Manyo County, Upper Nile State

Demographics

2008 NBS Census population: 38,010

2022 NBS PES population estimate*: 19,859

2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 79,084

2024 UN OCHA population estimate*: 19860

2024 IPC population estimate: 81,456

2025 UN OCHA population estimate*: 83,853

Ethnic groups: Shilluk/Chollo

Displacement Figures as of September 2024: 34,597 IDPs (21,017 Sept. 2023) and 9,834 returnees (-8,511 Sept. 2023)

IPC Food Security: November 2024 – Crisis (Phase 3); IPC Projections: December to March 2024 – Crisis (Phase 3); April to July 2025 – Emergency (Phase 4)

Economy & Livelihoods

Manyo County borders South Kordofan and White Nile states of Sudan to the north and west respectively, Renk and Melut counties to the east, and Fashoda County to the south.

The county is categorized as part of the Northern sorghum and cattle livelihood zone (FEWSNET 2018). The primary livelihood in the area is rain-fed agriculture, supplemented by livestock rearing, fishing, and foraging. The main crops are sorghum and maize, as well as pumpkin, cowpeas, sesame (simsim), okra and other garden vegetables. The White Nile River flows along the Manyo’s eastern border, contributing to several lakes and marshlands throughout the county.

Agriculture and fishing are the main livelihood activities in Manyo County. Most villages are close to the river and all villages reported fish as an important food source, while about 50% of households reported farming as their primary livelihood in 2018 (FAO/WFP 2018). This number of households engaged in farming has been maintained as of 2021. Gross cereal yields were reported at 0.8 tonnes per hectare in 2021 and 0.9 tonnes per hectare 2022, with the latter being the joint highest yield ratio in the state along with Renk County (FAO/WFP 2022, FAO/WFP 2023). Sorghum is also the county’s main crop, but other food crops are also produced in the area, including sweet potatoes, yams, groundnut, okra, cowpea, pumpkin, tomatoes, and cucumber. Some farmland in southern Manyo has customarily been rented by parts of the Sudanese Seleim community from Shilluk landowners, with profits divided by the those farming the land and the owners of the land (Craze 2013, p.137). Additional livelihoods in the county include charcoal making, extracting gum arabic, and selling timber. Most households own some livestock (cows, goats, and poultry).

Historically, migrants from Sudan have been drawn to the area due to cotton projects that were implemented in the pre-independence era. Following independence in 2011, the closure of the border with Sudan impacted trade routes, subsequently reducing the availability of goods in the market while simultaneously increasing inflation.

IPC projections for Manyo are at Crisis levels (IPC Phase 3) of food insecurity as of November 2024, where they are projected to remain through March 2025, before deteriorating to Emergency levels (IPC Phase 4) in April 2025, where they are projected to remain until at least July 2025.

Infrastructure & Services

The county HQ is Wadakona/Wad Dakona. Additionally, the town of Magenis/Megeinis straddles the border with Sudan to the far north-west of the county, as is discussed in the Conflict Dynamics section below.

Manyo County’s current educational institutions are not able to meet all the educational needs of the youth of the county. Manyo County is home to nine (9) Early Childhood Development centres, thirty-eight (38) primary schools, and two secondary schools.

In December 2024, the WHO reported that Manyo County had twenty-three (23) health facilities, of which fifteen (15) were functional. These functional facilities included eleven (11) primary health care units (PHCUs), four (4) primary health care centres (PHCCs), and no hospitals. This means there were approximately 1.97 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 2.39 PHCCs per 50,000 people in the county at that time.

Conflict and displacement have impacted the key infrastructure and services in the county. The cumulative impact of this interruption to services has been a significant humanitarian burden. According to OCHA’s 2025 Humanitarian Needs Overview, there are an estimated 77,746 people in need in Manyo County, which represents approximately 93% of the county’s total population reported by OCHA for 2025. For comparison, in 2024, OCHA reported that there were an estimated 73,098 people in need in Manyo County, of whom 3,116 were non-displaced people, with the remainder comprising IDPs and returnees. OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023 estimated that there were 72,678 people with humanitarian needs in Manyo (up noticeably from 50,100 in 2021). This represented nearly 92% of the estimated population of the county reported in the HNO, and reflects an increase compared to previous years.

Following the outbreak of fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan in April 2023, 246 people fleeing the conflict in Sudan were registered in Kaka, and 167 were registered in the disputed town of Magenis (UNHCR/IOM 2023).

