Fashoda County, Upper Nile State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 Census population: 36,518

2020 Population projection*: 73,476

Major ethnic groups and languages: Shilluk/Chollo

Displacement Figures: 23,500 IDPs and 16,503 returnees (Q1 2020)

January 2020 IPC Projections: January 2020 – Crisis (Phase 3); February to April 2020 – Crisis (Phase 3); May to July – Crisis (Phase 3)

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Fashoda County is located in Upper Nile State. It borders Manyo County to the north, Melut County to the north-east, Baliet County to the east, and Malakal County to the south-west. It also borders Sudan to the west.

The county is variously categorized as part of the Northern sorghum and sattle or Eastern flood plains livelihood zones (FEWSNET 2018). The low-lying areas of the county consist of savannah grassland, bush and patches of forest. In both cases, the communities in the area are agro-pastoralists. Livelihoods from rain-fed agriculture are supplemented by rearing livestock, fishing, and gathering wild foods. The main crops grown are sorghum, maize, cowpeas, pumpkin and okra. Goats are the main livestock reared, with sheep and cattle to a lesser extent. Seasonal migrations of pastoralists and their cattle throughout the region can be a source of conflict over pastures, waters, and cattle raiding. The loss of cattle through these disputes, as well as livestock diseases, have reduced milk production in communities, according to a WFP report from 2018. The other hazards to livelihood in the area are flooding, drought, livestock disease and crop pests.

In 2016, IPC projections placed Fashoda County at Crisis (IPC Phase 3) levels of food insecurity. Similarly, in 2020, the county is projected to be at Crisis (IPC Phase 3) levels at least until mid-year. The violence in the region since December 2013 has induced large-scale displacement, disrupted normal farming cycles, and severely imperiled livelihoods. In 2014, the FAO reported abnormal cattle migrations across the county, as pastoralists traveled west towards Sudan. Faced with the loss of cattle and cultivation disrupted by conflict and inter-communal violence, communities are resorting to selling charcoal and firewood to generate income, are reducing to one meal a day, and find fishing and gathering wild foods to supplement their diet.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

The County HQ is Kodok town. The main trade route supplying the county arcs from Malakal to Renk along the White Nile on the county’s eastern border. Kodok, the largest town in Fashoda County, lies along this route. The area also has access to external markets across the border in Sudan.

According to OCHA’s 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), 54,800 people in Fashoda County are estimated to have significant humanitarian needs. This represents approximately 72% of the estimated population of the county reported in the HNO. In particular, child protection and WASH needs are prevalent in the population (HNO 2020). A WFP assessment in 2018 identified one government school that was functional and noted that another educational facility in the county was occupied by armed forces using the place as a barracks. According to a 2018 WFP report, the local markets experienced a decrease in supplies during the conflict, which in turn led to inflation and further limited access to food.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Fashoda County has been a hotspot for intercommunal conflict for several decades and is seen by the Shilluk community to be the heart of their kingdom. Territorial disputes and conflict between Shilluk and Padang Dinka communities on both sides of the White Nile date back to second Sudanese civil war. During that period – and particularly from the late 1980s onwards – Padang Dinka communities moved into land on either side of the White Nile that the Shilluk community considers their own. Currently, the Shilluk live in Fashoda County, while the Padang Dinka live in Akoka town in neighbouring Baliet County. Community consultations by UNDP found that key drivers of insecurity in the area include: land and border disputes, tensions over access to water sources and grazing land, as well as high youth unemployment which prompts cattle raids and substance abuse (UNDP 2012). Since South Sudan’s independence, Shilluk communities have voiced concerns over movements of Padang Dinka in the county.

Intercommunal dynamics in Fashoda County have been strongly shaped by fighting during the most recent civil war. In the early stages, Fashoda County was a site of contested control between SPLA and SPLA-IO forces, while the aim of John Olonyi’s Shilluk armed forces was to secure the Shilluk kingdom. These aims initially aligned with the national objectives of the army to defeat the SPLA–IO, with Olonyi being made a commander for the SPLA after re-integrating from a prior defection.

Following the local defeat of the SPLA-IO in Fashoda County, underlying tensions between the Shilluk and Padang Dinka communities reemerged. Tensions escalated in April 2015 over the killing of a senior Shilluk military figure and in May 2016, Olonyi defected from the SPLA, formed the Agwelek Forces, and attacked Malakal town, taking temporary control. A few months later, another Shilluk leader, Johannes Okiech, also defected and formed the Tiger Faction New Forces (TFNF) in Manyo County to the north.

