Christopher Tuckwood and John Green Otunga reflect on how rumours and misinformation about the coronavirus has impacted on the COVID-19 response in South Sudan. Christopher Tuckwood is the Executive Director of the Sentinel Project, while John Green Otunga is the East Africa Programs Manager overseeing the implementation of the Sentinel Project’s UnaHakika (Kenya), Hagiga Wahid (South Sudan and Uganda), Kijiji Cha Amani (DRC), and Runtu Waa Nabad (Somalia) initiatives. 

Introduction

People all around the world have increasingly recognized in recent years the harm that rumours and misinformation can cause. These phenomena are especially salient in environments marked by high levels of fear and uncertainty, which is a combination that characterizes the daily reality of many people in South Sudan. Rumours and misinformation have the potential to exacerbate tensions between communities, undermine trust in public institutions, and erode trust in aid workers and hinder humanitarian aid delivery, all of which can contribute to further instability. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the spread of numerous rumours and forms of misinformation that threaten to disrupt public health responses and are of particular concern given the virus’ resurgence in South Sudan as well as the planned vaccination process.

Drawing on lessons learned from its experience in Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the Sentinel Project’s pilot project in South Sudan, Hagiga Wahid (“One Truth” in Juba Arabic) works to counter the spread of harmful rumours based upon people’s self-identified information needs while supporting effective decision-making about how they relate to other communities, reduce the risk of conflict, and avoid violence. Launching in Juba in 2019, Hagiga Wahid has expanded to cover locations throughout the country and seeks to provide South Sudanese with access to accurate information through an interactive mobile phone-based rumour reporting system. This blog post aims to share some of Hagiga Wahid’s most important lessons so far with humanitarian actors and increase their knowledge about how to reduce the negative impact of rumours and misinformation throughout South Sudan.

Rumours in South Sudan: Their origins and examples

The Sentinel Project and its partners have identified serious vulnerabilities stemming from the lack of reliable, timely, and accurate information sources for most South Sudanese, especially at the local level. This environment encourages rumours to form and spread as people speculate about uncertain situations and then share these rumours primarily through word-of-mouth, voice calls and SMS, especially among close-knit communities, and increasingly on social media and websites. Despite only being used by a minority of people within South Sudan, social media and other internet-based channels are becoming increasingly influential in the spread of information. This is because they enable members of the diaspora to influence the situation in South Sudan even from abroad, particularly in the case of influential individuals living in countries such as Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia.

It is important to note that rumours are not inherently true or false, they are simply based on unverified information. Misinformation is, by definition, false information, while disinformation is misinformation which is deliberately created and spread. Leaving aside COVID-19, which is addressed below, Hagiga Wahid found rumours, defined as unverified information, circulating in South Sudan and among refugee populations in Uganda often focused on:

• Tensions between communities: Many rumours concern alleged or expected violence between different ethnic groups or between displaced populations and host communities. Cattle raiding is a common topic, for example one rumour reported that “Nuer cattle raiders attempted a serious attack in Yirol this morning but youth blocked and chased them back.”
• Military operations: A particularly sensitive and common topic of rumours in South Sudan concerns military operations by either the SPLM-led government, signatories to the R-ARCSS or non-signatories to the peace agreement. For example, in April 2020 Hagiga Wahid users reported hearing that “The SPLA-IO clashed with the National Salvation Front (NAS) in Kajo Keji, leaving dozens wounded.”
• Criminality: Aside from incidences of grassroots violence, organised violence or military operations, many rumours in South Sudan concern threats to civilians from crime and insecurity. An example is a rumour from May 2020 that “Three people have been killed and others injured in a road ambush in Yei River State.”
• Politics: Political developments, especially at the national level, are frequently the subject of rumours in South Sudan and can cover topics such as the deaths of leaders or political appointments. One reported rumor about political developments in July 2020 stated that “President Salva Kiir has dismissed two state governors from their duties.”
• Peace process: Closely linked to political developments, the peace process is also a common topic of rumours as many people are uncertain about its implementation. For example, in November 2020 Hagiga Wahid users reported hearing that “The National Salvation Front (NAS) pulled away from the Rome peace negotiations with the South Sudanese government following an SSPDF attack on their military bases in Lobonok.”
• Humanitarian aid: Many rumours concern the delivery of humanitarian aid by UN agencies and NGOs with people being uncertain about the availability, quality, or even safety of aid. Rumours can include accusations of corruption among aid workers as well the reduction or even contamination of food rations and water supplies.