Conflict Dynamics

Located along the far north-western border of Upper Nile State, Manyo has close links with adjoining areas of Sudan, and hosts agro-pastoralists from Sudan’s Seleim community alongside some branches of the Misseriya pastoralist community during annual cattle migrations, with migrations contributing to local tax revenues. There are close cultural and economic ties between the Shilluk/Chollo community of Manyo and neighbouring groups from Sudan, in particular the Seleim, with inter-marriage between the two communities common (Craze 2013, p.143). However, a number of Manyo’s borders were contested, and became a source of tension in the run-up to South Sudanese independence. Moreover, the increasing polarisation in Upper Nile State – which is discussed further in the profile for Malakal County – has resulted in the Manyo becoming successively drawn into the state’s violent political struggles in the years following South Sudanese independence in 2011.

Manyo during the second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005)

There is limited information on developments in Manyo during the second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005), with sources indicating the area experienced few direct effects of the conflict, and was mostly controlled by the Sudanese government (Concordis International 2010, p.96; Craze 2013, p.132). However, it is likely there were at least some fighting between the SPLM/A and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in the area that resulted in displacement into Sudan’s White Nile State during the first half of the conflict (UNICEF 2003, p.25), including one reported clash in Kaka town to the south of the county in 1990 (Akol 2003, p.262).

Manyo’s position along the Sudan-South Sudan border has resulted in population movements either side of the border during times of conflict, with several thousand members of Upper Nile’s Shilluk community (alongside other South Sudanese ethnic groups from the state) fleeing to White Nile during the second civil war, with many displaced Shilluk joining the already established Shilluk community in White Nile’s Al Jabalain locality. At the end of 1989, several hundred (predominantly Shilluk) civilians were killed in and around Al Jabalain after a localised dispute with a farmer from the Sudanese Sabaha community escalated (Africa Watch 1990, pp.92-94). The circumstances of the attack are not fully understood, and resulted in further mass displacement of the Shilluk community to Kosti.

Border tensions and opposition movements during the CPA and early independence years (2005-2013)

After the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 tensions increased in parts of Manyo, and were often linked to natural resources and/or borders. In 2006, land clearance associated with oil exploration activity caused strains in the county after acacia trees (which produce gum arabic) and dwellings were destroyed, without compensation being paid to the local community (Moro 2011, p.76).

The prospect of South Sudanese independence meant that a number of previously ambiguous border areas around the edges of Manyo County risked becoming points of contention. The area surrounding Kaka along the south-western border of Manyo County with South Kordofan’s Abu Jubayhah locality are one such location, with pre-existing low-level disputes assuming a degree of heightened significance after the CPA. This dispute is primarily between parts of the local Shilluk community and Sudan’s Seleim community, and the area – which includes a port at Kaka – has been subject to a number of administrative alterations over the past century. Conflict between parts of the Seleim and Shilluk communities over the ownership and harvesting rights of gum arabic began in 2003, and escalated after the CPA was signed in 2005 (Johnson 2010, p.68; Sudan Tribune 2006), though the dispute also encompasses issues relating to access to or control of agricultural and grazing land, charcoal production, as well as transportation links, with Kaka port serving multiple communities, including in South Kordofan (Craze 2013, pp.132-33; Saeed 2010, p.20). In 2012, Khartoum attempted to extend its territorial claims in and around Kaka, which were refuted by Juba (Craze 2023, p.26).

Along the north-western border of Manyo with Sudan’s White Nile and South Kordofan states lie the Magenis/Megeinis mountains, with Magenis town situated to their immediate south-east. The dispute over Magenis is partly related to location of the mountains themselves, which formed an anchor point for the north-west corner of Upper Nile in British colonial era maps, but which later transpired not to be at the coordinates shown on these maps (Johnson 2010, p.69). Although the area is historically associated with the Shilluk community, parts of the Seleim community have more recently settled in the town, with some also engaging in farming in the town’s environs (ICG 2010, p.7; Craze 2013, p.133). The area remained occupied by the SAF during the CPA era and in the years following independence (UNMIS 2010, p.5; Craze 2014, p.39), and experienced violence involving South Sudanese opposition factions and the SAF during mid-2013 (Radio Tamazuj 2013).

In parts of Manyo – including in the areas of Kaka and Magenis – land became a source of tension as South Sudanese independence approached (Concordis International 2010, p.95), with some members of the Seleim attempting to enhance their existing secondary grazing rights through claiming exclusive ownership of land (Craze 2013, p.137). The close linkages between the Shilluk and Seleim – alongside the lack of military build-ups compared to other parts of the Sudan-South Sudan border—limited the potential for disputes to escalate, while cattle migrations following independence were accompanied by fewer problems than in other border regions. Despite this, a number of Sudanese pastoralist communities left Upper Nile for Al Jabalain locality upon independence in 2011, with others leaving following the outbreak of the recent national conflict, which is discussed below (Abdul-Jalil 2018).

