Pariang County, Ruweng Administrative Area

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 82,443
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 193,650
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 131,408

Ethnic groups: Padang Dinka (Ruweng/Panaruu and Paweny)

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 19,686 IDPs (-1,781 Q1 2020) and 5,268 returnees (-8,861 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

Pariang County is one of two counties that form the Ruweng Administrative Area (RAA), having been separated from former Unity State in February 2020. It borders Unity State (Rubkona and Guit Counties) to the south, Upper Nile State (Panyikang County) to the east, and Jonglei State (Fangak County) to the south-east. The northern edge of the county forms part of the international border with Sudan.

The northern half of Pariang County falls under the Eastern flood plains livelihood zone, while its southern half falls under the Nile-Sobat Rivers zone. The low-lying flatlands of the Eastern Flood Plains are prone to flooding even with light rains. Receding waters leave behind fertile, loamy soil; however, flooding tends to restrict agricultural activities. Despite this, compared to other counties in Unity State, Pariang does not contain as many swampy areas, making it easier to travel by land.

Residents of Pariang County are primarily agro-pastoralists, with some fishing as well. The main crops cultivated are maize, sorghum and vegetables including okra, cowpeas and pumpkin. An estimated 45% of households in Pariang County engaged in farming, with a gross cereal yield of 0.9 tonnes per hectare in 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022), with no county-specific data reported for 2022 (with the Ruweng Administrative Area as a whole having yields of 0.9 tonnes per hectare). People herd mainly goats, with some also keeping cattle and sheep.

In November 2022, IPC projections placed the county at crisis (IPC Phase 3) levels of food insecurity, and are predicated to remain at crisis levels until at least July 2023.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

Pariang County was administered as part of Ruweng State between 2015 and 2020, but was paired with Abiemnhom County to form the Ruweng Administrative Area (RAA) when the government returned from the 32 to 10 state system in February 2020. The sharing of responsibilities and division of labour between county and administrative area authorities remains unclear. The Headquarters of Pariang County is located in Pariang Town in Pariang Payam, which is governed as a municipality (Small Arms Survey 2021).

Pariang County has significant oil resources, including the Tor field in the west of the county which has been impacted by oil pollution of land and water sources. Oil spillages are also believed to have led to health problems among some residents and livestock in Pariang up to the present day. The pollution has also led to displacement of local residents seeking clean water and uncontaminated land to cultivate. Pariang’s road infrastructure is limited and much of the limited infrastructure was built to support the oil sector. As such, there are few roads connecting the county.

Pariang County is home to ten (10) Early Childhood Development centres, twenty-four (24) primary schools and four (4) secondary schools including the large Soba Senior Secondary in Jamjang payam.

Pariang County was reported to have twenty-five (25) health facilities including eighteen (18) functional health facilities, among them nine (9) PHCUs and nine (9) PHCCs. Pariang Hospital was reported to be highly functional in March 2021, though is not listed among the functional facilities in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 0.80 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 3.43 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO.

In 2020 Pariang experienced significant flooding primarily as a result of water from heavy rainfall in the Nuba Mountains flooding the lowland areas of the county. Farms, shelters and water sources were destroyed by the flooding. Malaria cases and injuries including snakebites rose dramatically as a result of the flooding and subsequent displacement. According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, about 87,964 people in Pariang have humanitarian needs (compared to 89,600 in 2021). This represents around 67% of the estimated population of the county reported in the HNO.

Since fighting escalated between the Sudan Armed Forces and SPLM-North following the independence of South Sudan in 2011, Pariang County has hosted a long-term refugee response providing support to refugees from the Nuba Mountains in Sudan. In 2020 UNHCR and humanitarian partner organizations delivered services to 34,260 people in Pamir refugee camp (UNHCR 2020a), 40,640 in Ajoung Thok refugee camp (UNHCR 202b), and 43,968 in Yida refugee camp, which is the oldest of the refugee camps in Pariang County (UNHCR 2020c). Despite multiple attempts at closure due to its proximity to the border and seasonal access constraints, the scale of the refugee response in the area has attracted significant resources and opportunity for employment and procurement, which have also been the locus of localized conflicts in the area. The camps have local markets which support both the refugees and host community, and the roads around the camps have been rehabilitated to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid to refugees.

