Set for Sudan
First female COMASC heads up Op Azure

By CPL Simone Liebelt

SQNLDR Ruth Elsley, from No. 44 Wing, has packed her bags for her first overseas deployment.

Photo by LAC Euan Grant

AN HISTORIC DEPLOYMENT

IN THE early 1880s, the British-backed Egyptian regime in Sudan was threatened by an indigenous rebellion. The Egyptian Army tried to crush the revolt but was defeated, leaving survivors trapped in the face of hostile enemy. New South Wales joined the Canadian Government in offering troops, and on March 3, 1885, sent a contingent of more than 700 men to the Sudan. It was seen as an historical occasion, marking the first time that soldiers of a self-governing Australian colony were to fight in an imperial war. During the contingent’s two months in the Sudan, they did not participate in any battles, so casualties were few with more falling to disease than enemy action. They returned home on June 19, 1885.

AN air traffic control officer has become Australia’s first female contingent commander by leading a small ADF team into war-ravaged Sudan for Operation Azure.

As Commander of the Australian Contingent (COMASC), Squadron Leader Ruth Elsley, from No. 44 Wing, will head a team of 15 ADF members who are taking part in the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).

The team – comprised of all three Services – will deploy to the north African country over the next six months, where they will take on the roles of UN Staff Officers and UN Military Observers (UNMOs)

SQUADRON Leader Elsley was both excited and apprehensive about her appointment to the peace support mission, which will not only mark her first overseas deployment, but the first time Australian troops have entered Sudan since 1885.

“I would never have dreamt that a deployment overseas would include an appointment of COMASC, so this is without a doubt a highlight of my career,” she said.

“I’m very proud and honoured to be selected, and while it’s obviously going to be a challenge operating in a totally foreign culture, I’ve got an incredible bunch of guys working with me who are very supportive.

“Deploying to Sudan 120 years after the first Australian troops entered the country is also historically exciting, and indeed, makes this deployment special to me. I’m really glad to be going with a great team of fellow Australians who are just as keen as I am to do their bit for the establishment of peace in Sudan, just as their countrymen did 120 years ago.”

UNMIS was authorised by the UN Security Council in March to support the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in January by the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army.

The agreement ended a 21-year civil war, in which more than two million people were killed and four million misplaced.

The UNMIS peacekeeping force will comprise up to 10,000 military personnel from 38 countries. The peacekeeping force will monitor and observe the ceasefire agreement and they will contribute to improved stability and peace in Sudan.

SQNLDR Elsley will serve as COMASC and aviation safety officer at the UN Headquarters in Khartoum. Her contingent members will be spread throughout the region.

The UN has split southern Sudan into six sectors, which will be controlled by different troop contributing countries.

The UNMOs will be integrated into teams within the sectors, where they will work with combat troops to ensure parties accord with the terms of the peace agreement, providing dispute resolution when required.

The UN staff officers will be located at the El Obeid airport, where troops will flow into the country, and they will assist with logistics, planning and air movements.

Lieutenant Colonel Mick Humphreys, from Land Headquarters, said the deployment would be difficult, as personnel would be working in areas devastated by long-term war and famine.

“It’s fair to say that Sudan has poor infrastructure, poor communication systems, the people are desperately poor and have suffered a lot of trauma because of conflict, so their [the ADF personnel’s] working conditions will be dire,” he said. “The environmental hazards are significant because of unmarked mine fields, but one of the biggest challenges will be coming to terms with a country that’s emerging from many years of war and civil strife.”

SQNLDR Elsley said while there was a great deal of unknown to the operation, “this is a country that has been devastated by long years of conflict, drought, disease and famine, so helping the people of Sudan in working towards a positive future is a role that anyone in the ADF would be pleased to fill.”

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