Fangak County, Jonglei State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 110,130
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 109,657
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 196,950

Ethnic groups: Nuer (Thiang; Lak/Laak: Kwacbor, Jongyang)

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 49,087 IDPs (+12,659 Q1 2020) and 24,590 returnees (+2,235 Q1 2020)

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

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Fangak County is situated in the north-western corner of Jonglei State and borders Ayod to the south, Canal/Pigi to the east, Panyikang (Upper Nile State) to the north-east, Pariang (Ruweng Administrative Area) to the north-west, and Guit and Koch (Unity State) to the west. The White Nile runs along the county’s western and northern borders, which makes the county part of the eastern plains, sorghum and cattle livelihood zone (FEWSNET 2018). Communities residing in the area are primarily agro-pastoralists. A 2018 report from FAO and WFP estimated that 15% of households engage in agriculture – a ratio which has been maintained as of 2021. Gross cereal yields were reported at 0.5 tonnes per hectare in 2021, increasingly to 0.6 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2022; FAO/WFP 2023). The main crops cultivated include sorghum and maize, as well as pumpkin, cowpeas, sesame, okra, onion and tomatoes.

Wealthier households tend to keep cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys. During the dry season, when rainfall is low, communities in Fangak County turn to animal husbandry to supplement their household needs. Livestock normally move towards the Nile River between February and April and return to homesteads from May to June. Fishing is seasonal, taking place primarily in the western swamps towards the end of the rainy season and into the dry season. It is a livelihood primarily engaged by men and boys in Fangak County, however many lack adequate equipment.

IPC projections for Fangak are at Emergency levels (IPC Phase 4) of food insecurity as of November 2022, and are project to remain at Emergency levels until at least July 2023. This is compounded by the lack of humanitarian actors operating in the area and poor transportation infrastructure. Flooding throughout Fangak County in 2015 and in late 2019 further displaced populations, destroyed food crops, and killed cattle in the area. In 2021, Fangak was again affected by severe flooding and an IRNA mission to Old Fangak found that most villages in Old Fangak and surrounding areas were completely submerged in water in August 2021.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

The county headquarters are located in Old Fangak. As with many other parts of northern Jonglei, the remote location of Fangak has impeded development options and increased the levels of marginalization of communities that struggle to access basic services. The cumulative effects of years of conflict and flooding have contributed to a major deterioration in the service infrastructure in the county. The lack of mobile phone network has limited communication capacity in the area. It is one of the most communication-starved counties in South Sudan, with a vast majority of assessed settlements reporting no network access (REACH 2020).

Fangak County is home to sixty-two (62) primary schools. There are no Early Childhood Development centres nor secondary schools in the county.

Fangak County was reported to have twenty-five (25) health facilities including twenty-one (21) functional health facilities, among them fifteen (15) PHCUs, five (5) PHCCs and one (1) hospital in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 0.99 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.27 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. Old Fangak Hospital was reported to have limited functionality.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, approximately 177,250 people in Fangak County have humanitarian needs (up from 153,400 in 2021), which represents nearly 90% of the estimated population of the county reported in the HNO. Following fighting between the Aguelek and Kitgweng factions of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army – In Opposition in August 2022, an estimated 25,000 people fled to Old Fangak town (MSF 2022). A further 3,500 people were displaced to neighbouring Canal/Pigi County (UNICEF 2022).

An August 2021 IRNA to Old Fangak found that the floods of 2021 have submerged and swept away people’s homes, schools, water points, health centres, markets, food warehouses, humanitarian agencies compounds, airstrips, food drop zones and food distribution points. OCHA noted that there were over 25,000 flood-affecting people in need of immediate humanitarian assistance in the area, but the floods have rendered some of the villages completely inaccessible making it difficult to provide the much-needed assistance (IRNA 2021). The lack of infrastructure means that women and girls travel long distances to source food, including food distributions, which increases the risk for SGBV (REACH 2019).

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Occupying a position on the borders between Jonglei, Unity, and Upper Nile States as well as the Ruweng Administrative Area, Fangak forms an important point of contact between the Nuer, Dinka and Shilluk communities. The former colonial garrison town of Old Fangak has a long history as a frontier position in the expansion of state authority into the swampy Sudd. Prior to the second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005), Anya-Nya 2 units operated in Fangak, and would engage in operations against SPLM/A recruits transiting through the area following the formation of the SPLM/A (Nyaba 1997, p.49). The area was contested after the 1991 SPLM/A split, with control over strategic towns in the county alternating during the 1990s and early 2000s (Rone 2003), while Anya-Nya 2 elements from Fangak were allegedly involved in attacks on the Bor area in 1991 (Johnson 2003, p.117). The principal factions vying for control of Fangak were the SPLM/A and government-aligned paramilitary and SPLM/A splinter groups, notably forces linked to a local Lak Nuer commander, Gabriel Gatwich Chan (‘Tanginye’), who was affiliated with various armed groups. During this period, conflict dynamics in Fangak increasingly overlapped with those of adjoining (predominantly Shilluk/Chollo) areas of Upper Nile (IRIN 2004; Nyaba 1997, p.132).

