Leer County, Unity State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 53,022
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 92,228
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 77,811

Ethnic groups: Adok/Dok Nuer

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 58,308 IDPs (+45,932 Q1 2020) and 20,166 returnees (+8,250 Q1 2020)

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

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Leer County is located in Unity State. It borders Mayendit County to the west and north and Panyijiar County to the south. The county also borders Jonglei State (Ayod County) in the east. The county forms part of the Nile-Sobat livelihood zone which is characterized by black cotton soil and plentiful water resources. The Kiir and Wuot rivers cross through the county. The soil becomes water-logged during the rainy season and the county’s eastern edge, bordered by the Supiri River, is particularly prone to flooding.

In a 2013 IOM survey, residents responded that their main livelihood activities were farming (35%), livestock (34%) and fishing (29%). More recent FAO/WFP data indicates that 35% of households in Koch County are still engaged in farming, with a gross cereal yield of 0.6 tonnes per hectare in 2021 and 2022 (FAO/WFP 2022; FAO/WFP 2023). Ox-ploughs are not extensively used in Leer County due to the value placed on cattle, which means that crop yields do not reach their full potential.

Additionally, hunting, foraging for wild plants and producing milk are also secondary livelihoods in the county. Residents in this region rely chiefly on goat rearing and sorghum production for their livelihoods. Households also raise cattle and sheep and cultivate other crops such as maize, okra, pumpkin and cowpeas. Farming takes place on a subsistence level and less well-off households purchase nearly half of their staple cereals from the market. The sale of charcoal, firewood, grass and casual labour are also common means of income-generation.

A combination of flooding during the rainy season and violent conflict have limited water and land trade routes and prevented residents from accessing markets, which has driven inflation and deepened poverty. The frequent closures of the border with Sudan have also limited the flow of goods, while landmines have prevented some farmers from planting their crops, and residents fear accessing local markets when they must travel on roads that are unsafe.

Leer County has historically suffered from high levels of food insecurity and in February 2017 famine was declared in Leer and Mayendit counties in the south of Unity State. This was the first time since 2011 that famine had been declared anywhere in the world. Relative stability in the county since 2019, as well as humanitarian interventions in the area, have alleviated the pressure of food insecurity for the local population to a certain extent, though renewed conflict in 2022 has once more imperilled livelihoods and food security in the county. In November 2022, the IPC projected the county as being at emergency (IPC level 4) levels of food insecurity, with conditions projected to persist at the same level until at least July 2023. As of November 2022, at least 25% of households in Leer meet over 50% of their calorific assistance through humanitarian assistance, although the percentage of calorific assistance met through assistance is projected to decline to between 25% and 50% from December 2022 to July 2023.

In 2021 Leer County was identified as a flood-affected county by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre and by OCHA as a county with over 25,000 flood-affected people.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

The county HQ is Leer town located in Leer payam. Road infrastructure is poor, with roads often impassable during the rainy season and physical access only possible via Adok Port in the east of the county.

Leer is home to forty-one (41) primary schools as well as Leer Emma Secondary School located in Padeah Payam. There are currently no Early Childhood Development centres in Leer.

Leer County was reported to have sixteen (16) health facilities including fifteen (15) functional health facilities, among them nine (9) PHCUs and six (6) PHCCs in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 1.55 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 3.86 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. The only hospital was destroyed during the civil war.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, about 70,028 people in Leer County have humanitarian needs (up markedly from 53,000 in 2021, due to the effects of renewed conflict and displacement in the county in February and April 2022). This represents nearly 90% of the estimated population of Leer County reported in the HNO, which has placed additional pressure on the already weak infrastructure and services.

Humanitarian conditions (and particularly food insecurity) in Leer County have been worsened by rounds of conflict, with the heightened needs reported in 2022 being only the latest in a series of conflict-induced humanitarian shocks. Following conflict in 2014, most of the county’s population left towns and villages, fleeing either to the bush or to other counties in Unity State. In the same year, the county also received approximately 40,000 IDPs from neighbouring areas, and recurring insecurity contributed to the temporary evacuation of humanitarian organizations from Leer in 2015. Conflict between government and opposition forces resumed in the county in 2017 and 2018. In 2022, insecurity and conflict linked to defections from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – In Opposition (SPLM-IO) to the breakaway Kitgweng faction of the SPLM-IO – alongside escalating militia activity – resulted in further displacement in Leer, with at least 44,000 civilians displaced (UNMISS 2022, p.14).

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Prior to the outbreak of civil war in December 2013, violence in Leer was primarily local incidents. These were often reflected as cattle raiding among youth from Leer, Mayendit and Panyijiar Counties and further afield. Community consultations held in 2012 suggested that these were mostly driven by food insecurity, competition over water and pastures, and poor management of the returns processes following independence (UNDP 2012). The oil fields in Leer and competition over control to tax the main road to Leer County were also seen to have contributed to border disputes and tensions between youth from Leer and Mayendit Counties.

