From Niger to Mali for Peace: Material for the United Nations
Tassiou Salissou
Tassiou Salissou seems surprisingly relaxed as he checks the transport securing of the UN vehicle on the back of his truck for the third time. "Here we go, 440 kilometers through the middle of the desert," he laughs, jumps into his cab and drives slowly off the tarmac of Diori Hamani Airport in Niamey. A few hours earlier, the UN vehicle had been unloaded from the belly of the huge Antonov AN-124 and carefully driven onto the flatbed truck. Now the target is called Gao in Mali. A base of the UN peace mission MINUSMA has been there since 2013 and the special truck is urgently needed.
Reaching your destination with knowledge of the place and heart
Bringing the UN truck from Germany to Niger and from there to Mali was the challenging task of the ITO branch in Niger's capital Niamey. From the megacity in the southwest of the country, everything was organized with the support of the ITO colleagues at the Frankfurt am Main location. You can imagine that customs clearance and airport handling is not a standard job for such a project. But the biggest difficulties are the last 440 km of the 4,500 km transport route between Germany and Mali. Because driving a truck that carries a truck over bad roads through the Sahara is not necessarily comparable to driving on the A5 from Frankfurt to Karlsruhe.
It's good to have someone as experienced and calm as Tassiou Salissou in your team. "Of course it's an adventure for me too, because you never know what's going to happen. It's Africa." he grins and adds "but so far everything has always worked out great in the end. And it is a really good feeling to deliver such a valuable transport in one piece. This is important for the people there and for me and my family, of course. The job of being a driver is my life."
Sand, dust and heat did not affect Tassiou and the truck and so the UN truck is delivered securely to ensure peace in the region.
Services: air freight, air cargo charter, customs clearance, land transport