Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
BOR, SOUTH SUDAN
April 2014
T
he moment we entered the compound, I knew things were bad. The South Sudan Hotel
had been opened in the run-up to independence in 2011, promoted widely as a safe place
for foreign dignitaries to stay while visiting Bor, but as we approached I saw the hotel
minibus sitting gutted on the edge of the road, riddled with bullet holes.
Through the gates, the scene was no different. The reception hall had been devastated.
Fire had charred the walls and the desks had been trashed. We waited in the ravaged com-
pound for some time before the manager appeared from one of the missing doorways and
welcomed us.
'What happened here?'
The manager smiled. 'Come,' he said, 'we still have rooms.'
He led us across the hotel forecourt. Along the verandas most of the doors had been
kicked in, the rooms torn apart. The floor was dusted with broken glass from the smashed
lights overhead. When we finally reached our rooms, the metal door hanging off its hinges
and a footprint lay where the handle used to be. 'Fifty dollars,' the manager began. I looked
inside the obliterated room. No water, no electricity, but it was still the best option we had.
'We'll take it,' I said.
Before the manager left, he tried to explain. The 'small protest' we had heard about was
actually a large-scale demonstration by the Dinka, the semi-pastoral people who make up
almost a fifth of South Sudan's population, against the Nuer, another of South Sudan's eth-
nic groups. The Nuer and Dinka have a long and complicated history of attack and counter-
attack along this part of the Nile. Today, the Nuer had barricaded themselves into a United
Nations compound, but the Dinka had stormed the building and opened fire. In the ensuing
chaos, forty-eight Nuer were killed, while seven Dinka lay dead. Now, the whole of Bor
sat under a stalemate of sorts, waiting for the next eruption. All foreigners, the manager
explained as he walked away, were valid targets as far as the Dinka were concerned.
