Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 169,826
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 145,384
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 265,366

Ethnic groups: Acholi and Madi

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 62,306 IDPs (+46,994 Q1 2020) and 10,018 returnees (-58,953 Q1 2020)

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

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Magwi County is located in Eastern Equatoria State. It borders Torit County to the north-east, Ikotos County to the east, and Central Equatoria State (Juba and Kajo-Keji Counties) to the west. It also has a long border with Uganda to the south.

The county is a part of the highland forest and sorghum livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018). It is located within South Sudan’s greenbelt region, making it a key area of food production for the country’s food supply. The main crops grown are cassava, maize and sorghum, with some cultivation of sweet potatoes, beans and groundnuts. An estimated 75% of households in Magwi County engaged in farming, with a gross cereal yield of 1.82 tonnes per hectare in 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022), declining slightly to 1.8 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023). Magwi’s border with Uganda and proximity to the major trade routes in South Sudan has historically allowed farmers to sell their crops in major markets such as Juba and Torit. As most of the county’s formal food imports come from or through Uganda, the Kampala-Nimule-Juba trading route is highly important.

Growing insecurity across Magwi County since 2016, as well as ambushes and banditry along main roads, have contributed to food insecurity in the county. 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 at least mid-2023. A 2020 REACH assessment found residents in 92% of assessed settlements were coping with a lack of food by only having children eat and residents in 67% of settlements described the hunger they were experiencing as severe or the worst it can be. However, a 2022 REACH assessment reported significant improvements across most indicators.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

Magwi Town in Magwi Payam hosts the county’s headquarters, although the location and administration of Magwi County has been highly contested between the Acholi and Madi communities (see ‘Conflict Dynamics’ below). Magwi County’s location on South Sudan’s border with Uganda means that many towns in the county are key points on important transportation and trade routes. Both before and during the conflict in South Sudan, the town of Nimule has been an important transit point for those crossing the border. During times of instability, it also served as an area for IDPs to flee to and to seek safety but also to across international borders as refugees if necessary.

Magwi County is home to thirty-two (32) Early Childhood Development centers, seventy-four (74) primary schools and twenty (20) secondary schools. The secondary schools are concentrated in Magwi and Nimule payams with Lobone Secondary and Agola Secondary the lone representatives of Lobone and Pajok payams respectively.

Magwi County was reported to have forty-nine (49) health facilities including thirty-six (36) functional health facilities, among them twenty-three (23) PHCUs, twelve (12) PHCCs and one (1) hospital in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 1.30 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.89 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. Nimule Hospital was reported to be moderately functional.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview 2023, around 148,536  people in the county have humanitarian needs (a significant increase from 2021, when 90,100 were estimated to have humanitarian needs), which represents approximately 56% of the estimated population for Magwi County reported in the HNO. This follows in the wake of increasing conflict in the county in early 2022 – primarily between elements of the Madi and Bor Dinka pastoralists – that also resulted in insecurity in and around Nimule town (UNSC 2022). The conflict built upon existing tensions between the two groups concerning the use of land, control of local administration (particularly in Nimule), and concerns regarding perceived disparities in representation and influence over decisions made at the national level (McCrone and the Bridge Network 2021; Shanmugaratnam 2010; Small Arms Survey 2010).

As more South Sudanese return to the country after fleeing abroad, Magwi’s location on the international border makes it a probable location for high rates of refugee returnees, although the rate of return slowed significantly between 2020 and 2022. In areas affected by pre-existing tensions, such as Magwi, increases in spontaneous refugee returns have the potential to increase intercommunal competition over land and resources.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Magwi’s strategic position on the border with Uganda has made it vulnerable to multiple conflict dynamics associated with movement of displaced populations and armed groups. Following attacks by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the end of the Sudanese civil war in 2005, former Magwi residents displaced to Uganda returned to the area and began to reclaim their land around independence in what were seen by the Madi community as ‘land grabs’ by returning Acholi community members. Tension between the Madi and Acholi communities in Magwi County erupted into violence in November 2011 and centred on disputes relating to ownership and demarcation of land – in particular the border between Madi-dominated Pageri Payam and Acholi-dominated Magwi Payam, and the location of the county headquarters and Ame road junction. The division of the county into two separate administrative areas or ‘corridors’ – Magwi Administrative Area and Pageri Administrative Area – was intended in part to address this tension although disputes continued. Additionally, due to the presence of SPLA barracks in Pageri Payam and the military training center in Uwinjibul, there were sporadic clashes with the local community and soldiers.

