By Gert Jan Geling, December 19, 2013

From 11 to 13 December, a group of junior diplomats from South Sudan visited Brussels as part of a four-week training course at Clingendael Academy. As for most junior training courses at the Academy, a visit to Brussels is an important part of the course.

A visit to Brussels provides training participants with the opportunity to visit, among others, the EU institutions and NATO.

EU policy and Belgian waffles

The South Sudanese group was very happy and eager to get to know Brussels and the institutions. Immediately after arrival, the group visited the European External Action Service, where they discussed EU policy towards South Sudan.

That evening the group had the opportunity to discover Brussels and went to the annual Christmas market, the Grand Place and Manneke Pis. Of course, a lot of chocolate and waffles were bought as well.

Climbing the mountain

On the second they there was a visit to the UNHCR, at the UNRIC office, which proved quite hard to find. The visit was deemed extremely interesting by the group as they had some good discussions about South Sudan and refugees.

After lunch the group went to the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, which represents NGO’s that work on conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

In the evening there was a social visit to the South Sudanese Embassy, which is called ‘the mountain’. After ‘climbing the mountain’ the group went to the residence of the ambassador for some traditional South Sudanese food.

Sooner or later

The last visit, on the third day, was paid to NATO. After the NATO visit, it was time for the group to return to The Hague. To soon for some of them, that decided to stay in Brussels to spend the weekend.

All in all it was not only a very interesting and informative, but also a very fun visit with a highly motivated group of diplomats, that will be able to use the knowledge and experience obtained in Brussels for the rest of their career.