Torit County, Eastern Equatoria State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 99,740
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 98,491
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 63,096

Ethnic groups: Otuho/Lotuko, Lokoya

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 1,303 IDPs (-1,196 Q1 2020) and 2,568 returnees (-5,727 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

Torit County is located in Eastern Equatoria State. It borders Lopa/Lafon County to the north, Budi County to the east, Ikotos County to the south-east, and Magwi County to the south-west. It also borders Central Equatoria State (Juba County) to the west.

The county falls within the highland forest and sorghum livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018). Due to the diversity of different ethnic groups living in Torit County, both agriculture and cattle-keeping are considered to be the primary livelihoods practiced by residents. A FAO and WFP report from 2018 estimates that 75% of households engage in agriculture. The same estimate was reported in data from 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022). In 2021, gross cereal yields were estimated to be 0.8 tonnes per hectare, increasing to 0.9 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023). The presence of rivers, particularly the Kinyeti River, in the county also makes fishing a viable livelihood. The main crops grown are millet, cassava, sorghum, fruits and vegetables. However, most households still engage in cultivation at below subsistence levels, relying on the market to meet their food needs. Similar to other parts of Eastern Equatoria, Torit County receives migratory cattle keepers from neighbouring Jonglei state during the dry season, as they seek grazing land for their cattle as well as access to all-season water sources.

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. Conflict and displacement have interrupted livelihoods patterns and combined with climatic conditions have led to reduced agricultural productivity and undermined subsistence agriculture. Residents face challenges in turning to local markets to supplement their food sources due to low supplies resulting from insecure roads, as well as inflation following the financial crisis.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

As Torit Town is the state capital of Eastern Equatoria and the headquarters of Torit County, much of the state’s infrastructure and services are centralized in this area. The town hosts an UNMISS base, as well as schools (including at the secondary level), health facilities, a major market as well as local religious institutions such as the Catholic Diocese. In 2019, unusually high rainfalls in South Sudan led to flooding in many counties, including Torit.

Torit County is home to twenty-five (25) Early Childhood Development centers, sixty-two (62) primary schools and six (6) secondary schools. Five of the secondary schools are located in Torit payam while Hiyala Secondary is located in its namesake of Hiyala Payam.

Torit County was reported to have forty-three (43) health facilities including thirty-nine (39) functional health facilities, among them thirty (30) PHCUs, eight (8) PHCCs and one (1) hospital in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 6.91 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 5.56 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO, which ranks Torit as among the ten counties with the highest ratios of PHCUs/person in South Sudan. Torit Civil Hospital was reported to be moderately functional.

According to the Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, there are over 43,000 people in the county with humanitarian needs (up from 31,100 in 2021), which accounts for approximately 68% of the estimated population for Torit County reported in the HNO. The 2021 HNO report also states that Torit is one of eight Equatorian counties with the highest levels of contamination of landmines in South Sudan.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Historically, Torit holds great significance in South Sudan’s history of rebellion against the government of Sudan. The Torit Mutiny, which is said to have sparked the First Sudanese Civil War, occurred in 1955. Since the 1990s, tensions between cattle keepers and farmers have also plagued the area. Community defence groups in Torit, such as the monyomiji among the Otuho, have played an ambivalent role in the conflict. Whilst they have cooperated with – and in some cases deterred – both government and opposition forces to improve security in the area, they have also been a key player in cattle raids and revenge killings.

The outbreak of the civil war in December 2013 and subsequent insecurity in Torit County led to widespread displacement, with significant increases in displacement trends observed in 2016 and again in 2017. These incidents were both a result of communal clashes, as well as clashes between government and opposition factions in the area. Those who were able to fled to other parts of the county, neighboring counties, or even across international borders. High poverty rates and insecurity along major roads prevented many IDPs from being able to flee out of the county.

Since the singing of the peace agreement in 2018, the security situation in Torit has been relatively stable, with no major incidents reported.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams listed in Government and UN documents: Torit (County Headquarters), Bur, Himodonge, Hiyala, Ifwotu, Imurok, Kudo
Additional payams listed by local actors: Nyong, Iyire

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

Roads:

• The primary road between Torit town and Juba (running west) and Torit town and to the Kenyan border (running east via Kapoeta) was deemed passable during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023. A branch of this road runs south from Hiyala Payam to Ikotos town, and this was also listed as passable.
• A secondary road between Torit town and Magwi town (in Magwi County) to the south-west was also deemed passable during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023.
• A secondary road between Torit town and Lafon town (in Lopa/Lafon County) was deemed “passable with difficulty” during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023.
• A tertiary road runs south-west out of Torit town to Katiri village in the far south-east of Torit County. The condition of this road is unknown.

Heli and Fixed-Wing Airplane Airstrips: Torit

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.

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

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

Saferworld (2020). ‘Like the military of the village’: Security, justice and community defence groups in south-east South Sudan. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

REPORTS on TORIT

Bayo, P. et al. (2017). Estimating the met need for emergency obstetric care (EmOC) services in the payams of Torit County, South Sudan: a facility-based, retrospective cross-sectional study. BMJ Open. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Deng, David K. (2019). Housing, Land and Property Disputes in South Sudan: Findings from a survey Nimule, Torit, Wau and Yei. South Sudan Law Society. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Oosterom, M. (2017). Gendered (in)security in South Sudan: masculinities and hybrid governance in Imatong state. Peacebuilding 5(2), 186–20. 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.

Saferworld (2020). ‘Like the military of the village’: Security, justice and community defence groups in south-east South Sudan. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Simonse, S. (1998). ‘Age, Conflict & Power in the Monyomiji Age Systems’ in Kurimoto, E. and Simonse, S. (eds.) Conflict, Age & Power in North East Africa: 51-78. Oxford: James Currey.

Simonse, S. (1992/2017). Kings of Disaster: Dualism, Centralism and the Scapegoat King in Southeastern Sudan. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

World Bank (2014). Market Assessment, Skills Gap and Youth Needs Assessment Study in Selected Payams of Juba and Torit Counties in South Sudan. 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.