As you will recall Queen Mary visited Nigeria this summer.
I sommer tog Dronning Mary afsted på et hemmeligt besøg. Kun to uger efter en voldsom henrettelse i det afrikanske land.
www.bt.dk
www.udogse.dk
It was not a visit without risks, so her visit was kept secret as far as possible. PET took her safety very seriously because Nigeria is a country to which the Danish Foreign Ministry warn against "unnecessary travels". The area the Queen visited was located only three hours drive from Yelwta, where only two weeks prior some 200 Christians had been murdered by Islamists. The Islamist organization Boko Haram (which basically means something like what is Western/Western influence is religiously forbidden by Muslims) as well as Islamic State operates in northern Nigeria and have been doing so for years, They very much target Christians and massacres of Christians and kidnapping of Christian children is not uncommon. The Nigerian military seem unable (read: too corrupt and incompetent) to really do something about it.
So PET stayed unusually close to Queen Mary during this visit. Where she also was labelled a VVIP = Very, very important person.
Anyway, this visit took place in a part of Nigeria where maternity preparations at best takes place under a tin-roof. In fact many Nigerians who can afford it travel abroad to give birth.
The local dignitaries where also there, including the Nigerian Minister for Women, who politely thanked the Germany ambassador and the Swedish government...
While Queen Mary gave her speech there were a number of problems with the sound, perhaps because the sound technician had fallen asleep...
It was quite an eye-opening speech actually! She said in English with a slight Danish accent that every two minutes a woman die giving birth or from complications in connection with pregnancy. 70 % of these deaths take place in Africa, south of Sahara.
Inside the maternity ward at the hospital the Queen visited, she talks with a couple of the patients and at some point she is handed a baby, to which the Minister for Women remarks that if you hold a baby, you'll will get one more yourself. To which Queen Mary responds: "I'd better not then."
The PET briefings were very careful. Nigeria was only spoken about as Country X and Queen Mary was only referred to as VVIP. She was never mentioned in connection with Nigeria.
The press was informed that in case of an attack on the hotel they were staying, they were only to open the doors for PET officers (*), identifiable because they would speak Danish. The press was also issued glowsticks in case of attacks or power failure. They were also issued a link to a encrypted message service, in case the delegation was split up. The PET officers did not eat the local food, in fact the press was advised to be careful as well. Instead the PET officers ate field-rations brought with them from home, so that they would not be incapacitated.
PET explained to the press that they are first and foremost there to protect Queen Mary, but that they would help the press as well...
Queen Mary also visited a crisis center for women, well some of them were teens, who had bee trafficked into prostitution, sometimes when they were just pre-teens and had somehow managed to get back to Nigeria. I don't think I need to elaborate on what they have been through...
Of course in a pretty traditional country like Nigeria, they cannot return to their families, nor can they expect to get married and they probably suffer from various trauma as well, so they get a course in various handicrafts in order to support themselves.
Later on the delegation went to Lagos which is considered very dangerous and as such Queen Mary was surrounded by even more PET officers and the press-bus was armored.
Shortly before the delegation was to head home it's all over the news: Queen Mary is in Nigeria! On top of that the flight to Copenhagen is cancelled due to bad weather. But with a little negotiations behind the scenes they succeeded in cramming the whole delegation, including the press, on an Air France flight.
- It is a very good and very detailed article and I will urge you to do a google translate of the Ud&Se article that I linked in the top of this post. It's absolutely worth the read.
There are many details I have not included here, including a brief interview with Queen Mary.
(*) PET were probably there with her, but otherwise the security arrangements smells to high heaven of FET, the military intelligence service and the bodyguards look like special forces.
www.billedbladet.dk