In addition to the disputed border areas with Sudan, there have been tensions between parts of the Shilluk community from Manyo and the Abiliang Dinka community of neighbouring Renk County (Wassara 2013, p.103), with contested claims being made for a group of islands in the White Nile along the border between Manyo and Renk counties (UNDP 2012, pp.45-46).

Manyo was impacted by opposition activity that followed the 2010 election, which brought conflict to Manyo’s larger towns, and resulted in allegations of Sudanese support for South Sudanese opposition factions based in the Upper Nile-South Kordofan border region (Craze 2013, p.144). This included heavy fighting between opposition forces and the SPLA in Kaka in August 2011 (UNSC 2011, p.6; Craze 2013, pp.136-37), and again in June 2012 when an opposition faction under the command of Johnson Olonyi attacked Kaka, resulting in clashes with the SPLA and a number of civilian casualties (Craze 2013, pp.143-44). Further clashes in Wadakona/Wad Dakona town broke out in mid-2013, shortly before an amnesty agreement paved the way for the integration of Olonyi’s forces into the SPLA (Small Arms Survey 2015, p.8).

Manyo during the national conflict (2013-2018)

At the outset of the national conflict (2013-2018), Manyo experienced clashes between the SPLA-IO and forces commanded by Olonyi (who was aligned to the SPLA), with the county being contested by the two forces (Small Arms Survey 2014a). The SPLA-IO gained control of Wadakona town, enabling it to undertake operations against government forces in Kaka as well as nearby Renk town, with fighting and shelling producing significant displacement (Small Arms Survey 2014b). The IO were dislodged from Wadakona by government forces in early 2015, pushing the opposition into rural parts of Manyo and adjoining parts of Sudan (Small Arms Survey 2015; Small Arms Survey 2016).

Conflict dynamics in Manyo were reorganised after the defection of Johnson Olonyi’s Agwelek faction in May 2015 (discussed further in the profile for Malakal County), and were complicated by the emergence of a distinct (initially Shilluk) opposition group in the area known as the Tiger Faction New Forces (TFNF). The TFNF were formed from a breakaway part of the SPLA in late 2015 amid controversy surrounding the shift from 10 to 28 states, and engaged in a series of clashes with the military (Craze 2019, pp.62-63). However, brewing rivalries between the leadership of the Agwelek forces (now aligned to the SPLA-IO) and the TFNF culminated in fighting between the two forces in Manyo in early 2017, during which the TFNF leadership were killed (Craze 2019, p.72).

Meanwhile, across 2017 an SPLA offensive would dislodge SPLA-IO Agwelek forces from several parts of the county (Craze 2019, pp.76, 82, 86). Since 2017, Agwelek forces under Olonyi’s command have been based at Magenis, utilising the ambiguous status of the area to maintain access to Sudan (Small Arms Survey 2021, p.3; ICG 2022, p.7).

Conflict following the R-ARCSS (2018 – present)

After the signing of the R-ARCSS in 2018, Magenis became a focal point for conflict in Manyo. In January 2021, a dispute over access to a water point escalated, resulting in serious clashes between an unspecified South Sudanese group and parts of the Seleim community (Radio Dabanga 2021; Radio Tamazuj 2021). Later that year, Magenis was the location from where the Kitgweng Declaration was issued by parts of the SPLA-IO leadership, leading to fighting between SPLA-IO forces in the area in early August. The fighting involved SPLA-IO forces loyal to Riek Machar and breakaway forces that would form the SPLA-IO Kitgwang faction, and reportedly stopped following an intervention by the SAF to break the two factions apart (Small Arms Survey 2021, p.3). Fighting resumed in the area December 2021 resulting in SPLA-IO loyalists being defeated by Kitgweng forces (ICG 2021, p.8).

In late 2022, conflict linked to the fragmentation of the SPLA-IO Kitgweng faction – which saw the Agwelek faction separate from predominantly Nuer Kitgweng forces – affected several parts of north-western Jonglei and south-western Upper Nile states (with the Upper Nile violence being discussed further in the profiles for Panyikang, Fashoda, and Malakal counties). In early December, the serious violence that had spread to Fashoda County reached adjoining parts of Manyo (UNMISS/UN OHCHR 2023, p.12), displacing an estimated 5,000 people (WHO 2022).

Finally, Manyo experienced unrest in April 2022 following the decision by local authorities to suspend a practice in which unemployed youth participate in the taxation of Sudanese pastoralists crossing into the county (Eye Radio 2022a). Shortly after the initial unrest, a group (which included two soldiers) who were sleeping at a revenue collection point were killed by unknown attackers (Eye Radio 2022b). The circumstances surrounding the attack are unclear, and it is not confirmed whether the unrest and the later attack are directly linked.

