Awerial County, Lakes State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 47,041
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 144,680
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 112,435

Ethnic groups: Aliab Dinka (Akeer, Akuei, Apuk, Bulok)

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 57,606 IDPs (+6,196 Q1 2020) and 5,296 returnees (+1,965 Q1 2020)

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

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Awerial County is located in the south-eastern corner of Lakes State. It borders Yirol West County to the north-west and Yirol East County to the north-east. It also borders Jonglei State (Bor South County) to the east and Central Equatoria State (Terekeka County) to the south.

The county falls within the ironstone plateau agro-pastoral livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018). In 2018, FAO and WFP reported that 60% of households engage in agriculture. More recent figures from the FAO/WFP indicate that an estimated 65% of households in Awerial are engaged in farming, with a gross cereal yield of 0.8 tonnes per hectare in 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022), increasing to 1 tonne per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023).

The Western flood plains zone towards the county’s south experiences seasonal flooding, with savannahs turning into swamps in the rainy season. In this area, residents herd cattle and goats and mainly grow sorghum, ground nuts, maize, pumpkin and beans. Wild produce such as water lily seeds and nuts are also consumed. The Nile-Sobat zone is located on the county’s eastern border with the White Nile and is characterized by green vegetation, black cotton soils and swamps and wetlands. People living near the White Nile, located at the county’s eastern border with Jonglei State, engage in cattle keeping, agriculture and fishing. The Ironstone Plateau covers areas towards the center of Awerial County, where open savannah woodland and porous soils can be found. Residents in this area rely mainly on farming for their livelihoods, with mainly sorghum and maize being grown. The soil in Awerial County contains high clay content, and cereals planted are predominantly late-maturing sorghum landrace, thus crop development is able to withstand relative fluctuations in rainfall.

IPC projections put Awerial County at crisis (IPC level 3) levels in November 2022, with food insecurity conditions projected to persist at the same level until March 2023, whereupon it deteriorates to emergency (IPC level 4) levels. Between December 2022 and July 2023, over 25% of households in the county are projected to require between 25% and 50% of their calorific needs to be provided through humanitarian assistance. Food insecurity has been compounded by the large number of IDPs that have fled to the county since 2013 and repeated bouts of flooding and flood-related displacement since 2019.

In 2020 Awerial County experienced significant flooding. From mid-July to the first week of August 2020, Awerial County experienced a deadly combination of flash floods from heavy rains and overflow from the River Nile which severely affected and displaced settlements along the river and across lowland areas. Key informants from Awerial described this flood as one of the worst floods they have ever witnessed in their lifetimes. The floodwaters destroyed households’ assets, shelters, crops, and fishing nets as well as structures such as schools and churches (IRNA 2020).

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

The county headquarters of Awerial are located at Mingkaman in the east of the county. The Nile River provides an important means for transportation of goods in the county.

While current educational facilities are not sufficient to meet the needs of all the youth of Awerial, Awerial County is home to twenty-three (23) primary schools. There are currently no three (3) Early Childhood Development centres (though three (3) were reported in 2021), and no primary schools in the county (although  Kon Anok Secondary school was reported in 2021, and was located in Puluk payam).

Awerial County was reported to have nine (9) health facilities and all of which were reported to be functioning. Among the health facilities, there are five (5) PHCUs and four (4) PHCCs as of 2022. This means that there were an estimated .54 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.07 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO, which ranks Awerial as among the ten counties with the lowest ratios of PHCUs/person in South Sudan. No hospitals were reported in Awerial County.

OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023 estimated that there are 112,435 people with humanitarian needs in the county (up markedly from 81,700 in 2021). The number of people in need represents 80% of the estimated population of Awerial County reported in the HNO. This places considerable pressure on local infrastructure and services. In particular, the county has comparatively high levels of need in the areas of shelter and non-food items, protection, child protection and WASH.

