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Interview with Timothy Sopp

Head of Communication and IT at MINURSO in Western Sahara

Timothy Sopp is one of those dedicated people who you will find in a peacekeeping mission, whose main responsibi­
lity is to ensure smooth communication within the mission itself, and with the different components of the mission.

In the case of the city of Laayoune, this implies, among other things, that he and his team also have to ensure that the
people on any of the nine team-sites -- some of which are to be found far away in the Sahara Desert -- do not feel
that they are forgotten in the middle of nowhere without any infrastructure. Timothy Sopp definitely does not have
an easy job ... and now he will tell us about it ...

Q: What exactly do you do? (UNSO). Different agencies operate virtually any peacekeeping mission.
perhaps in different ways; some This is also true for data and e-mail.
Information and communication may rely on national resources be­ We have an e-mail system based on
technology is one of the core sup­ cause they have a slightly different Lotus Notes, and that allows us to
pmt structures of the United Na­ role to that of peacekeeping mis­ communicate very effectively and
tions field missions. It is the nervous sions. The United Nations Mission transfer files throughout our system.
backbone of our missions, and that's for the Referendum in Western Sa­
because in many situations missions hara (MINURSO) is part of the Uni­ Q: I presume it's not easy
are established in countries which, ted Nations Peacekeeping Global to maintain this kind of
as result of war, have a very poor Communication and IT Network, so infrastructure?
infrastructure. The United Nations from tl1is mission in Laayoune we
a l so requires an independent com­ have direct connection through the It's definitely not easy and that is an
mmlications network to maintain its satellite station to our Headqua1ters aspect that is often overlooked by
impartiality and its confidentiality. in New York. Member States.

The United Nations have estab­ Q: You connect directly to Q: What are the difficulties?
lished global networks over the New York? Finding qualified personnel?
years to maintain tl1eir confiden­
tial communications between the Ifl want to talk to a communications It's not so much finding qualified
mission and headquarters, even officer in New York, I dial no more people, but rather finding sufficient­
going back to the time of tl1e Uni­ than six digits, and that switches me ly qualified and experienced people
ted Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office to New York. The same applies for who are prepared to work under

1 6 International