In 2017, clashes led to IDPs fleeing to Aburoc for safety, while others fled to Sudan, as a result of the violence, looting and cattle raids. A 2019 intentions survey conducted by IOM and UNHCR revealed that looting, destruction of property, as well as land grabbing had driven much of the displacement in the county. Fashoda County and much of the west bank of the White Nile River have remained under the control of Shilluk opposition groups (the Agwelek) since February 2016, with the exception of urban areas such as Kodok town. In early 2018, SPLA forces moved from their strongholds in Kodok and elsewhere along the banks of the White Nile attacking Agwelek bases in Ajuk (Craze 2019). However, since the signing of the R-ARCSS people had started to return to their places of origin.

While there has been relative calm since the signature of the R-ARCISS in September 2018, tensions between the Shilluk groups and the government remain, particularly over the control and administration of Malakal town has been a key source of contention for both the Shilluk and Padang Dinka communities. The (now reversed) transition from 10 to 28 and 32 states in 2015 and 2017 placed Malakal in Eastern Nile/Central Upper Nile State instead of Western Nile State, with the Shilluk community largely rejecting the proposal. In 2018, the South Sudan National Dialogue committee conducted one consultation in the county, which revealed strong concerns around housing, land and property rights, particularly amongst the Shilluk. In 2020 when the country reverted back to the original 10-state arrangement, the county became a part of Upper Nile State again.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Kodok Town (County HQ), Dethok, Kodok Rural, Lul

Roads:

• A key road runs along the west bank of the White Nile River through Fashoda County, connecting Kodok town to Malakal and Melut. It was labeled with a “yellow road warning” sign in both the rainy and dry seasons by the Logistics Cluster.
• Another road runs parallel to this, on the opposite bank of the White Nile in Baliet and Melut counties. Another secondary road travels west from the West Nile River through Oriny town into Sudan.

UNHAS-Recognized Heli-Landing-Sites and Airstrips: Aburoc

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

FAO & WFP. (2018). Special Report: FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to South Sudan. Retrieved from http://www.fao.org/3/ca3643EN/ca3643en.pdf

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

OCHA. (2019). Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan 2020.

WFP. (2018). Rapid Appraisal Kodok Town, March 2018. Retrieved from: https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000069836/download/?_ga=2.125281162.188815436.1595350859-1166416769.1595350859

UNDP. (2012). Community Consultation Report: Upper Nile State, South Sudan. May 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/southsudan/library/Documents/CSAC%20Reports/UNDP-SS-UpperNile-consult-12.pdf

UNHCR & IOM. (2019). 2019 Returnees Planning Report. Retrieved from: https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/sites/www.humanitarianresponse.info/files/2019/05/20190131_2019_Return_Scenarios_Report.pdf

REPORTS on FASHODA

Amnesty International. (2017). It Was If My Village Was Swept By a Flood: Mass Displacement of the Shilluk Population from the West Bank of the Nile. Retrieved from: https://www.amnesty.ie/south-sudan-village-swept-flood-mass-displacement-shilluk-population-west-bank-white-nile

Craze, J. (2019). Displaced and Immiserated: The Shilluk of Upper Nile in South Sudan’s Civil War, 2014-19. Retrieved from http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/fileadmin/docs/reports/HSBA-Report-South-Sudan-Shilluk.pdf

HSBA. (2011). Fighting for spoils: Armed insurgencies in Greater Upper Nile. Retrieved from: http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/fileadmin/docs/issue-briefs/HSBA-IB-18-Armed-insurgencies-Greater-Upper-Nile.pdf

HSBA. (2016). The Conflict in Upper Nile State. Retrieved from: http://www.smallarmssurveysudan.org/facts-figures/south-sudan/conflict-of-2013-14/the-conflict-in-upper-nile.html

REACH. (2020). Situation Overview: Upper Nile State, South Sudan January—March 2020. Retrieved from: https://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/situation-overview-upper-nile-state-south-sudan-january-march-2020

Short, A. (2015). Cattle and Pastoralism in Greater Upper Nile Research Report
Young, H. Cormack, Z. (2012). Pastoralism in the New Borderlands: Cross-border Migrations, Conflict and Peace-Building. Retrieved from: https://fic.tufts.edu/assets/Pastoralism-in-the-New-Borderlands.pdf