The outbreak of conflict in December 2013 – and in particular the spread of violence into the Equatorias in 2016 – further heightened tensions over land. The displacement of Dinka IDPs that had relocated to the area mainly from Jonglei State as a result of the spread of armed conflict fueled Madi frustrations. The increasing presence of different opposition factions in the Equatoria region since 2016 contributed to growing insecurity in the county. Clashes between government forces and different armed factions were observed between 2016 and 2018, which led to the mass exodus of population back into Uganda.

The security situation has begun to stabilize since 2019, particularly with the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement and the cantonment of soldiers. With the assistance of aid organizations, peace committees have been set up in Magwi County to help mediate communal clashes. Additionally, parts of Magwi County’s border with Uganda are contested by communities on both sides. While a committee has been set up to resolve this dispute, to date there has not been a permanent resolution.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Magwi (County Headquarters), Lobone, Mugali, Nimule, Pageri, Pajok
Additional payams listed by local actors: Iwire, Obbo

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

Roads:

• A primary road connects Nimule (on the Ugandan border, in the south-west of the county) with Juba to its north, with branching (secondary) roads connecting (across the river) to Kajo-Keji town (Kajo-Keji County) to its northwest and Magwi town to its northeast. The Juba-Nimule highway was passable in both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023, though the status of the branching roads is unknown.
• Magwi town also connects to Torit town via a secondary road, which was deemed passable in both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023.
• An additional secondary road connects Magwi town to the Juba-Nimule highway at Aru Junction in Juba County (Central Equatoria State), whilst another secondary road connects Magwi to the Ugandan border via Labone in the south-east of the county. A cluster of tertiary roads occupies southern parts of the county, in between the Juba-Nimule highway to the west and the Magwi-Labone road to the east. The status of each of these secondary and tertiary roads is unknown.
• A final secondary road (with tertiary bypass) runs east from Nimule to Uganda via Mugale. The condition of this road is unknown.

UNHAS-recognised Heli and Fixed-Wing Airplane Airstrips: Nimule

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 10 July 2023.

McCrone, F. and the Bridge Network. (2021). The War(s) in South Sudan: Local Dimensions of Conflict, Governance, and the Political Marketplace. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

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

Radio Tamazuj. (2021). Truckers resume movement along Juba-Nimule highway. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

REACH. (2020). Integrated Needs Tracking (INT) County Profile – Magwi County. Retrieved 13 July 2023.

REACH. (2022). Integrated Needs Tracking (INT) County Profiles. Retrieved 13 July 2023.

Shanmugaratnam, N. (2010). Resettlement, resource conflicts, livelihood revival and reintegration in South Sudan: A study of the processes and institutional issues at the local level in Magwi County. Norad/ Norwegian University of Life Sciences. Retrieved 20 July 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2010). Symptoms and causes Insecurity and underdevelopment in Eastern Equatoria. Retrieved 20 July 2023.

UNSC. (2022). Situation in South Sudan: Report of the Secretary-General 9 June 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2023.

REPORTS on MAGWI

McCrone, F. and the Bridge Network. (2021). The War(s) in South Sudan: Local Dimensions of Conflict, Governance, and the Political Marketplace. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

O‘Byrne, R. (2015). Safety at the Margins: perceptions of justice and (in)security from South Sudan’s southern border. LSE/ Justice and Security Research Programme. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Quist, A. (2021). Human Security Survey 2021: Summary findings from Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan. PAX. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Quist, A. and Sleibi, A. (2022). Human Security Survey 2022: Summary findings from Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan. PAX. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Schomerus, M. (2012). “‘They forget what they came for’’: Uganda’s army in Sudan. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 6(1), 124-153. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Schomerus, M. and Titeca, K. (2012). Deals and Dealings: Inconclusive Peace and Treacherous Trade along the South Sudan–Uganda Border. Africa Spectrum, 47(2-2), 5-31. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Search for Common Ground. (2015). Magwi County Conflict and Leadership Mapping. Together We Can: Supporting Local Peace Efforts in Magwi County. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Shanmugaratnam, N. (2010). Resettlement, Resource Conflicts, Livelihood Revival and Reintegration in South Sudan: A study of the processes and institutional issues at the local level in Magwi County. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Storer, E., O’Byrne, R., and Reid, K. (2017). Poisoning at the periphery: allocating responsibility across the Uganda/South Sudan borderlands. Third World Thematics, 2 (2-3), 180-196. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Twijnstra, R., Hilhorst, D., & Titeca, K. (2014). Trade networks and the practical norms of taxation at a border crossing between South Sudan and Northern Uganda. Journal of Eastern African Studies, 8(3), 382-399. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Twijnstra, R., & Titeca, K. (2016). Everything changes to remain the same? State and tax reform in South Sudan. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 54(2), 263-292. 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.