Mingkaman hosts a large number of IDPs that have fled violence in southwestern Jonglei and central Lakes. This influx has both placed pressure on local resources and services, and led to an influx of aid and resources that has enabled the expansion of infrastructure, such as radio services and logistics. The majority of IDPs are hosted at the Mingkaman Spontaneous Settlement, near the county’s eastern border on the banks of the White Nile. By January 2014, the small fishing village of Mingkaman, with a population of approximately 7,700, had received roughly 85,000 IDPs – mainly from Jonglei’s Bor, Twic East and Duk Counties. The camp’s population has fluctuated depending on the levels of conflict, food insecurity and flood related displacement in neighboring counties.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Communal clashes have a long history in Lakes State and this includes Awerial County. Community consultations carried out in 2012 noted that intercommunal clashes within the Dinka Aliab took place most frequently between groups from Magok, Abuyung and Bunagok payams, and clashes with Mundari from Terekeka County to the south had led to widespread internal displacement (UNDP 2012). These clashes in the area were often characterized by cattle raids and driven by competition over pasture/water sources during the dry season, unclear border demarcation, the high prevalence of small arms, and associated breakdown in ‘traditional’ mechanisms for settling disputes. By 2015, Awerial had also become the primary displacement location for livestock from neighboring Bor South County as herders sought refuge in the relative safety of Lakes State. In March 2015 the FAO estimated that roughly 750,000 out of South Sudan’s 12 million cattle were in Awerial alone (accounting for both native and migrating animals). The influx of livestock strained existing resources, led to spread of locally contained diseases to new herds, and may have exacerbated competition over scarce resources and incidence of violent cattle raids. A 2018 PAX survey stated that 52% of respondents reported that they had been the victim of a security incident in the last year, however this figure was a decrease from 2017 (Quist 2018).

Awerial County has not been a major site of conflict between the SPLA and SPLA-IO since the civil war erupted in December 2013. One notable exception are the clashes between government forces and defectors fleeing to Unity state reported towards the beginning of the conflict. However, Awerial County received significant influxes of both IDPs and their livestock in the immediate aftermath of outbreak of conflict in neighbouring Jonglei State. The majority of these IDPs are hosted at the Mingkaman Spontaneous Settlement, near the county’s eastern border on the banks of the White Nile. By January 2014, the small fishing village of Mingkaman, with a population of approximately 7,700, had received roughly 85,000 IDPs – mainly from Jonglei’s Bor, Twic East and Duk Counties. Since then the camp’s population has fluctuated depending on the levels of conflict in those neighboring Jonglei counties. Communal clashes across other counties in Lakes State have also led to IDPs fleeing to Awerial County where humanitarian services are available.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Guol-yar/Mingkaman (County HQ), Abuyong, Bun-agok, Dor, Magok, Nile, Puluk, Alel I, Alel II

UN OCHA 2020 map of Awerial County: https://reliefweb.int/map/south-sudan/south-sudan-awerial-county-reference-map-march-2020

Roads:

• Awerial Town is connected by primary road to Yirol to the north-west and Juba (via Terekeka) at its south. The Logistics Cluster deemed this road passable during the dry season of 2023, though during the rainy season of 2022 the road was designated impassable between Yirol and Mingkaman, and “passable with difficulties” between Mingkaman and Terekeka (and thereafter passable to Juba).
• A tertiary road network covers parts of the north-west of the county, with one road running to Adior in Yirol East County. The condition of this road network is unknown.

UNHAS-Recognized Heli Landing Sites and Airstrips: Mingkaman

REFERENCES

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.

FAO. (2015). South Sudan Livestock Strategy Paper. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

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

IRNA. (2020). IRNA of communities affected by floods in Awerial County, Lakes State. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

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

Quist, A. (2018). Human Security Survey Outcomes Eastern Lakes. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

UNDP. (2012). Community Consultation Report: Lakes State, South Sudan. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

REPORTS on AWERIAL

Quist, A. (2018). Human Security Survey 2018: Annual Summary Report Eastern Lakes State, South Sudan. PAX. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Ryle, J. and Amuom, M. (2019). Peace is the Name of Our Cattle-Camp: Local responses to conflict in Eastern Lakes State, South Sudan. Retrieved 17 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.