Mayendit County, Unity State
DEMOGRAPHY
2008 NBS Census population: 53,783
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 66,163
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 70,936
Ethnic groups: Haak Nuer (Beek, Jalok, Kuey)
Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 23,291 IDPs (+15,715 Q1 2020) and 6,922 returnees (-7,061 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
Mayendit County is located in Unity State. It borders Koch County to the north, Leer County to the east, and Panyijiar County to the south-east. It also borders Lakes State (Rumbek North County) to the south-west, Warrap State (Tonj East and Tonj North Counties) to the west, and Jonglei State (Ayod County) via a narrow strip of land to the east.
The eastern half of the county belongs to the Nile-Sobat Rivers livelihood zone and the western half falls under the Western flood plains zone. The county has flat plains with a mix of savannah grassland, bushes and forest. Residents practice agro-pastoralism and supplement their diets through fishing and foraging. According to a 2013 IOM assessment, 36% of the population relies on agriculture, 36% on livestock rearing, and 27% on fishing for their livelihoods. More recent FAO/WFP data indicates that 35% of households in Koch County engaged in farming, with a gross cereal yield of 0.6 tonnes per hectare in 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022), increasing to 0.8 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023).
The soil in the county’s western area is black clay and the eastern area features black cotton soil. Both types of soil are suitable for cultivating a variety of crops. The main crops are maize and sorghum, with sorghum being the staple cereal. Vegetables such as cowpeas, pumpkin and okra are also cultivated. People also keep cattle, sheep and goats. The plentiful rivers, swamps and water courses provide an import source of nutrition in the dry season through fishing and foraging of water lilies. People engage in income generation through employment, and selling charcoal, firewood and grass.
Food insecurity in Mayendit County has been badly affected by the civil war, with famine declared in 2017. 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 Mayendit 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.
INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES
The County HQ is in Mayendit town. Roads in Mayendit tend to deteriorate during the rainy season, further hindering access and movement for residents and aid organizations.
Mayendit is home to thirty-seven (37) primary schools and two (2) secondary schools: Rubkuay Secondary in Rubkuay Payam as well as Mayendit Secondary in Tharjiath Payam. There are currently no Early Childhood Development centres in the county.
Mayendit County was reported to have twenty (20) health facilities including fourteen (14) functional health facilities, among them twelve (12) PHCUs and two (2) PHCCs in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 2.54 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.41 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. No hospitals were reported in Mayendit County.
According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, there are 63,841 people with humanitarian needs in Mayendit County (up from 51,800 in 2021), representing nearly 90% of the county’s total population according to population estimates listed in the HNO. In the HNO for 2020, Mayendit was listed as one of nine counties in most “dire” need of health services (OCHA 2020).
Periodic floods and droughts continue to pose a risk to food security levels in Mayendit. Areas around Rubkuay and Thar Jath payams are particularly prone to flooding, as tributaries of the Nile also flow through those areas. After serious flooding in 2020, high rainfall in 2021 once again led to mass displacement and the disruption of livelihoods; in 2021 Mayendit was identified as a flood-affected county by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre. An August 2021 IRNA assessment of the flooding throughout the southern portion of Mayendit reported over 416 households displaced to Mayendit North and Leer County. Unusually, flooding continued throughout the 2021-22 dry season, contributing to protracted displacement and further undermining population coping capacities (Eye Radio 2022).
CONFLICT DYNAMICS
Local or parochial violence, such as cattle raids and inter-communal clashes with groups from Warrap State, Lakes State and Leer County, are common. In northern Mayendit, a group of armed cattle camp youth known as Tahariir often spar with youth from southern Mayendit and Leer County. These youth groups from Mayendit also engage in cattle raids and low-level conflict with youth from Panyijiar County and Rumbek North (especially cattle-keepers from Pakam payam). Starting in 2012, multiple rounds of negotiations and community consultations were held with neighboring communities, but none yielded sustainable or long-lived cessation of conflict. Tension along the border with Rumbek North and destruction of Bor payam during the civil war have led to the relocation of the Bor county headquarters from Bor payam (and also administrative centres for Pabuong and Maal payams) to Mayendit town.