Following the outbreak of fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan in April 2023, 20,321 people fleeing the conflict in Sudan were registered at the border crossing at Panakuach, which is an area disputed by Rubkona County and Abiemnhom and Pariang counties in the RAA (discussed further below) (UNHCR/IOM 2023).

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

The area around Pariang County has historically been occupied by the Ruweng/Panaruu section of the Padang Dinka, with a smaller population of Paweny section to the east of the county. During the second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005), the area experienced significant violence and displacement in the wake of the 1991 SPLM/A split, and the depopulation of oil fields in the late 1990s. In contrast to many opposition held areas of Unity State, SPLM/A forces in Pariang did not align with Riek Machar’s faction and arrested officers suspected of backing the breakaway faction (Nyaba 1997, p.94). South-eastern parts of the county subsequently came under attack by forces aligned to Riek Machar in 1993. Machar’s forces reoccupied the area in late 1996, looting cattle as they left in April 1997, with government forces commencing attacks on Pariang in late 1997 (Rone 2003, pp.127-128). Following complex realignments among armed groups in early 1999, the Sudanese military and airforce launched a large-scale attack on Pariang, displacing much of the population and torching thousands of dwellings and food supplies (Rone 2003, pp.186-193). Insecurity would continue over the coming years.

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, Juba was alleged to have provided support to Sudanese opposition groups (and SPLA divisions based in Sudan) from several areas, including Pariang (Craze et al. 2016). From mid-2011 to mid-2013, the Sudanese airforce launched a number of strikes against SPLA forces based in South Kordofan in the Lake Abiad/Jau area along the border between Unity and Sudan’s South Kordofan, which at times extended into Pariang (ICG 2011).

Pariang has long been affected by tensions relating to border disputes and cross-border cattle raiding, which were exacerbated by displacement and shifting allegiances during the second civil war. Long-standing tensions have often flared with Misseriya pastoralists over pasture, water, and unpaid compensation relating to prior incidents or raids. Regular raids (typically occurring when Misseriya pastoralists transited back north to Sudan) were reported during the CPA-era (2005-2011) (Craze 2013, p.112, 128), while periodic tensions have also been reported with the Fulani (a.k.a. ‘Fellata’) and Shanabla pastoralist communities who began crossing from Sudan in 2005 (Concordis International 2012). Some attempts were made to establish cross-border peace and migration agreements in the late 2000s, though encountered problems with implementation. Moreover, Panaruu Dinka communities engage in cattle-raiding with other Nuer groups from elsewhere in Unity State including the Bul Nuer from Mayom County, and the Western Jikany and Leek Nuer from neighbouring Rubkona and Guit counties. The lack of clear historical boundaries, the impact of oil on water quality and the resulting food insecurity and displacement have exacerbated these conflicts (UNDP 2012).

Prior to the formation of the Ruweng Administrative Area, Pariang was one of the only Dinka-majority areas of Unity State, and remained loyal to the government during the national conflict (2013-2018). Substantial numbers of Nuer SPLA soldiers defected at the outset of the conflict, as Dinka civilians and soldiers left Bentiu for Pariang and Abiemnhom counties. While Nuer SPLA-IO soldiers did clash with ethnic Dinka during violence in Bentiu in December 2013, they did not initially include Dinkas from Pariang and Abiemnhom. This soon changed, as the conflict in northern Unity state became increasingly ethnicised, with attacks on security personnel and civilians of differing ethnicity by the parties to the conflict (Craze et al. 2016, pp.40-49). Fighting broke out between opposition and loyalist forces at barracks in Pariang County on 17 December, before spreading to Pariang town and a number of rural locales. The government consolidated control of much of Pariang County in early 2014. Parts of southern Pariang that had been the scene of fighting and attacks were left depopulated during the conflict, with residents displaced to Pariang town, Yida, and Jamjang, creating new pressures over land.