In 2004, Old Fangak hosted the Fangak Peace Conference, which brought together various Nuer communities from present-day Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states under the auspices of the People-to-People peace process linked to the 1999 Wunlit Peace Conference. This conference focused on issues affecting the Nuer community at large (including the spread of irregular armed groups, and inter-clan and inter-sectional conflicts), and was facilitated with assistance from religious groups, peacebuilders, and donor governments, and was also attended by several senior SPLM/A officials (PACT 2004).

After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, Fangak would experience several episodes of insecurity, including from forces linked to ‘Tanginye’ in August 2006 (Sudan Tribune 2006). ‘Tanginye’ was aligned with the SAF during much of the CPA-era, and his role during this period is discussed further in the profile for Malakal County. Separately, clashes involving parts of the Thiang Nuer clan and armed youth from the Rut section of the Padang Dinka were reported in early 2010 after an interpersonal dispute escalated, reportedly killing at least 24 people (Sudan Tribune 2010). Fangak also served as the main base for the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army (SSDM/A) faction commanded by George Athor, which was active in 2010 and 2011. Although Athor was a Padang Dinka officer from the Eastern Luach section of Canal/Pigi County, he reportedly experienced difficulties mobilising his community and formed a tactical alliance with armed youth from parts of Jonglei’s Nuer communities (Small Arms Survey 2011, p.6; Stringham and Forney 2017, pp.182-183). Following unsuccessful negotiations with the government, significant fighting between the SPLA and SSDM/A was reported in Fangak in early 2011 (Al Jazeera 2011), while Athor was reported to have been killed close to the Ugandan border in late 2011 (ICG 2014, p.4).

During the early stages of the national conflict (2013-2018), Fangak was controlled by the SPLA-IO, and largely held out against government offensives in late 2014 (ICG 2014). SPLA-IO forces (then under the command of ‘Tanginye’) also made a number of incursions into southern Upper Nile from their base in New Fangak/Phom in 2014, though were repulsed by government-aligned Agwelek forces (Small Arms Survey 2016). Reports of further violence followed the signing of the 2015 ARCSS (Radio Tamazuj 2015), although no major military operations were reported in Fangak for the duration of the conflict. As Fangak County was caught between intense fighting in nearby town centres in Upper Nile, Unity and Jonglei States, it received IDP populations from all three, with the population of Old Fangak growing tenfold due to these IDP flows and other populations movements since 2013 (The Guardian 2018).

Periodic insecurity has been reported in parts of Fangak since the signing of the R-ARCSS, albeit at a lower level compared most other counties of Jonglei State. Incidents included tensions that escalated into involving armed youth from Canal/Pigi County that affected the New Fangak area in late 2020, reportedly resulting in a number of deaths and homes torched (Sudans Post 2020). Meanwhile, clashes involving the SSPDF and SPLM-IO were reported in early 2022 in unclear circumstances (Eye Radio 2022). A number of low-intensity clashes among parts of Fangak’s Nuer community have also occurred, typically over local disputes, while in mid-2021 fighting reportedly broke out in New Fangak amid alleged tensions among parts of the leadership of the county.

Fangak County was also affected by the conflict between the SPLA-IO Kitgweng faction and the Agwelek forces that took place in parts of northern Jonglei and southern Upper Nile during the second half of 2022. Amid fighting in neighbouring Panyikang County and incursions into the villages of Nyieewni, Thalieer, and Wathkec by Agwelek forces in July 2022 (UNMISS/UN OHCHR 2023, fn.30), tensions were reported to have risen around New Fangak by late July (Craze 2022, p.46). Fighting was soon reported in New Fangak across the month of August – with alleged looting and shelling reported in civilian areas – and fighting resuming again in mid-September. A UNMISS/UN OHCHR report (2023, p.3, 36) alleged that groups of youth from Fangak’s Lak and Thiang Nuer communities were involved in the violence that affected southern Upper Nile in late 2022, and which is discussed further in the profiles for Panyikang, Malakal, and Fashoda counties. Fangak County also received displaced persons from Panyikang and Canal/Pigi counties, who were reportedly displaced following Agwelek operations (UNMISS/UN OHCHR 2023, fn.56). In January 2023, a number of displaced persons were relocated by local authorities from New Fangak to Malakal (UNMISS/UN OHCHR 2023, p.29).

