Ikotos/Ikwoto County, Eastern Equatoria State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 84,649
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 61,228
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 107,047

Ethnic groups: Lango, Lokwa, Dongotono, Ketebo, Logir, Imotong, Lorwama

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 14,650 IDPs (+14,131 Q1 2020) and 15,855 returnees (+8,185 Q1 2020)

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

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Ikotos County – also known locally as Ikwoto County – is located in Eastern Equatoria State. It borders Torit County to the north-west, Budi County to the north-east, and has a narrow border with Magwi County to the west. It also has a border with Uganda to the south. The Imatong Mountains run from Torit in the north through Ikotos County towards Uganda, and contain the highest elevation in South Sudan. Historically, Ikotos’ forests were expansive, however this has reduced in recent years. This has occurred in part to deforestation, as the natural resources are often extracted without regulation, and transported across the Ugandan border for sale.

The county is categorized as being in the equatorial maize and cassava livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018). A report from 2018 estimated that 80% of households engage in agriculture (FAO/WFP 2018) with the same estimate being reported in data from 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022). In 2021, gross cereal yields were estimated to be 1.15 tonnes per hectare, increasing to 1.2 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023). Farmers in the area cultivate a variety of crops including millet, cassava, sweet potatoes, onions, cabbage, maize, tobacco and sorghum.

Forestry was previously a viable livelihood; however, the depletion of the resource has lowered the viability of this option as an income-generating activity compared to forested areas in other parts of South Sudan. Cattle-rearing is also a primary livelihood among the Lango communities in Ikotos. Sustained insecurity in the area since the 1980s, from multiple sources, had inhibited economic development and stability. Poverty and unemployment continue to be challenges, particularly for male youth who resort to cattle raiding to obtain food and cattle for dowries.  Additionally, insecurity has prevented long-term cultivation, and limited the importing of goods to supply the local markets.

The IPC projected the county as being at a crisis (IPC level 3) level of food insecurity in November 2022, with conditions projected to persist at the same level until March 2023, whereupon they are predicted to decline to emergency levels (IPC level 4) between April and July 2023.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

The county headquarters are located in Ikotos Town, in Ikotos Payam. During the Sudanese civil wars, farmers in Ikotos struggled to maintain their crops. Markets in the area were also poorly supplied due to insecure roads, and high poverty rates meant that many people could not afford the goods available. As a result, raiding other communities – such as the Lotuko of Torit County – for cattle became more frequent. High unemployment rates also contribute to banditry in the area.

Ikotos County is home to seven (7) Early Childhood Development centers, forty-five (45 primary schools and seven (7) secondary schools.

Ikotos County was reported to have thirty-one (31) health facilities, all of them were reported to be functional. Among the health facilities, there are twenty-six (26) PHCUs, four (4) PHCCs and one (1) hospital in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 3.65 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.87 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO, which ranks Ikotos as among the ten counties with the highest ratios of PHCUs/person in South Sudan. St. Theresa Isohe Mission Hospital was reported to be moderately functional.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, over 56,500 people in the county have humanitarian needs (an increase of over 10,000 from 2021), which accounts for nearly 53% of the projected population reported in the HNO. Water points are insufficient, forcing women to travel long distances to obtain water for their households and hindering health outcomes in the county. Access to mobile phone networks in Ikotos County has also been a challenge for residents, with all networks being suspended in 2016 following clashes with government forces.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Historically, communal clashes between different sub-groups of Lango and with neighboring groups, such as Lotuko, Toposa, Didinga and Boya have been observed in Ikotos County. These have primarily revolved around land and water sources for agriculture and cattle grazing during the dry season. These clashes also include cattle raids – that have reportedly increased in the post-CPA period as the bride price inflated and demand for cattle rose (Ochan 2007). Most conflict over land and grazing happens at Kidepo valley, an area with all-seasons water and green pasture, which is a major attraction for pastoralists.

The introduction of SPLA forces and other armed factions into the area in the 1980s and the county’s close proximity to Uganda led to the increased availability of arms, which changed the nature of these communal conflicts due to more lethal and modern weapons used, and the increased cattle raiding. The combination of intercommunal violence, increasing banditry and attacks from the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) led to an increase in mortality rates and looting across the state in the years running up to South Sudan’s independence in 2011, despite local peace initiatives. These also limited the access of humanitarian workers operating in the area in the 2000s.

Conflict between government forces and other armed groups – during which SPLA barracks were allegedly stormed by youth – led to displacement in late 2015 (Eye Radio, 2015). In addition to South Sudanese refugees, Ugandan small business owners also fled across the border. Continued clashes in 2016 led to the destruction of homes and looting of livestock in Ikotos County, and increasing humanitarian needs in the area. Communal clashes as a result of cattle raiding have also been observed more recently in Ikotos County, even crossing the border at times to conduct raids on the Ugandan side of the border in 2018.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Ikotos (County Headquarters), Hatire, Imotong, Lomohidang North, Lomohidang South, Losite

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

Roads:

• One primary road runs north out of Ikotos town to Hiyala village (Torit County), eventually connecting to the Torit-Kapoeta road. The road was designated as being passable during the 2022 rainy season and 2023 dry season.
• There is a secondary road running east to Chukudum town (via Kidepo) and another running south to the border with Uganda (via Mosingo). Conditions on these roads are unknown.
• A tertiary road network covers parts of northern Ikotos County. The condition of this network is unknown.

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

REFERENCES

Eye Radio. (2015). Two killed in SPLA clashes with civilians in Ikotos. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

FAO/WFP. (2018). Special Report: FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to South Sudan. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

FAO/WFP. (2023). Special Report: FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to South Sudan. Retrieved 31 July 2023.

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

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

Small Arms Survey. (2021). MAAPSS UPDATE 13 September 2021 SPLA-IO Split What’s new in the SPLA-IO? Retrieved 14 July 2023.

UNMISS. (2021). Community Leaders from Ikotos, Eastern Equatoria, highlight need for dialogue and reconciliation. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

REPORTS on IKOTOS

Daniel, R. (2018). Generating Sustainable Livelihoods and Leadership for Peace in South Sudan: Lessons from the Ground. Centre for Conflict Resolution. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Hodgkin, E. (2022). Letters from Isohe: Life on the edge in a school in South Sudan. London: City of Words.

Ochan, C. (2007). Responding to Violence in Ikotos County, South Sudan: Government and Local Efforts to Restore Order. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Simonse, S. (1992/2017). Kings of Disaster: Dualism, Centralism and the Scapegoat King in Southeastern Sudan. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

Small Arms Survey/HSBA. (2010). Symptoms and causes: insecurity and underdevelopment in Eastern Equatoria. Retrieved 14 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.