Thursday, January 2, 2014

Unrest in South Sudan Silences Ham Operators


Flag of South Sudan (CIA World Factbook)
The two licensed amateurs in South Sudan both report that they have taken their stations off the air and shipped their equipment out of the country "in order to avoid misunderstandings" with either side in the growing ethnic conflict that as of late December had claimed over a thousand lives. According to a report on the ARRL website, Massimo Stella, Z81B (also IZ0EGB), and Diya al Asadi, Z81D (YI1DZ), said they expect to be off the air "for a while." Stella was in Europe while al Asadi remained in South Sudan.

Both of them had been part of the Z81X operation from South Sudan in November, along with CQ DX Editor Wayne Mills, N7NG, who reports on that expedition and associated activities in his column in the February issue of CQ. (Please note that Wayne filed his column prior to the outbreak of violence in the country).