18 NAVY NEWS, FEBRUARY 2010
● Lt Cdr Alex Panic listens to one of his students at the military school in Kinshasa
Picture: WO2 Rob Leyland RLC
At ease among Congolese
NAVAL offi cer Lt Cdr Alex Panic some of the former fighters into a recently relative stability.
was thrown in at the deep end United Nations force. Its economy was slowly
when the language specialist spent But the basic English language beginning to recover from the
six weeks among the soldiers and skills were not up to the challenge decades of troubles, but the recent
● Royal Marines from 42 Commando in Afghanistan during their 2008-09 deployment
guerrilla fi ghters of the Congo. of military jargon such as resupply, global recession has done little to Picture: LA(Phot) Gaz Faulkner
The submariner, who is an materiél, mounting and similar. aid this troubled nation – despite
educational training manager at Alex said: “I am delighted to be its wealth of natural resources.
the Defence School of Languages able to come and help the people The United Nations mission in
in Beaconsfield, was attached to move towards a peaceful country. the DRC consists of over 20,000
the British embassy in Kinshasa “It is only a short course and we uniformed personnel – mostly
during his stay in the Democratic have had to tailor it from scratch military but some police – from
Republic of the Congo (DRC). to our pupils. So it has been hard 50 nations. Our man
His task was to teach the soldiers work.” Once his six weeks in Africa
and former guerrillas how to speak The humid jungle environment were complete, Alex was looking
English, and specifically military came as a shock to the British forward to getting back to
English (which is a language all officer. London.
of its own – Ed). “I don’t know quite what I “I can’t wait to get back to the
The common language in expected but the fact that it is cold and away from jungle and
Congo is French, although there terrifically hot during the day and humidity,” he laughed.
are dozens of tribal languages and terrifically wet at night makes for “The people are lovely in the
dialects to be heard. a steamy atmosphere.” Congo and I have the satisfaction
in Kabul
After a decade of civil war, efforts The DRC is a country that has of knowing that they will speak
are being made to normalise the experienced dictatorship, coups, better English after the course,
war-torn country by integrating conflicts, assassinations and albeit with a London accent.”
IT IS the big things which usually impress.
“Journalists always hammer us about the number
Operation x cleared y square kilometers of enemy
of Afghans being killed,” says Capt Durkin. “There’s
territory, smashing z number of drug and bomb a lot of evidence to show that the insurgents are quite
factories. adept at using the local populace as human shields.
Or 2,000 troops safely delivering an enormous “If our troops could not say with 100 per cent
hydro-electric turbine, passing through more than certainty that there were only insurgents in a particular
100 miles of bandit country – the last act of a four- building or area, we didn’t drop ordnance.”
month operation. There is also another Afghanistan, however, one
And sometimes it’s the little things which leave the you probably won’t see on the television or in your
deepest impressions. morning paper.
“Seeing children rushing down the street, rucksacks “Most of the Western media are only interested
on their backs, kicking a ball along, that’s what I’ll in bombs and politics,” Capt Durkin sighs. “That’s
remember most,” says Capt Mark Durkin. frustrating because there are a lot of good stories to
He is talking not of Britain in the 60s and 70s, but tell: improved medical facilities, irrigation, power-
Kabul in 2009. supply projects which are showing real progress, and
It is a sight unimaginable just a decade ago. But it’s better education, especially for women.”
one which has to be enjoyed at a distance: the Afghan All these are ‘soft’ stories of passing or no interest
capital is “a thriving, busy, dusty city possessing all to the likes of the global media.
the hustle and bustle that you’d expect to find in any “It’s all very well talking to the international press,
eastern city” but Allied troops there simply cannot but the story is far more powerful with an Afghan
“walk out of the gate and have a look around.” face,” Capt Durkin points out.
It’s a useful allegory for what’s been achieved in Under the Taleban, television was banned (they
Afghanistan – and what remains to be done. even went so far as to smash up TV sets), newspapers
For seven months, the former Commanding were strictly regulated (no comment or photographs)
Officer of HM Ships Atherstone and Exeter, and and the sole (state-owned) radio station broadcast
now Captain Mine Warfare and Patrol Vessels, only religious programmes and propaganda.
Diving and Fishery Protection, held another lengthy Fast forward a decade and there are at least a
title: Chief Public Affairs Officer to Commander dozen newspapers in Kabul alone and a plethora of
International Security Assistance Force – spokesman TV channels.
for Allied operations in Afghanistan. All well and good, but roughly four out of five
Afghanistan is probably the international story of Afghans cannot read while access to TV is limited
the day. It dominates the news in the UK and US, because of the electricity supply.
as well as a host of other nations who’ve committed Radio is the real power. There are now a good four
forces to that troubled land. dozen stations across a land two and a half times the
The Western media’s preoccupation – as evidenced size of the UK (but with half the population).
by the daily coverage in the UK media – is with the “One of the problems in speaking to the Afghan
insurgency, with bombs, and above all, with the people is choosing the media. If you want to get your
‘body count’. message out in the UK, you’ve got Sky, the BBC,
Each death is breaking news, each casualty has a ITV for starters,” says Capt Durkin.
face propelled briefly into the national consciousness “Journalism in Afghanistan is still embryonic. It’s
courtesy of TV, websites and newspapers, and each still learning how to tell the story from Afghans to
funeral cortege attracts the media pack. Afghans. It is much more receptive to stories about
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Capt Durkin explains. crop in the Sangin Valley, which goes hand-in-hand
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“The impression here in the UK is that it’s just “In a straight fight, the Taleban lose every time,”
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12 months ago these pages were filled with obituaries Most insurgents are not Taleban, or fanatics
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tit-for-tat, it can be very negative.” large, “most Afghans do not want the return of the
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the ever-thorny issue of Afghan civilians killed. their streets.
Unofficial and official figures differ considerably. “As foreign fighters we are not welcome,” Capt
Officially, some 160 Afghans were killed each month Durkin adds.
in the first half of 2009. Roughly one in three died “They see us as a necessary evil. The Afghans are
because of the actions of Coalition forces. a proud nation.”
018_NN_feb10.indd 1 20/1/10 16:39:49
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