Rumours, conflict sensitivity and COVID-19 in South Sudan

The Sentinel Project’s misinformation management initiatives’ motto is “peace begins with the truth.”, due to the fact that rumours and misinformation increase the risk of conflict by contributing an atmosphere of distrust, fear, and hatred which enables violence. To combat this, many peacebuilding programmes within South Sudan focus on dialogue to better understand community needs and security fears, some of which are based on rumours. Engaging with a broad range of community representatives (e.g. women’s groups, youth groups, and religious leaders) through these dialogue is important for ensuring that all perspectives are represented. Many rumours concern reports of recent, ongoing, or impending attacks by members of one ethnic community against another. In such cases, rumours may result in those hearing them feeling threatened and, in the absence of a reliable information source, people may be more likely to believe the rumours than from being skeptical.

When South Sudan confirmed its first few COVID-19 cases in April 2020, the news sparked accusations that the United Nations had brought the virus into the country after an international staff member who had visited a neighbouring country tested positive. Some local news outlets amplified this accusation and there was a sudden surge of anti-UN posts on Facebook, some of which had violent connotations that targeted foreigners in general. The majority of foreigners became vulnerable to xenophobic attacks and social stigma, which led the UN to suspend all non-essential movement by its staff members and the government of South Sudan to issue a stern warning against xenophobic remarks, hate speech, and disclosing the identity of people with the virus.

Humanitarian organizations have focused on promoting awareness of COVID-19 and emphasizing containment measures but there has been insufficient attention given to addressing the tensions, suspicions, negative stereotypes, and stigma inspired by the spread of rumours and misinformation about the virus. It is critical for aid actors to consider the impact of rumours and misinformation in their efforts to address the pandemic since these can prevent people from having an accurate understanding of the situation, what is being done about it, and how they themselves should behave. Given the recent upward trend in COVID-19 cases, it is even more important now. Rumours about the pandemic have concerned a range of topics including infection rates, deaths of prominent people, and alleged cures. As in other countries, conspiracy theories about COVID-19 vaccines, such as their alleged intended use for secretly sterilising people or modifying their DNA, are also present in South Sudan and they have the potential to hinder vaccinations efforts. Such misinformation is incredibly important to counter given the imminent roll-out of the vaccine under the COVAX scheme by the Government of South Sudan in collaboration with aid actors.

Recommendations

There are three recommendations which are relevant for addressing rumours and misinformation in South Sudan based on the Sentinel Project’s experiences.

1. Continued coordination among humanitarian actors: It is important for all stakeholders working in the humanitarian sector to continue to coordinate to monitor, verify, and counter the spread of rumours and misinformation. Rumours and misinformation have the potential to negatively impact the entire response. Each stakeholder has different points of contact with South Sudanese, meaning that each actor will hear a variety of types of rumours and will have different capabilities to contribute in terms of dispelling them. While this will be particularly with regards to the upcoming COVID-19 vaccination, it is also important from a conflict sensitivity perspective, given the potential for rumours or misinformation to fuel violence or conflict.
2. Centralising monitoring efforts and ensuring dissemination of COVID-related rumour tracking reports: While some organizations address rumours within their own sectors or areas of operation, efforts throughout South Sudan would be more effective if information is more systematically shared. Centralising monitoring efforts, through the establishment of a nationwide rumour clearing house that maintains a database of rumours, their impact, and their verification status, would help stakeholders to both identify and respond to rumours that particularly detrimental to the COVID response or vaccination efforts. Ensuring that the work of the inter-agency Rumour Tracking Working Group (a sub-committee of the Risk Communication and Community Engagement Technical Working Group) continues,  particularly given the second spike of COVID-19, and that their monitoring reports are widely circulated, would support these efforts.
3. Focusing on two-way flows of information: It is important that misinformation management efforts are based on the two-way flow of information between communities and agencies. All aid actors in South Sudan should prioritize establishing broadly accessible channels through which South Sudanese can report rumours and receive facts. These channels will vary, depending on communities’ characteristics but would typically include message boxes, SMS, voice calls, trained volunteers, and conventional media outlets (i.e. radio, social media and mobile applications). While leaders, local stakeholders, and other proxies will play a key role, especially where people do not use mobile phones or are not literate, effort should be made to ensure that the largest possible number of people can directly report rumours without having to go through potential gatekeepers. Similarly, it is important to consider other factors that affect access to information among community members, including age, gender, economic resources, and disability status.