Aweil West County, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 166,217
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 390,370**
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 204,245**

Ethnic groups: Rek Dinka (Malual: Palieu-Piny/ Palyoupiny), Luo/‘Jur Chol’

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 1,413 IDPs (-36,109 Q1 2020) and 460 returnees (-18,090 Q1 2020)

IPC Food Security: November 2022 – Emergency (Phase 4); IPC Projections: December 2022 to March 2023 – Crisis (Phase 3); April to July 2023 – Emergency (Phase 4)

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Aweil West County is located in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State. It borders Aweil North County to the north, Aweil East County to the east, and Aweil Centre County to the south. It also borders Western Bahr el-Ghazal State (Raja County) to the west.

The county falls under the western flood plains sorghum and cattle livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018), with grassland, swampy areas of papyrus reed, and pockets of forest being found in this area. According to a report from FAO and WFP (2018), 75% of households engage in farming, which remained the case in 2021. Gross cereal yields in the county were put at 1.10 tonnes per hectare in 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022), increasing to 1.3 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023). Similar to their neighbours in Aweil North, in addition to farming personal homesteads and smallholder farms, some young men make the seasonal journey north to Sudan to work as manual laborers on large commercial agricultural holdings (Kindersley and Majok 2019). The main crops in the county were reportedly sorghum, maize, groundnuts, sesame and vegetables. Northern towns such as Aweil have traditionally relied heavily on Sudan for imports of staple foods such as flour, millet and sorghum. Trade was reportedly dampened by the official closure of the border with Sudan in May 2011 (UNMISS 2012), however illegal trade persisted throughout the recent civil war in South Sudan.

The economy of Aweil West – and Northern Bahr el-Ghazal more broadly – has undergone a major transformation towards markets and commercialisation of labour. Decades of conflict and insecurity within South Sudan and across the border in Darfur/Kordofan have accelerated pre-existing patterns of migration through forced displacement from Aweil to Sudan and elsewhere. The rapid repopulation of the area since the early 2000s placed the local markets and ecology under such pressure that cash, wages and markets became an increasingly vital means for survival.

This structural economic transformation partly explains why food insecurity has continued to be a challenge for Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State despite its relative stability. Aweil West County was classified as being at Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of food insecurity in November 2022, and is projected to improve to Crisis (IPC Phase 3) levels between December 2022 and March 2022, before reverting to Emergency levels until at least July 2023.

Flooding is a regular concern for both agriculturalists and pastoralists in Aweil West. In 2020, Aweil West experienced significant flooding in the third quarter, with an estimated 2,422 households across 118 villages along the River Lol impacted by the flooding and many of them fleeing to higher ground to escape rising waters.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

Nyamlel, located in Gomjuer Centre payam, is considered to be the headquarters of Aweil West County. The town of Aweil is the capital of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State and falls on the border of Aweil Centre, Aweil West and Aweil East counties. Disagreement had previously arisen over the precise county boundaries in part due to competition over the right of county governments to tax and govern populations within the disputed area. This has caused tensions as newly appointed County Commissioners begin their work and make tours of the counties they have been appointed to administer.  This has also resulted in a decision to administer Aweil Town as a separate administrative area governed by a municipal council instead of county governments.

Aweil West County is home to eighty-nine (89) primary schools and six (6) secondary schools. There are currently no Early Childhood Development centres in Aweil West.

Aweil West County was reported to have forty-three (43) health facilities, all of which are deemed to be functional. Among the facilities are thirty-five (35) PHCUs, five (5) PHCCs and three (3) hospitals as of 2022. This means that there were an estimated 2.43 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.23 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. The specific functionality of Aweil West’s three hospitals is not detailed.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview 2023, nearly 133,000 people in the county have humanitarian needs (up from 129,300 in 2021), which accounts for approximately 65% of the estimated population for Aweil West County reported in the HNO.

South Sudan’s only rail track also used to run through Aweil on the way to Wau-Bananusa from Sudan. However, rail operations were suspended sometime after 2010 due to a range of issues, including the border closure, and the track has fallen into disrepair.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Northern Bahr el Ghazal State was not as directly affected by fighting the recent civil war compared to other parts of the country. However, the county’s proximity to the border with Sudan there have been some defections and limited skirmishes between government and opposition forces – particularly as rebels seek to cross the state in order to enter Sudan. Local authorities told media that SPLA defectors from Western Bahr el Ghazal state were killing civilians and looting homes as they made their way across the county, en route to Sudan, in mid-2015. Analysts speculated that these defections and attacks were motivated by a lack of food, medicine and weapons, as the food security situation had been particularly dire that year.