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Old Fangak (County Headquarters), Manajang, Mareang, Paguir, Phom

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

Roads:

• A tertiary road passing through Keew moves southeast to Paguir, connects to Old Fangak, then heads north with branches to Kuernyang and New Fangak. This entire road system was deemed impassable throughout the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023 by the Logistics Cluster.
• The same road extends east of New Fangak to Canal town in Canal/Pigi County. The condition of the road is unknown.
• The same road also runs southwards (forking approximately 20km to the north-west of Old Fangak town) into northern areas of Ayod county. The condition of the two roads is unknown.
• A river route that runs through the north of the county along the River Nile, between Bor town or Manga (in Unity State) to Malakal and Renk. Note that movement through the River Nile in Upper Nile State has been impaired following fighting involving SPLM-IO Kitgweng forces and allied militia since the summer of 2022, alongside unpredictable troop movements in the state.
• At the New Fangak port, an additional route runs south along the Bahr el Zaraf to Wan-Machar in Ayod county, via Old Fangak.

 UNHAS- Recognized Heli-Landing Sites and Airstrips: Old Fangak, New Fangak

Additional MAF-Recognised Airstrips: Keew, Juaibot, Nyadin, Paguir, Toch

REFERENCES

Al Jazeera. (2011). Scores killed in southern Sudan. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

Craze, J. (2019). Displaced and Immiserated: The Shilluk of Upper Nile in South Sudan’s Civil War, 2014-19. Small Arms Survey/HSBA. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Craze, J. (2022). The Periphery Cannot Hold: Upper Nile since the Signing of the R-ARCSS. Small Arms Survey/HSBA. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Eye Radio. (2022). SPLM/A-IO frees four SSPDF soldiers. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

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.

ICG, International Crisis Group. (2014). South Sudan: Jonglei – “We Have Always Been at War”. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

IRIN [The New Humanitarian]. (2004). Fighting escalating in Shilluk Kingdom. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

IRNA. (2021). Old Fangak Flood Assessment. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Johnson, D.H. (2003). The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars. Oxford: James Currey.

The New Humanitarian. (2019). Peace Efforts Stumble in South Sudan. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

MSF. (2022). Conflict in Greater Upper Nile impedes assistance to people already devastated by flooding. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Nyaba, P.A. (1997). The Politics of Liberation: An Insider’s View. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

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

PACT. (2004). Report on the Fangak Peace Conference 2004, 29 March 2004. Retrieved via Sudan Open Archive on 15 January 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2015). Skirmishes in a few areas in spite of new South Sudan ceasefire. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

REACH. (2019). Situation Overview: Jonglei State. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

REACH. (2020). South Sudan: Trends in Communication Modalities and Preferences. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Rone, J. (2003). ‘Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights’. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2011). Fighting for Spoils: Armed Insurgencies in Greater Upper Nile. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

Small Arms Survey. (2016). The Conflict in Upper Nile State: Describing events through 8 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

Stringham, N. and Forney, J, (2017). ‘It takes a village to raise a militia: local politics, the Nuer White Army, and South Sudan’s civil wars’. The Journal of Modern African Studies 55 (2), pp. 177-199.

Sudans Post. (2020). Fighting in Fangak as armed youth from Pigi attack county headquarters. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

Sudan Tribune. (2006). Tension looms after clashes in Sudan’s Upper Nile. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

Sudan Tribune. (2010). 24 southern Sudanese killed after fresh tribal violence in Jonglei. Retrieved 15 January 2024.

The Guardian. (2018). A safe haven on the Nile: life in South Sudan’s Old Fangak – in pictures. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

UNICEF. (2022). UNICEF South Sudan Humanitarian Situation Report No. 9: 1-30 September 2022. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

UNMISS/UN OHCHR. (2023). Attacks against civilians in Greater Upper Nile, South Sudan: August to December 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

REPORTS on FANGAK

Finn Church Aid. (2015). Needs Assessment Report: Education in Emergencies, Food Security, Livelihoods & Protection. Fangak County, Jonglei State, South Sudan. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Gordon, R. (2014). In the eye of the storm: An analysis of internal conflict in South Sudan’s Jonglei State. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

REACH. (2021). Fangak Shock Verification. November 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

UNOCHA. (2022). South Sudan: Tonga Conflict Situation Report. 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.