Ibba County, Western Equatoria State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 41,869
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 34,992
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 66,547

Ethnic groups: Azande (plural)/Zande (singular), Baka, Mundu

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 2,880 IDPs (-5,875 Q1 2020) and 11,129 returnees (+3,107 Q1 2020)

 IPC Food Security: November 2022 – Crisis (Phase 3); IPC Projections: December 2022 to March 2023 – Stressed (Phase 2); April to July 2023 – Crisis (Phase 3)

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Ibba County is located in Western Equatoria State. It borders Yambio County to the west and Maridi County to the east. It also borders Lakes State (Wulu County) to the north and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the south.

The county is a part of the equatorial maize and cassava livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018). Similar to other counties in Western Equatoria, Ibba County is a part of the fertile greenbelt of South Sudan. As a result, 70% of households in the county are estimated to be farmers, according to a 2018 report by FAO and WFP. Conflict in Ibba, as well as in neighbouring counties has impacted the ability of farmers to engage in their livelihoods in a sustained way. Despite arable land and adequate rainfall in the area, insecurity and displacement in Ibba has made it difficult for farmers to maintain access to their land during critical planting and harvest periods. By 2021 the percentage of farmers was estimated to have increased to 80% (FAO/WFP 2022) with a gross cereal yield of 1.55 tonnes per hectare in 2021, increasing to 1.6 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023).

In November 2022, Ibba was classified as experiencing a Crisis (IPC Phase 3) level of food insecurity. This is predicted to decrease to Stressed (IPC Phase 2) level conditions from December 2022 until March 2023, whereupon the projections indicate a return to Crisis-level conditions until July 2023.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

Ibba County was created as a new county separate from Maridi County in 2004. The county headquarters are located in Ibba Town in Ibba Centre Payam. Ibba’s history with conflict, dating back to the pre-independence period, when attacks from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) were frequent, has impacted the ability to implement sustainable development projects and support the creation of infrastructure and facilities. However, the county has remained relatively stable and conflict-free since the LRA attacks ceased around 2011. As a result, a boarding school was opened for girls in the area in the post-independence era, trade routes flourished, and healthcare facilities were built.

The presence of the Juba-Yambio road (a heavily trafficked transportation route running through Ibba) resulted in vehicles being targeted during times of insecurity (both pre-independence, and in 2015), leading to market shortages in Ibba County. However, with the de-escalation of hostilities since 2019, road access has remained accessible and facilitated a relatively smooth flow of goods and foodstuffs. While insecurity since 2015 has impacted the infrastructure and services in Ibba County, stabilization of the security context since 2019 had provided opportunities for aid agencies to support the rehabilitation of these facilities. In March of 2020, MTN resumed telecoms services in the county after a six-year hiatus.

Ibba County is home to two (2) Early Childhood Development centres, seventeen (17) primary schools and two (2) secondary schools including Ibba Secondary and Downey College Secondary, both of Ibba Payam. Ibba Girls School, a primary level institution, was the only school in the country in 2018 to achieve a 100% pass rate in the national primary school leaving certificate exam and the top six scorers in the country were pupils from the school.

Ibba County was reported to have seventeen (17) health facilities including fourteen (14) functional health facilities, among them eleven (11) PHCUs and three (3) PHCCs in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 2.26 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 2.26 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. No hospitals were reported in Ibba County.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, 49,744 people in the county had humanitarian needs, which accounted for 75% of the estimated population for Ibba County reported in that year’s HNO. This represented a significant increase compared to the proportional needs estimated by the HNO in 2020. In 2020 Ibba was listed as one of 14 countries in South Sudan in “extreme” need of SGBV services.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Ibba County has been exposed to attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who arrived in Nabanga Payam in the south of Ibba in late 2005 or early 2006, and were linked to a number of abductions in the county (Schomerus 2012, p.154; Sudan Tribune 2006a). During the 2006-2008 Juba peace talks between the LRA and Uganda government, LRA forces assembled at Ri-Kwangba in southern Ibba County near the Congolese border, which became the sole assembly point following the abandonment of the camp at Owiny-Kibul (discussed further in the Magwi County profile). Following the collapse of the talks, LRA forces broke into smaller groups, spreading across Western Equatoria and adjoining parts of the DRC and Central African Republic. LRA attacks escalated in and around Ibba from 2008 to 2010 (including the 2009 killing of the chief of Bamani Boma, Sudan Tribune 2009), prompting clashes with a community protection force known as the ‘Arrow Boys’ (who include female members).

The resulting insecurity – and increased seasonal movement of pastoralists into Western Equatoria – led to the growth of Arrow Boys networks in eastern areas of the state in 2005, which expanded in western parts of the state after 2008. At various points in time the Arrow Boys worked alongside and substituted for the government forces, including in Ibba County. In March 2006 a group of Dinka pastoralists clashed with villagers at Bambu to the far north-west of Ibba County, killing between six and ten people and displacing villagers (Sudan Tribune 2006b; Sudan Tribune 2006c). Separately, tensions have also arisen over an unresolved dispute over the border between Ibba and Maridi Counties that had existed since Ibba County was split off from Maridi County in 2005 (Radio Tamazuj 2016), though Ibba has also served as a sanctuary to civilians fleeing conflict in Maridi.