Production at Pariang’s oil fields was suspended for the duration of the national conflict that broke out in 2013 (Small Arms Survey 2015), whilst elements of the Panaruu Dinka were organised into a militia force to protect these oil fields (Craze et al. 2016, p.74), which has subsequently been demobilised. Control over Panakuac along the tri-border area with Rubkona and Abiemnhom was highly contested, with control exchanging hands between the SPLA and SPLA-IO multiple times. Panakuac was a strategic location given its place on the supply route to Sudan (and therefore its importance in providing  relatively limited military supplies from Khartoum to SPLA-IO forces in Unity State) and it was the staging post for a number of assaults into neighbouring areas. The associated fighting – and eventual recapture of Panakuac by the SPLA in early 2015 –  caused large numbers of civilians and SPLA-IO soldiers to flee into Sudan. By mid-2015, Wunkur (near the county’s eastern border with Panyikang County) was occupied by SPLA-IO forces from the mostly Shilluk Agwelek faction – dislodging the Paweny Dinka section from the area – and leading to clashes with the SPLA (Craze et al. 2016; Small Arms Survey 2021). Sporadic clashes continued in parts of Pariang continued throughout the civil war. Wunkur remained under the control of the Agwelek faction during the conflict, and after the signing of the 2018 R-ARCSS.

Grievances relating to the distribution of oil revenues to local authorities, and perceived marginalisation within the Unity State, have fuelled calls for self-government among the Ruweng/Panaruu Dinka. These grievances have been reinforced by land disputes with Rubkona County – which extend to the Panakuac area – and between Pariang and Guit counties regarding control of Manga/Minyang and its port (ICG 2011, fn.131; de Simone 2013, p.52; Small Arms Survey 2016, p.3). These calls were eventually realised in the government’s unilateral creation of Ruweng State in 2015, and later the Ruweng Administrative Area (RAA) in 2020. However, the effect of this reorganization of administrative boundaries has been to aggravate border disputes with neighbouring counties in Unity State, and increase tensions over control or allocation of resources within the RAA. The Small Arms Survey (2021) observe that the creation of the RAA has not been associated with increasing autonomy or political independence for the area. Although the RAA initially established control over territory disputed with Rubkona (including Rotriak/Rot-Riaak, discussed below), after mid-2021 SSPDF forces took control of Panakuac, bringing the contested land into the orbit of Unity State and bisecting Pariang and Abiemnhom counties (Small Arms Survey 2023, p.6).

Although Pariang has not been exposed to widespread violence following the signing of the R-ARCSS in 2018, incidents of localised insecurity have occurred, notably in Wunkur Payam. This includes tensions and clashes between the SPLA-IO Kitgweng Faction and Agwelek forces that were also aligned with SPLA-IO forces at the time (Sudans Post 2022). On 1 July 2023, SSPDF and SPLA-IO forces clashed in Wunkur Payam in contested circumstances, with at least seven people reportedly killed (Eye Radio 2023; Radio Tamazuj 2023). Additionally, insecurity in the form of raiding by armed youth from Guit and Rubkona counties – and occasional violent incidents involving Misseriya pastoralists – have continued to be reported. Significant clashes involving armed pastoralists from Guit County and youths from Pariang were reported in Nyeel Payam in February 2022, killing 23 people (Radio Tamazuj 2022).

Pariang has hosted large numbers of refugees from Sudan’s Nuba Mountains at Ajoung Thok and Pamir camps in Jamjang Payam, and Yida camp in Werthen Payam. There have been periodic demonstrations among refugees in the camps – including against cuts in rations – as well occasional attacks on refugees, notably during 2017. These camps represent a significant source of revenue and employment opportunities in eastern Pariang, and there have been growing tensions between the host community and refugee populations exacerbated by limited infrastructure, services, and employment opportunities in Pariang. In May 2021, humanitarians were evacuated from Jamjang following threats from local youth relating to allegedly biased employment practices. Economic pressure on communities has in turn increased pressure on aid actors to prioritize the employment of people from the host areas (Small Arms Survey 2021). Following the outbreak of the conflict in Sudan in April 2023, increasing numbers of South Sudanese returnees and Sudanese refugees have entered South Sudan via Panakuac. While Sudanese refugees have been resettled in Ajuong Thok, South Sudanese returnees have largely been settled in Rotriak/Rot-Riaak, which falls within the area claimed by Rubkona County and the RAA. This has raised concerns over further tensions between the two administrations over the allocation of revenues and jobs associated with the humanitarian response at Rotriak, and the implications of re-settling largely ethnic Nuer returnees in an area claimed by the predominantly Dinka RAA (Small Arms Survey 2023, p.6).