Mayendit County, along with most of southern Unity State, was predominantly a SPLA-IO stronghold throughout the national conflict which began in 2013. Opposition forces maintained control of the county throughout the first year of conflict and by January 2015 had instituted a system of governance. In early 2015, the SPLA-IO recruited heavily – and sometimes forcibly – among the populations of Mayendit, Leer and Panyijiar counties. The multi-pronged SPLA-IG offensive against SPLA-IO positions in Southern Unity beginning in May 2015 did not completely eradicate SPLA-IO presence in Mayendit County. SPLA-IG forces attacked the county (and Panyijiar County) from Maper, in Lakes State. The SPLA-IO chose to retreat instead of engaging. As a result, once government forces withdrew, opposition forces were able to once again establish a presence in Mayendit County. In early 2020, government forces maintained a strong presence in the main population centre and county HQ, Mayendit Town in the south and the strategically important crossroads town of Rupkuai/Rubkuay in the north. The surrounding areas – especially in northern Mayendit – are controlled by IO-affiliated armed youth and community-based militia groups.
Despite the decline in fighting since the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in late 2018, the continued presence of armed militias, cattle-related conflict and long-standing intra and intercommunal grievances continue to cause instability in Mayendit County. For example, 5 people were killed and approximately 1,000 cattle stolen during cattle raids conducted by attackers allegedly from Tonj in July 2019 (CEPO 2019). Furthermore, there was a significant spate of IDP returns to Mayendit south from Panyijiar County in mid-2019.
ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS
Payams: Bor (County HQ at Mayendit Town), Dablual, Luom, Maal, Pabuong, Rubkuay, Thaker, Tharjiath, Tutnyang
UN OCHA 2020 map of Mayendit County: https://reliefweb.int/map/south-sudan/south-sudan-mayendit-county-reference-map-march-2020
Roads:
- A primary road runs roughly vertically through Mayendit County, connecting the county to Rumbek town in Lakes State to the south and to the Unity State capital of Bentiu to the north. The road was deemed impassable during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023.
- A primary road branches off the main trunk road to connect to Leer town and Adok port in Leer County. The road was designated “passable with difficulties” during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023.
- Two secondary roads in the south-west of the county connect Mayendit to Panyijar County. One of the roads was deemed impassable during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023, and the condition for the other road (which runs to Nyal town) was unknown.
- Tertiary roads cover northern and western areas of the county, and connect Mayendit to Tonj North County to the west. The seasonal conditions of the roads are unknown.
- The river route along the Nile from Bor to northern Unity State passes through the far north-east of Mayendit County, with the county being served by a port at Kilo 29.
UNHAS-Recognized Heli-Landing Sites and Airstrips: Mayendit town
Additional MAF-Recognised Airstrips: Thaker
REFERENCES
CEPO. (2019). ‘Five Killed in Armed Clashes in Southern Liech State’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
Eye Radio. (2022). ‘47 die of floods and snakebite since October in Mayendit County’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
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.
IRNA. (2021). ‘Inter-Agency Flood Assessment Report, Mayendit County, Unity State 18th-21st August 2021’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
OCHA. (2021). ‘Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan 2021’. Retrieved 16 July 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 MAYENDIT
Amnesty International. (2018). ‘“Anything that was breathing was killed”: War Crimes in Leer and Mayendit, South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
International Crisis Group. (2017). ‘Instruments of Pain (II): Conflict and Famine in South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
Luka, E. E., & Burgess, A. (2017). ‘Famine and its effects on health in South Sudan: An editorial Commentary’. South Sudan Medical Journal, 10(3), 69-70. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
Pendle, N. (2020). ‘Politics, prophets and armed mobilizations: competition and continuity over registers of authority in South Sudan’s conflicts’, in Journal of Eastern African Studies 14 (1), 43–62. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
Pijnacker, R., et al. (2018), ‘Retrospective mortality survey in the MSF catchment area in Mayendit County, Unity State, South Sudan’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
Small Arms Survey. (2021). ‘Unity State: New Appointments and Developments’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
UNDP. (2012). ‘Community Consultation Report: Unity State, South Sudan’. No longer available online on 7 August 2023.
UNICEF. (2016). ‘County Social Map: Mayendit Conty, South Sudan’, Polio Eradication Initiative. Retrieved 16 July 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.