broke out between the two races, the woman fled for protection at a refugee camp at the UN base in Melut County, located in South Sudan's Upper Nile State, for fear of getting slain.

She ended up marrying another man of her ethnic community.

“The Dinka officer always came to see me during my field trips and demanded the UN give him back his wife,” Trong recalled.

Though chaos and violence were left behind, the experiences remain vivid in the two officers’ minds.

Once, while Trong and some others were on their way back to the base, the plane’s engines broke down in mid-air.

The plane had to make an emergency landing from an altitude of 700 meters.

“The greatest peril was that the engine breakdown happened over where militiamen had just shot dead 12 government soldiers and officers, including high-ranking ones,” Trong recollected.

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Nam Ngan on a mission in South Sudan. By courtesy of Tran Nam Ngan

“If the militiamen had learned of a plane flying in the area, up to 200 kilometers from the base, consequences would be disastrous,” he said.

“I did not have any fears,” he replied when asked if he was petrified during the five days to the end of his service, during which he was enshrouded in a volley of bullets and witnessed many civilians being killed.

“During the relentless bombardment, I somehow craved a sizzling cup of coffee on a tranquil sidewalk in Hanoi,” he added.

Upon his return to Vietnam, Trong was prematurely promoted to the Senior Lieutenant Colonel rank.      

“Mounting conflicts in South Sudan, which mostly originate from fights for power and natural resources, and racial and religious feuds, have their effects pervasively felt among civilians,” he observed.

The raging warfare has cost the UN whopping sums of money, energy and efforts and even its peacekeepers’ lives.

The seasoned communications officer also noticed that men in South Sudan can marry as many wives as their hearts desire, as long as they can afford cows as dowries.

The uncanny fact was because most men were enlisted during wars for almost 50 years, leaving women outnumbered and sharing husbands.

Sr. Lt. Col. Trong also saw kids as young as 12 invariably wielding AK guns.

“They definitely craved schooling, but were conscripted or even volunteered to hold guns to protect their families,” he said.  

Devised over half a century ago, the UN’s peacekeeping missions have proved increasingly fruitful and indispensable to maintaining global security and peace. “Residents in South Sudan said that without the UN in their country, perhaps the entire population would end up dead in ruthless clashes and bloodshed,” Trong said.

Though a number of missions failed, most have helped solve wars and internal conflicts, Trong observed.

“Despite its shortcomings, Vietnam’s engagement in the UN peacekeeping missions is a tremendously significant move regarding politics, foreign relations and humanitarian values,” he said.

“Though my missions fail to bring about an end to raging conflicts and violence in South Sudan, they are worthy regarding humanitarian values in providing them with relief and a greater sense of safety,” he confided.

“Apart from doing a good job with the UN missions, we always made it a point to promote the respectable image of Vietnam People’s Army officers and the army’s traditions to international friends,” Lt. Col. Ngan said.

“Most officers from other countries at the UN Mission in South Sudan have certain knowledge of Vietnam,” Ngan said.

“They hold particularly high reverence for late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and the country’s generals,” he observed.

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