Administration & Logistics 

Payams: Wadakona (County HQ), Kaka, Magenis, and Adhidwoi

UN OCHA 2020 map of Manyo County: https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/south-sudan/infographic/south-sudan-manyo-county-reference-map

Roads:

• A primary road runs from Demoth in the county’s south to Sudan via Kaka town. The seasonal conditions of this road are unknown.

• A secondary road runs in a north-south direction along the west bank of the White Nile River between Kaka and Wadakona The seasonal conditions of this road are unknown.

• Tertiary bypasses are present in several areas of the county (some of which cross the border into Sudan before returning to Manyo County), though seasonal conditions are unknown.

• The River Nile route between Malakal and Renk passes through the county, with Athidway, Aweth, Kaka, Towat and Wadakona listed as destinations.

UNHAS-Recognized Heli-Landing-Sites and Airstrips: None

The logistic cluster serves ports in Manyo County and coordinates humanitarian barge and boat traffic. As of 2025, the logistics cluster is operating river transportation at 50%, owing to funding constraints.

References

Abdul-Jalil, M.A. (2018). Unpleasant homecoming: The predicament of returning pastoralists from South Sudan to Aljabalain area, White Nile State. University of Bergen/CMI. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Africa Watch. (1990). Denying “the Honor of Living”: Sudan, a Human Rights Disaster. Retrieved 24 February 2024.

Akol, L. (2003). SPLM/SPLA: The Nasir Declaration. Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse.

Craze, J. (2013). Dividing lines: Grazing and conflict along the Sudan– South Sudan border. Retrieved 6 February 2024.

Craze, J. (2014). Contested Borders: Continuing Tensions over the Sudan–South Sudan Border. Small Arms Survey. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Eye Radio. (2022a). Illegal revenue collectors in Manyo burn NRA official house, assault wife. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Eye Radio. (2022b). 7 people including 2 SSPDF officers killed Manyo. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

FAO/WFP. (2019). Special Report: FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to South Sudan. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

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

ICG, International Crisis Group. (2010). Sudan: Defining the North-South Border. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Johnson, D.H. (2010). When Boundaries Become Borders: The impact of boundary-making in Southern Sudan’s frontier zones. Rift Valley Institute.

Moro, L.N. (2011). ‘Local Relations of Oil Development in Southern Suda: Displacement, Environmental Impact & Resettlement’, in Large, D. and Patey, L. (eds.) Sudan Looks East: China, India & the Politics of Asian Alternatives, pp.70-86.

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

Radio Dabanga. (2021). At least 17 dead after clashes in Sudan’s White Nile State. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2013). Clash reported in Megenis border area. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2021). Calm returns to the border town of Maganis after violent clashes. Retrieved 17 July 2023

Saeed, A. (2010). Challenges Facing Sudan after Referendum Day 2011 Persistent and Emerging Conflict in the North-South Borderline States. CMI. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Small Arms Survey. (2014a). The Conflict in Upper Nile State (18 March 2014 update). Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Small Arms Survey. (2014b). The Conflict in Upper Nile State: Describes events through 9 October 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Small Arms Survey. (2016). The Conflict in Upper Nile State: Describing events through 8 March 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2021). MAAPS Update No.7: What’s new in the SPLA-IO? Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Sudan Tribune. (2006). SPLM accuses Sudanese army of violating peace deal. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

UNDP. (2012). Community Consultation Report: Upper Nile State, South Sudan. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

UNHCR/IOM. (2023). Population Movement from Sudan to South Sudan. Information from interactive dashboard retrieved 20 July 2023.

UNICEF. (2003). Analysis of Nine Conflict Areas in Sudan. Retrieved via Sudan Open Archive 1 March 2024.

UNMIS, UN Mission in Sudan. (2010). Resident Coordinator Support Office, Upper Nile State Briefing Pack. Retrieved 3 February 2024.

UNMISS/UN OHCHR. (2023). Attacks against civilians in Greater Upper Nile, South Sudan: August to December 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

UNSC. (2011). Report of the Secretary-General on South Sudan, S/2011/678. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

Wassara, S. (2013). Interests of border communities in water and pastures: will they influence Nile water policies of the two Sudans? UNISCI Discussion Paper No. 33. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

WHO. (2022). WHO South Sudan: Monthly Humanitarian Situation Report (Issue 11, November 2022). Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Reports on Manyo

Craze, J. (2019). Displaced and Immiserated: The Shilluk of Upper Nile in South Sudan’s Civil War, 2014-19. Small Arms Survey. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

ICG, International Crisis Group. (2022). South Sudan’s Splintered Opposition: Preventing More Conflict. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2015). The Conflict in Upper Nile State: Describes events through 9 April 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2024.

* 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.