The events of the last couple of days have culminated in the scheduled departure of a significant segment of the expat community.\u00a0 It is not only non-essential OZ embassy staff and families of staff members, but all OZ volunteers (AVI) and large groups working on AusAid projects.\u00a0 Most departures are elective with only some of them compulsory.\u00a0 UK and NZ have followed suit.\u00a0 The UN and UN volunteers have made no move as yet.<\/p>\n
Many government departments are not really operating well as local staff are not showing up for work and a number of expats are choosing to leave.\u00a0 The Ministry of Education is a bit of a mess and suffering from looting, trashing and a bit of burning.\u00a0 An education ministry warehouse next to the main offices is a smouldering wreck with all contents burnt and the roof caved in.\u00a0 The F-FDTL are now guarding what remains of that warehouse and hopefully preventing further damage, which seems to have been limited to the bottom floor of the office complex.<\/p>\n
I believe the Ministry of Agriculture has been disfunctional for some time (due to regular stoning of the building) and with the departure of many other expat capacity building staff, an awful lot of things may well go on hold for some time.<\/p>\n
I think the last 2 nights were actually pretty quiet but car tyre burning and road barricading is still a feature and clearly evident in the morning.\u00a0 Of course, residents of Bairo Pite and Delta may disagree – I don’t know.<\/p>\n
Movement seems fine during the morning period, but the expectation of trouble after dark seems to be visible from lunchtime on.\u00a0 Thats the feel anyway.<\/p>\n
By next week, the expat scene may well be a shadow of its former self, although I admit I know nothing about what the Portuguese community is doing regarding leaving.\u00a0 It all really depends on whether the threats of violence actually take the next step.\u00a0 And it is the threats that are driving a lot of this situation.<\/p>\n
I do feel sorry for some of those compelled to leave as it involves packing a bag of no more than 10kgs.\u00a0 Just think – laptop, backup drive, music player, personal papers, 2 pairs of underwear and only one sock.\u00a0 So you leave all of your other stuff and wonder just how long before you get back.<\/p>\n
Note : I had trouble posting this yesterday when I fisrt wrote it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The events of the last couple of days have culminated in the scheduled departure of a significant segment of the expat community.\u00a0 It is not only non-essential OZ embassy staff and families of staff members, but all OZ volunteers (AVI) … Continue reading