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Pariang (County HQ), Aliiny, Biu, Jamjang, Nyeel, Werthen, Wunkur

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

Roads:

• A primary road runs from northern Rubkona County to Pariang town, via the oil field at Tor. The road was deemed passable in the dry season of 2023, but only passable within Pariang County in the rainy season of 2022 (with the segments of the road in Guit and Rubkona counties designated impassable).
• A secondary road runs north-east of Pariang town to Yida Refugee Camp. The road was deemed passable in both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023.
• A secondary road runs east to the Upper Nile State capital of Malakal via Tonga town. The condition of the road is unknown.
• A final secondary road runs north-east into Al Leri Locality in Sudan’s South Kordofan State, before returning into Panyikang County in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, terminating at Tonga. The condition of the road is unknown.
• A river route along the Bahr el Ghazal River is served by Manga Port (ownership of which is disputed by Guit County), which connects northern Unity State to the transport corridor along the River Nile.

 UNHAS-Recognized Heli-Landing-Sites and Airstrips: Yida, Ajuong Thok

REFERENCES

Concordis International. (2012). Crossing the Line: Transhumance in Transition Along the Sudan-South Sudan Border. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Craze, J. (2013). Dividing lines: Grazing and conflict along the Sudan– South Sudan border. Small Arms Survey/HSBA. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Craze, J., Tubiana, J., and Grammizi, C. (2016). A State of Disunity: Conflict Dynamics in Unity State, South Sudan, 2013–15. Small Arms Survey/HSBA. Retrieved 6 December 2023.

de Simone, S. (2013). Post-conflict Decentralization: Dynamics of Land and Power in Unity State – South Sudan. UNISCI Discussion Papers, No. 33. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Eye Radio. (2023). SPLM-IO to probe deadly attack on Ruweng peace delegates. Retrieved 12 December 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.

ICG, International Crisis Group. (2011). South Sudan: Compounding Instability in Unity State. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Nyaba, P.A. (1997). The Politics of Liberation in South Sudan: An Insider’s View. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

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

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

UNHCR. (2020a). ‘Pamir Refugee Camp Profile. Updated 29 February 2020’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

UNHCR. (2020b). ‘Ajuong Thok Refugee Camp Profile. Updated 29 February 2020’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

UNHCR. (2020). ‘Yida Refugee Settlement Profile’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

UNHCR. (2013). ‘In a move to a new camp, refugees in South Sudan respond cautiously’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

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

Radio Tamazuj. (2022). 23 killed as Unity, Ruweng youth clash. Retrieved 14 December 2023.

Radio Tamazuj. (2023). Six killed by SPLA-IO in Wunkur County. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2015). The Conflict in Unity State: Describing events through 9 April 2015. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2016). The Conflict in Unity State Describing events through 23 February 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2023). The Body Count: Controlling Populations in Unity State. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

Sudans Post. (2022). SSPDF, SPLA-IO clash near Upper Nile-Ruweng border. Retrieved 12 December 2023.

REPORTS on PARIANG

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.

ECOS & PAX (2014), ‘Scrutiny of South Sudan’s Oil Industry: Community Relations, Labour Practices and Impact on Land Use Patterns’. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Leiterer, R., Bloesch, U., Wulf, H., Eugster, S., & Joerg, P. C. (2018), ‘Vegetation monitoring in refugee-hosting areas in South Sudan’. Applied Geography, 93, 1-15. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Nonviolent Peaceforce. (2023). Crisis Upon Crisis: Conflict & Climate Induced Challenges in Rotriak, South Sudan. Retrieved 21 December 2023.

Rone, J. (2003). ‘Sudan, Oil, and Human Rights’. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved 16 July 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2021). ‘MAAPSS Update 8: Ruweng Administrative Area’. 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.