ADF STAFF
Communal violence has surged in South Sudan’s Warrap State and Central Equatoria State, and it continues to be the primary driver of conflict throughout the country, according to the United Nations peacekeeping mission there known as UNMISS.
In a recent report, UNMISS chief Nicholas Haysom noted that the highest number of victims killed and injured were in Warrap State, accounting for 60% of civilian casualties in the third quarter of 2024. The majority of abduction victims, most of them men, were from Central Equatoria State, constituting 69% of all documented abductions in the country. Conflict-related sexual violence also rose.
“This trend of increasing violence against women and abductions is alarming,” Haysom said in a statement on January 6.
Ethnic rivalries, weak or absent governance, misinformation and a massive influx of refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Sudan are all factors that have exacerbated chronic instability, violence and extreme poverty in South Sudan. While acknowledging a lengthy history of communal violence, Warrap State Information Minister William Wol insisted that violence has decreased in recent months due to the deployment of security forces as well as flooding.
“We have deployed forces from the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces’ Division 11, and as a result, there is now relative peace in the greater Tonj East area,” he said in an interview with Radio Tamazuj on January 8.
But UNMISS documented a wave of raids, reprisal killings and hate speech that swept through Warrap State’s Tonj region in 2024, forcing thousands to flee their homes. UNMISS peacekeepers and state government officials launched a joint investigation in the village of Romich in August, gathering eyewitness testimony about armed young people invading the region’s villages to carry out revenge attacks.
“It’s incredibly alarming. It’s shocking and distressing to witness a child or a pregnant woman lying lifeless on the ground,” Mayen Malat, a cattle camp youth leader, told the Senegal-based African Press Agency (APA). “Women, children and the elderly should be the most protected members of our society.”
Warrap State Deputy Gov. Aluel Garang Garang listened to the concerns of local communities and stressed the importance of dialogue in reducing tensions and preventing further violence.
“We must unite and confront our grievances through dialogue. Only through open communication will we find acceptable solutions to this dire situation,” she told APA. “We must establish peace now to prevent future suffering for our children.”
Anastasie Nyirigira, head of the UNMISS Kuajok field office, highlighted the need for conflict resolution through legal channels.
“We have a responsibility to assist in identifying the key obstacles to lasting stability,” she told APA. “It is crucial to uphold the rule of law and the formal judicial system to safeguard lives, properties and rights. Retaliatory killings will only perpetuate a destructive cycle, resulting in further similar actions and claiming innocent lives.”
Last year, UNMISS’s civilian protection efforts in the world’s youngest country included thousands of peacekeeping patrols across land, air and bodies of water.
Since 2021, UNMISS’s mandate has been to “prevent a return to civil war, build durable peace at the local and national levels, and support inclusive and accountable governance and free, fair and peaceful elections.”
The mission assists communities with reconciliation, peacebuilding through dialogue, and actively supports political processes such as security and justice-sector reform and election preparations. But U.N. and government officials and security experts are aware that South Sudan still is far from establishing a stable peace.
“Many issues remain unaddressed, including security arrangements, institutional reforms, and electoral preparations,” the Council on Foreign Relations wrote in an assessment on January 9. “Although the unity government remains intact, security sector reforms have languished as skeptical parties do not trust each other and hold back their best fighters in anticipation of a possible return to fighting.”
Haysom urged all stakeholders to find common ground and peacefully resolve their differences:
“While UNMISS continues to proactively protect civilians, I call for concerted efforts by national, state and local authorities as well as community leaders to resolve longstanding grievances and find locally sustainable solutions to conflict drivers.”
Akur Bol Duop, a resident of Romich village, saw firsthand the devastating impact of communal and intercommunal clashes.
“Violence is never the answer, and our prolonged conflict has only deepened our divisions when we should be standing united,” she told APA. “It’s time to come together for peace.”