Leer County was one of the most conflict-affected counties in the country during the civil war. It witnessed brutal fighting between government and opposition forces leading to significant displacement and loss of life. In addition to its strategic importance, Leer also holds significant symbolic importance as the birthplace of Riek Machar. While opposition forces driven out of Leer Town by the SPLA in late January 2014, control of Leer County continued to shift between government and opposition forces until late 2015. Opposition forces had withdrawn into the bush rather than directly engaging the government and rapidly re-took positions in Leer County after government forces left, with skirmishes continuing throughout 2017 and early 2018. In 2018 government forces and their allied militias launched a coordinated offensive on Leer and Mayendit counties that continued until the middle of the year. Landmines and explosive remnants of war are reportedly littered around Leer (as well as Mayom, Bentiu, Pariang and Abiemnhom), which UN Mine Action is in the process of identifying and clearing. While the SPLA controls Leer town, the SPLA-IO remains ensconced in surrounding payams, including the port of Adok, which represents one of few reliable access points to the county and a major artery of trade and commerce.

Both parties have been accused of committing serious human rights violations, with some of the most egregious attacks reportedly having taken place in Leer. Most of the town had also been destroyed, including the hospital, and the UN determined that 1,556 residential structures were burned down during an SPLA attack on Leer Town in February 2014 (UNITAR 2014). According to the UN, between April and September 2015, an estimated 1,000 civilians were killed, 1,300 women and girls were raped and 1,600 women and children were abducted in Leer, Mayendit and Koch counties alone (Protection Cluster 2015). Those estimates are believed to be significantly lower than actual figures. Verification of incidents is difficult because Leer (and other southern Unity counties) was cut off to humanitarian agencies for months at a time, due to fighting. Humanitarian agencies were forced to evacuate from Leer County in May 2015 due to conflict and only able to return beginning in December 2015. Similar incidents of spikes in rape, killing, looting and burning of villages were also observed in 2018. IDPs were displaced multiple times, and as a result were not able to access basic services for an extended period of time, as they fled to the bush, swamps and islands in southern Leer seeking safety. Following this, UNMISS deployed more peacekeepers to the area, and increased patrols.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Leer (County HQ), Adok, Bou, Guat, Juong Kang, Padeah, Pilieny, Yang

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

Roads:

• Leer has a single primary road running diagonally from Mayendit County in the north-west of Leer County to Adok port in the south-east. The road connects Leer town to the main Unity State trunk road at its west (connecting Lakes and Central Equatoria to Unity State) and Adok port on the Nile to its east. The road was considered “passable with difficulties” during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023. Note that the main trunk was designated as being impassable in the same time period.A secondary road runs west from northern Leer County into Mayendit County. The condition of the road is unknown.
• The river route along the Nile from Bor to northern Unity State passes through the eastern side of Leer County, with the county being served by a port at Adok.

UNHAS-Recognized Heli-Landing-Sites and Airstrips: Leer
Additional MAF-Recognised Airstrips: Padeah, Din Din

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.

FEWSNET. (2018). ‘Livelihoods Zone Map and Descriptions for the Republic of South Sudan (Updated)’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Juba Echo. (2022). ‘Deaths, displacements sum up increasing violence in Unity State’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

OCHA. (2021). ‘Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan 2021’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Protection Cluster. (2015). ‘Protection Cluster Situation Update: Southern and Central Unity (April-September 2015)’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

UNDP. (2012). ‘Community Consultation Report: Unity State, South Sudan. May 2012’. No longer available online on 7 August 2023.

UNMISS. (2022). ‘Press release: Rape, gang-rape and beheadings among human right violations documented in Leer, South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

REPORTS on LEER

Amnesty International. (2016). ‘“Their Voices Stopped’: Mass Killings in a Shipping Container in Leer, South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Amnesty International. (2018). ‘“Anything that was breathing was killed”: War Crimes in Leer and Mayendit, South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Barasa, M. & Waswa, F. (2015). ‘Effects of Returnees Re-Integration on the Livelihoods of Host Communities in Leer County, South Sudan’. International Journal of African and Asian Studies 14. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Coalition for Humanity South Sudan. (2018). ‘Conflict Dynamics in Leer County, South Sudan: Issues, Barrier and Opportunities Towards Conflict Transformation’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Craze, J., Tubiana, J., & Gramizzi, C. (2016). ‘A state of disunity: Conflict dynamics in unity state, South Sudan, 2013-15’. Small Arms Survey. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Human Rights Watch. (2015). ‘“They Burned it All”: Destruction of Villages, Killings, and Sexual Violence in Unity State South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

International Crisis Group. (2017). ‘Instruments of Pain (II): Conflict and Famine in South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

IOM. (2013). ‘Village Assessment Survey: County Atlas’. No longer available online on 7 August 2023.

McCrone, F. et al. (2021). ‘The War (s) in South Sudan: Local dimensions of conflict, governance and the political marketplace’, LSE. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Mercy Corps. (2015). ‘Emergency Market Mapping and Analysis: Livestock Off-take and Sorghum Market Systems in Leer County, Unity, South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Pendle, N. (2020). ‘Politics, prophets and armed mobilizations: competition and continuity over registers of authority in South Sudan’s conflicts’, Journal of Eastern African Studies 14 (1), 43–62. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Pragst, F. et al. (2017). ‘High concentrations of lead and barium in hair of the rural population caused by water pollution in the Thar Jath oilfields in South Sudan’. Forensic science international, 274, 99-106. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

UNDP (2012). ‘Community Consultation Report: Unity State, South Sudan’. No longer available online on 7 August 2023.

UNMISS/OHCHR. (2019). ‘Conflict-related sexual violence in northern Unity: September – December 2018’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

UNMISS /OHCHR. (2022). ‘Attacks against civilians in southern Unity State, South Sudan February – May 2022’. Retrieved 16 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.