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Feature: Valour in the Congo
Published Tuesday 18th October 2005
The UN were holding out for a hero in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They found one in Marine reservist Colonel Paul Jobbins.
Somewhere in south Gloucestershire there must have been a telephone box with two coat-hangers dangling from a hook. It's the easiest explanation for the repeated and frequent transformation of Paul Jobbins, a rather ordinary looking civilian working for the Avon police, into a full colonel in the Royal Marines Reserves.
Paul Jobbins has the solid outdoorsy look of a yeoman farmer. To the right of the Aga in the kitchen of the Gloucestershire house he shares with his wife and children, there are two books: Delia Smith's Winter Collection, and The River Cottage Year. The family spaniel runs in and out, eventually settling at its master's feet. This is the home of a very English hero.
As recently as June 2004 Paul was in a far less hospitable environment. The Democratic Republic of Congo was in the middle of a civil war, estimated by the International Rescue Committee (a non-governmental organisation) to have claimed 3.8 million lives. In command of United Nations forces in the city of Bukavu, he found himself trying to keep the peace between two warring factions of the Congolese army:
"We went into the first negotiation with General Mutabutsi in the street outside his house with shooting going on all around," he recalled. "It started to get bloody that evening. There were bodies in the streets."
With the Congolese General Bujamave and the UN military commander General Isberg, Jobbins set to work creating a weapons-free zone in Bukavu, a city of some 800,000 on the beautiful high plateau next to Lake Kivu. But the ceasefire broke down and the battle intensified, with mortars adding to the small-arms fire.
The citation for Jobbins's George Medal offers a vivid account of his courage during this period:
"Recognized by all United Nations personnel in Bukavu as one of the few UN officers with commitment and courage, his gallant leadership under fire inspired renewed confidence in those around him. Despite being threatened personally by both factions, his negotiating skills contributed directly to the successful outcome of the Bukavu crisis. He personally ensured the safety of thousands of innocent civilians."
It's high praise for Jobbins, and an indirect indictment of an organisation that has come in for a torrent of criticism recently:
"The UN is a great organisation, and there are some really good people working for it," says Paul. "But some individuals and some countries need to examine their motivation."
Paul is delighted that he is not the only reservist to feature on recent honours lists, and keen that his medal should send the right signal about the value of reserve soldiering, saying:
"It just shows what the reserves can do."
In civilian life Paul built a career as a fingerprint officer with Avon police, an occupation demanding intense concentration on microscopic details:
"You need a lot of patience, and you need to be very focused. The Royal Marines Reserve provided a good balance. A nine-to-five job, working towards a steady pension and, at the weekends, going out and doing my bit with the boys."
Apart from the Congo, that "bit with the boys" has included a posting to Sierra Leone at the height of that country's civil war. There he worked with the British High Commissioner to set up a meeting with the notorious West Side Boys:
"When they turned up they encircled the entire camp. At the entrance to the camp was a Bedford truck with twin machine guns on top, pointing straight into the meeting. You do all these management training things, but they never prepare you for doing something when you've got guns at your back."
Paul is not sure about his long-term career prospects, but this does not seem to worry him unduly. For the time being he has his work cut out back on the continent that he has come to know so well: he has been posted to the Liberia â “ a country every bit as troubled over recent years as the Congo and Sierra Leone â “ to help organise democratic elections.
Despite his unenviable insight into the dark side of human nature, he remains optimistic about the basic decency of human beings:
"Human nature in general knows what the right thing is, and we strive to do it.
"People are kind, people are generous, and people are strong when they've got something strong to have confidence in.
"People are basically good, even in terrible places."
This article by Roy Bacon first appeared in FOCUS - the newspaper for people in defence
Photo in Foreign Operations Section of the Photo Board
Published Tuesday 18th October 2005
The UN were holding out for a hero in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They found one in Marine reservist Colonel Paul Jobbins.
Somewhere in south Gloucestershire there must have been a telephone box with two coat-hangers dangling from a hook. It's the easiest explanation for the repeated and frequent transformation of Paul Jobbins, a rather ordinary looking civilian working for the Avon police, into a full colonel in the Royal Marines Reserves.
Paul Jobbins has the solid outdoorsy look of a yeoman farmer. To the right of the Aga in the kitchen of the Gloucestershire house he shares with his wife and children, there are two books: Delia Smith's Winter Collection, and The River Cottage Year. The family spaniel runs in and out, eventually settling at its master's feet. This is the home of a very English hero.
As recently as June 2004 Paul was in a far less hospitable environment. The Democratic Republic of Congo was in the middle of a civil war, estimated by the International Rescue Committee (a non-governmental organisation) to have claimed 3.8 million lives. In command of United Nations forces in the city of Bukavu, he found himself trying to keep the peace between two warring factions of the Congolese army:
"We went into the first negotiation with General Mutabutsi in the street outside his house with shooting going on all around," he recalled. "It started to get bloody that evening. There were bodies in the streets."
With the Congolese General Bujamave and the UN military commander General Isberg, Jobbins set to work creating a weapons-free zone in Bukavu, a city of some 800,000 on the beautiful high plateau next to Lake Kivu. But the ceasefire broke down and the battle intensified, with mortars adding to the small-arms fire.
The citation for Jobbins's George Medal offers a vivid account of his courage during this period:
"Recognized by all United Nations personnel in Bukavu as one of the few UN officers with commitment and courage, his gallant leadership under fire inspired renewed confidence in those around him. Despite being threatened personally by both factions, his negotiating skills contributed directly to the successful outcome of the Bukavu crisis. He personally ensured the safety of thousands of innocent civilians."
It's high praise for Jobbins, and an indirect indictment of an organisation that has come in for a torrent of criticism recently:
"The UN is a great organisation, and there are some really good people working for it," says Paul. "But some individuals and some countries need to examine their motivation."
Paul is delighted that he is not the only reservist to feature on recent honours lists, and keen that his medal should send the right signal about the value of reserve soldiering, saying:
"It just shows what the reserves can do."
In civilian life Paul built a career as a fingerprint officer with Avon police, an occupation demanding intense concentration on microscopic details:
"You need a lot of patience, and you need to be very focused. The Royal Marines Reserve provided a good balance. A nine-to-five job, working towards a steady pension and, at the weekends, going out and doing my bit with the boys."
Apart from the Congo, that "bit with the boys" has included a posting to Sierra Leone at the height of that country's civil war. There he worked with the British High Commissioner to set up a meeting with the notorious West Side Boys:
"When they turned up they encircled the entire camp. At the entrance to the camp was a Bedford truck with twin machine guns on top, pointing straight into the meeting. You do all these management training things, but they never prepare you for doing something when you've got guns at your back."
Paul is not sure about his long-term career prospects, but this does not seem to worry him unduly. For the time being he has his work cut out back on the continent that he has come to know so well: he has been posted to the Liberia â “ a country every bit as troubled over recent years as the Congo and Sierra Leone â “ to help organise democratic elections.
Despite his unenviable insight into the dark side of human nature, he remains optimistic about the basic decency of human beings:
"Human nature in general knows what the right thing is, and we strive to do it.
"People are kind, people are generous, and people are strong when they've got something strong to have confidence in.
"People are basically good, even in terrible places."
This article by Roy Bacon first appeared in FOCUS - the newspaper for people in defence
Photo in Foreign Operations Section of the Photo Board