Although Western Equatoria was not directly affected during the early stages of the national conflict (2013-2018), the increasing movement of both troops and pastoralists into the state contributed to an escalation in the conflict in 2015. In this context, the Arrow Boys became absorbed into the conflict and seen as an important mechanism to protect against alleged attacks from both pastoralist groups and perceived mistreatment by the SPLA (Schomerus and Taban 2017). Over 7,500 people were reported to have been displaced to Ibba County after violence broke out between some local residents, Dinka pastoralists, and SPLA soldiers in neighbouring Maridi County in June 2015 (IRNA 2015). Following the ARCSS signing in August 2015, the detention of several leaders, including the popularly elected Western Equatoria Governor Bakosoro, alienated many Equatorians from their government. SPLA-IO incitement and military support began to turn largely local uprisings into full-scale rebellions involving parts of the Arrow Boys network alongside military defectors, particularly in Western Equatoria’s Mundri East, Mundri West, Yambio, Ezo, Ibba, Nzara and Tambura counties (ICG 2016). However, information on the conflict in Ibba County is limited.

There have been intermittent reports of low-level insecurity since the signing of the R-ARCSS in 2018, including localised violence involving parts of the local community and pastoralist communities. Following reported tensions in 2021, there have been a rising number of violent incidents involving local residents, beekeepers and farmers and Mbororo-Fulani pastoralists since 2022, with sources indicating that Ibba has hosted large numbers of Mbororo cattle in 2022 and 2023. Three people were killed following an alleged attack by pastoralists in spring 2023, and estimated 13,500 people were displaced, amid reports of homes being looted and torched (UNSC 2023, p.5). Among the victims of the alleged attack were a local chief and youth leader (Eye Radio 2023). Finally, the Bishop of Ibba was attacked by an unknown group whilst travelling from neighbouring Maridi County in October 2021 (The City Review 2021).

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Ibba Centre (County Headquarters), Madebe, Manikakara, Maruko, Nabanga

UN OCHA 2020 map for Ibba County: https://reliefweb.int/map/south-sudan/south-sudan-ibba-county-reference-map-march-2020

Roads:

• A primary road runs through Ibba town, heading west to Wau (Western Bar el Ghazal State) via Yambio and east to Juba (Central Equatoria State). During the rainy season of 2022, the section of the road designated ‘passable with difficulties’ between Wau and Maridi, and passable all the way to Juba east of Maridi. The same road was considered passable during the dry season of 2023, excepting the stretch of road running north between Tambura and Wau, which was designated ‘passable with difficulties’.
• A secondary road runs south from Madebe towards the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whilst a tertiary road runs north from Madebe to the north-west of Ibba County. The condition of these roads is unknown.

 UNHAS-Recognised Heli and Fixed-Wing Airplane Airstrips: None

MAF-Recognised Airstrips: Ibba town

REFERENCES

Eye Radio. (2023). Govt urged to protect Ibba against Ambororo hostilities. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

FAO/WFP. (2023). South Sudan 2022 Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) Summary of findings. Retrieved 10 July 2023.

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

ICG, International Crisis Group. (2016). South Sudan’s South: Conflict in the Equatorias. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

IRNA (various contributors). (2015). Inter-Agency Needs Assessment Report: Maridi and Ibba Counties, Western Equatoria State. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

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

Radio Tamazuj. (2016). Maridi communities agree on site for state headquarters. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2023.

Schomerus, M. (2012). Even Eating You Can Bite Your Tongue Dynamics and Challenges of the Juba Peace Talks with the Lord’s Resistance Army. Doctoral thesis, London School of Economics.

Schomerus, M. and Taban, C. (2017). ‘Arrow boys, armed groups and the SPLA: intensifying insecurity in the Western Equatorian states’. Chapter 2 in ‘Informal Armies: Community defence groups in South Sudan’s civil war’, Saferworld. Retrieved 21 July 2023.

Sudan Tribune. (2006a). Ugandan LRA hinders development in Western Equatoria. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Sudan Tribune. (2006b). 10 villagers killed in tribal fighting in Sudan’s Equatoria. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Sudan Tribune. (2006c). A Peace conference and a brewing conflict in Western Equatoria State. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

Sudan Tribune. (2009). Notable Zande chief murdered by Ugandan rebels. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

The City Review. (2021). Western Equatoria Minister survives gun attack. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

UNSC. (2023). Situation in South Sudan: Report of the Secretary-General 13 June 2023, S/2023/433. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

REPORTS on IBBA

Schomerus, M. and Rigterink, A. (2016). Non-state security providers and political formation in South Sudan: the case of Western Equatoria’s Arrow Boys. Retrieved 15 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.