In this photo of the town of Rumbek, South Sudan, two crashed planes lie by the side of the main road running through Rumbek town in early 2005. By the time that I left Rumbek in 2006, people had literally cut one of the two planes into pieces, and, piece by piece, day by day, carted them away for personal use until only one plane remained.

These planes are demonstrative of the type of planes flying in and out of South Sudan in 2005-2006. As the majority of South Sudan's airstrips are dirt roads (such as the Rumbek airstrip), only small planes carrying 10-20 people each were able to land there. During the rainy season in remote areas, the planes would sometimes get stuck in the mud, as cars do.

Note that at the time of this photo, Rumbek was the (interim) capital of South Sudan. Yet, the main road through town is a dirt road built by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). In early 2005, a WFP driver (a Ugandan) accidentally hit and killed a Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) captain. An angry mob stormed the prison in the center of town where the Ugandan driver was held, dragged him outside and killed him, then broke into the WFP compound and injured several people.

After decades of civil war (two wars!), South Sudan has only a few kilometers of paved road.

Ref: IMG_0148 South Sudan Photos

Photographer: Irene Abdou