Record of the 16th Batch of Peacekeeping Engineer Detachment Dispatched to South Sudan Rushing to Repair the Mission Area's "Lifeline"
Forging a Path Through Wind and Rain — Record of the 16th Batch of Peacekeeping Engineer Detachment Dispatched to South Sudan Rushing to Repair the Mission Area's "Lifeline"
■ Yuan Yang
Personnel of our peacekeeping engineer detachment dispatched to South Sudan conducting construction operations. Photo by Xiong Ran
In the South Sudan mission area, the "Tonj–Romich" supply route, stretching more than one hundred kilometers, is the security line for United Nations peacekeeping forces conducting patrols and duties, the supply line for transporting humanitarian materials, and, more than anything, the "lifeline" upon which dozens of villages along its length depend for survival. However, this dirt road, long neglected and in disrepair, is choked with dust in the dry season and mired in mud in the rainy season; the roadbed softens and collapses upon contact with water, and vehicle passage is extremely prone to obstruction. The rainy season arrived early this year, and road conditions deteriorated sharply.
After receiving the mission to rush-repair this supply route, my comrades and I, under escort from the Nepalese peacekeeping detachment, moved from Wau base to a temporary camp in Tonj County, 150 kilometers away. "This road is truly terrible to travel — the rear wheels kept spinning, and just now we got stuck in a mud pit," the Nepalese friendly-force commander explained the situation to us along the way. Affected by continuous rainfall, our convoy became mired in mud multiple times. After more than ten hours of arduous travel, we finally reached the temporary camp.
No sooner had we settled in than we began gathering information about road conditions from local residents. They told my comrades and me: "Drinking water is hard to come by because fetching water is hard; fetching water is hard because the road is impassable." Diat town is the only fixed water-collection point within a radius of several kilometers. Nearby residents are forced every day to wade barefoot through muddy, potholed terrain, spending half a day on each round trip to fetch water.
The next day, when the weather cleared, I led the construction convoy to the site early for a survey. We found that even if the existing dirt road were temporarily leveled and repaired, it could not withstand rain erosion and road conditions would deteriorate again very easily. South Sudan's laterite soil is compressive, wear-resistant, and structurally stable; laying it over the dirt road surface could effectively solve the problem. However, the nearest laterite extraction point was 80 kilometers away, making transport highly difficult. How to open up the road as quickly as possible while guaranteeing quality? This was a major test for us.
"We can work in sections," "Have all the dump trucks haul soil without interruption" … Under the scorching sun, everyone pooled their ideas. In the end, we decided to adopt a sectional construction approach: repair one direction of the road first, ensuring that at least one side could be used for normal passage, then repair the other side. At the same time, we deployed excavators at the laterite extraction point for continuous operations and centrally coordinated all dump trucks to cycle continuously, ensuring that laterite arrived at the front line in an uninterrupted flow.
During construction, new technical problems arose one after another. During an inspection, I found that sections of road with standing water appeared level on the surface after backfilling, but internally, due to high water content and loose soil, compaction was insufficient, and vehicles traveling over these sections over time still posed a safety hazard. To address this, I and the relevant technical specialists in the detachment repeatedly deliberated and verified, and decided first to thoroughly remove the standing water and mud from the road surface, then backfill and compact in layers. Although this approach greatly increased the workload, the road surface laid in this manner is less prone to deformation.
As road repair work continued to advance, the construction sites moved farther and farther from the temporary camp. Difficulties multiplied, yet the fighting spirit (斗志) of the officers and soldiers grew ever stronger. Seeing us working with intense energy, nearby residents waved to the construction teams; children ran to the roadside and raised their hands in salute, expressing their gratitude in the most unaffected way. The Nepalese peacekeeping friendly forces carrying out escort duties also offered heartfelt praise: "Chinese peacekeeping engineers are highly skilled and take responsibility!"
Gazing at the road transformed from its former appearance, my comrades and I felt deeply gratified. This road paved with sweat may not bear our names, but as wheels roll over the newly repaired surface, they will leave behind the tracks of peace and bring the hope of development. This road is also like a bond of friendship, drawing the hearts of the Chinese and African peoples closer together.
(Compiled by Wang Yi and Ji Dingfa)