Since then, the area has been relatively stable, however inter-communal violence has occasionally been observed. In 2017, clashes between the Galbeny and Parek clans occurred over the name given to the land. However, localized peace talks were facilitated by UNDP, where the two groups agreed to use the land’s original name. Since then, clashes have not been observed (UNDP, u.d.). Relations between Luo and Rek Dinka clans residing in Aweil West have been largely peaceful given decades of intermarriage and inter-dependent livelihoods.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Achana, Ayat Centre, Ayat East, Ayat West, Gomjuer Centre, Gomjuer East, Gomjuer West, Mariem East, Mariem West

UN OCHA 2020 map of Aweil West County: https://reliefweb.int/map/south-sudan/south-sudan-aweil-west-county-reference-map-march-2020

Roads:

• A primary road runs from Aweil town to Gorong via Nyamlel. The road was designated “passable with difficulties” during both the rainy and dry seasons of 2022.
• A secondary road runs west from Goron to Raja town (Western Bahr-el Ghazal State). This road was deemed “passable with difficulties” during both the rainy and dry seasons of 2022 and 2023 (respectively) by the Logistics Cluster, up until Gossinga in Raja County, where the road becomes impassable. Logistics Cluster maps indicate that a bypass road from Gossinga to Raja town is passable with difficulty.
• A primary road runs east of Ameeth to Malualkon in Aweil East County. The condition of the road is unknown.
• A primary road runs north of Nyamlel to Gok Machar (Aweil North County) and on to the border with Sudan. The condition of the road is unknown.
• A cluster of secondary and tertiary roads cover parts of the centre of Aweil West County. The condition of these roads is unknown.

UNHAS-recognised Heli and Fixed-Wing Airplane Airstrips: None
Additional MAF-Recognised Airstrips: Nyamlel

REFERENCES

Eye Radio. (2022). Death toll rises to 24 in Misseriya attack in Aweil. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

FAO/WFP. (2023). Special Report: FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to South Sudan. Retrieved 31 July 2023. See equivalent versions of the CFSAM report online for data from previous years.

FEWSNET. (2018). Livelihoods Zone Map and Descriptions for the Republic of South Sudan (Updated). Retrieved 10 July 2023.

Juba Monitor. (2022). Misseriya peace talks suspended in Aweil. Retrieved via Wayback Machine 18 July 2023.

Kindersley, N. and Majok, J. (2019). Monetized Livelihoods and Militarized Labour in South Sudan’s Borderlands. Rift Valley Institute. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

OCHA. (2021). Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2023.

Radio Tamazuj. (2021a). Over 70 delegates attend post-migration conference in Aweil West. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Radio Tamazuj. (2021b). Post-migration conference concludes in Aweil East. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Radio Tamazuj. (2021c). South Sudan, Sudan border reopening stalled. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Sudan Tribune. (2015a). South Sudanese rebels occupy strategic areas in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Sudan Tribune. (2015b). Rebel commander rejects separate dialogue with South Sudan government. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

UNDP. (2018). Reconciling Communities Impact Stories: Peace and Community Cohesion Project South Sudan. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

UNMISS. (2012). Northern Bahr el-Ghazal Counties Face Food Shortages. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

REPORTS on AWEIL WEST

Boswell, A. (2019). Insecure Power and Violence: The Rise and Fall of Paul Malong and the Mathiang Anyoor. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

IOM. (2013). Village Assessment Survey: County Atlas. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Kindersley, N. and Majok, J.D. (2020). COVID-19 in South Sudan’s Borderlands A view from Northern Bahr el-Ghazal. Rift Valley Institute. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Kindersley, N. and Majok, J.D. (2020). Breaking Out of the Borderlands: Understanding migrant pathways from Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, South Sudan. Rift Valley Institute. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Kindersley, N. (2018). Politics, power and chiefship in famine and war A study of the former Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state, South Sudan. Rift Valley Institute. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Majok, J. D. (2021). War, Migration and Work – Agricultural labour and cross-border migration from Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, South Sudan. Rift Valley Institute. Rift Valley Institute. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

* Note: The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Population Estimation Survey (PES) was published in April 2023 based on data collected in May-June 2021. This uses a different method to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Population Working Group (PWG) figures produced based on a combination of 2008 census data and population movement data up to 2022. The large discrepancies are primarily attributable to these different methods rather than changes in the actual population numbers over time and have been disputed by some civil society and analysts. Although the later PWG figures were produced more recently for the HNO 2023, at the request of the Government of South Sudan the data and method used by the PES is being used as the basis for the Common Operational Dataset (COD) for the UN system for the HNO 2024 and likely beyond. For further detail on this and other sources used in the county profiles, see the accompanying Methodological Note.

** Note: The NBS includes Aweil Town Payam (and its estimated population of 65,695 people) as being part of Aweil West County. UN OCHA population estimates for Northern Bahr-el Ghazal State do not explicitly state which county (or counties) encompasses the population of Aweil town.