Wau County, Western Bahr el-Ghazal State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 151,320
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 208,487
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 320,752

Ethnic groups and languages: Balanda (Viri, Bor), other ‘Fertit’ groups (see conflict dynamics section below), Luo/‘Jur Chol’, Dinka (Marial Bai)

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 26,390 IDPs (-20,165 Q1 2020) and 175,728 returnees (+26,718 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

Wau County is located in Western Bahr el-Ghazal State. It borders Raja County to the west and Jur River County to the east. It also borders Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State (Aweil Centre County) to the north and Western Equatoria State (Tambura and Nagero counties) to the south.

The county falls within the western plains groundnuts, sesame and sorghum livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018). The FAO and WFP (2017) estimated that 57% of households in Wau relied on subsistence farming as their main livelihood activity in 2016, increasing to 65% by 2021. In 2021, gross cereal yields were estimated to be 1.35 tonnes per hectare, declining slightly to 1.3 tonnes per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023).Fishing and livestock rearing were also identified as key livelihoods within the county. The most popular crops are cassava and sorghum, closely followed by groundnuts. Vegetables, sesame (simsim), and maize are also cultivated to lesser degrees. Other livelihoods activities include producing charcoal, and selling small goods such as second-hand clothes, cooking oil, salt and sugar. Imported goods from neighboring countries are also available, particularly from Sudan and Uganda, due to trade routes that run through the county. Wau town has a major market in the central area of town, as well as a number of smaller markets that serve the local population. It lies along historical trade and transportation routes, and as a result communities in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap rely on Wau town as a feeder market for goods.

Sustained insecurity around Wau County impacted the ability of farmers to maintain their crops, particularly during key planting and harvesting periods. As a result, this has led to a change in food insecurity levels 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 July 2023.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

The headquarters of Wau County is currently located in Baggari Payam, although Wau town is the capital of Western Bahr el-Ghazal State. As the state capital, Wau also hosts many government institutions that are critical for the functioning of the state. Although the county capital was moved from Wau to Baggari in late 2012, government institutions are still located in Wau town to maintain accessibility for the local population. The decision to move the county capital was highly contested and is discussed in the section on ‘conflict dynamics’ below.

The county has several churches and mosques present in the area, reflecting its mixed religious composition and historical linkages to Sudan. Additionally, In addition to Wau Airport, one of only four tarmacked airstrips in the country, the town also contains hubs for inter-state public transport.

Wau County is home to thirty-four (34) Early Childhood Development centres, one hundred and twenty-three (123) primary schools and thirty-six (36) secondary schools (one of which is located in Baggari Payam, with the remainder located throughout Wau North and Wau South payams).** Wau’s reputation as a centre of learning mean that its secondary schools and university draw students from across the county, state and country. Wau County is home to Mbili Girls National Teacher Training Institute located in Wau South Payam. The county also hosts the University of Western Bahr el-Ghazal, which is one of a handful of public higher education institutions in South Sudan.

Wau County was reported to have fifty-one (51) health facilities including thirty-seven (37) functional health facilities, among them nineteen (19) PHCUs, fourteen (14) PHCCs and four (4) hospitals in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 0.80 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.72 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. Wau Teaching Hospital and the Daniel Comboni Hospital were reported to be moderately functional, while the and the Wau Military and Police Hospitals were reported to be operating at limited functionality.

OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023 estimates that there are over 182,800 people with humanitarian needs in the county (down from 197,800 in 2021), which is equivalent to nearly 57% of the estimated population for Wau County reported in the HNO. Humanitarian need is particularly acute in the areas of protection, gender-based violence, child protection, shelter and non-food items.

The spread of conflict between government and opposition forces to Western Bahr el-Ghazal in 2016 led to a large number of IDPs fleeing to Wau Town. As a result of the insecurity and displacement, UNMISS created and supported a Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Wau town. In September 2020 UNMISS began to progressively withdraw its troops and police from the Wau PoC site as part of a wider redesignation of PoC sites to become IDP camps under the jurisdiction and protection of the government. Assessments conducted in Wau PoC between 2015 and 2019 indicated that many people in the camp suffered from persistent experiences of cumulative distress, mourning and grieving of multiple losses, acculturative stress, loneliness, anxiety, loss of self-esteem, strain and fatigue from cognitive overload and perceptions of inability to function completely in current circumstances.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

The Small Arms Survey reported in 2015 that tensions between the SPLA and local ethnic minority communities date back to the early 1980s. In Wau County, these minority groups are often referred to as ‘Fertit’ (Vuylsteke, 2018). The term ‘Fertit’ was originally a term used by some groups to refer to traders that used to come from Darfur, but has evolved into a label applied to a broad umbrella of non-Dinka groups in Western Bahr el-Ghazal. While some groups now self-identify as ‘Fertit’ as a form of inter-group solidarity, many members of larger groups such as the Balanda tend to prefer use of their own names.

Tensions between local communities, migrant groups and the SPLA had led to the creation of self-defence forces in Western Bahr el-Ghazal to protect communities from raids in Raja and Wau Counties. The decision to move the capital of Wau County from Wau Town to Bagari in late 2012 was highly contested by the ‘Fertit’, which led to clashes between armed groups drawn from the ‘Fertit’ and government forces. The crackdown on protests in Wau Town by the army over the following months led to arrest of over a hundred people, the death of 10 civilians, and the detention of journalists without charge (BBC News, 2012).

In 2014, defections within the SPLA of Nuer soldiers led to clashes, and the subsequent displacement of women and children to the Wau Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in the town (UNSC, 2014). In 2015, the movement of cattle keepers into Wau County and clashes between government and opposition forces in the outlying areas of Wau County occurred, spreading insecurity to areas outside of the town. Armed groups – some under the banner of the ‘Fertit Lions’ or ‘Western Bahr el Ghazal Lions’ – were remobilized in response to the increasing armed violence in Wau County from 2015 onwards and at times aligned with the SPLA-IO (Vuylsteke, 2018). Since 2016, further clashes between government forces and opposition groups led to significant displacement within Wau town, both to the PoC as well as other ad hoc displacement sites within town (IOM, 2016). Local infrastructure was impacted and disrupted, and local institutions such as churches began to host many IDPs. Defections from the opposition forces in 2017 and the subsequent proliferation of different armed factions operating in Wau County deepened instability. Fighting between government and opposition forces intensified in late 2018 leading to the destruction of local markets and occupation of humanitarian infrastructure in areas around Mboro and Bagari. The Small Arms Survey reports that the various waves of displacement – especially of ‘Fertit’ and Luo – have led to significant changes in the composition of Wau town and surrounding areas (Vuylsteke, 2018). Prolonged insecurity in Wau County has also contributed to increasing food insecurity in the area, particularly in the outlying payams. This was exacerbated by the inability of humanitarian organizations to access the impacted areas to conduct assessments and provide assistance.

Conflict in neighbouring Jur River and Raja counties has also impacted Wau County, as it often receives a significant number of IDPs that have been forcibly displaced (FSL Cluster, 2019; REACH, 2018). Despite the fact that Wau residents who were displaced earlier slowly began returning to their homes in 2019, new IDPs were registered in displacement sites from other parts of the state that same year, placing additional pressures on existing infrastructure and presenting new humanitarian needs.

The security situation in Wau County stabilized in early 2019 following the SPLA offensives and gradual implementation of the revitalised peace agreement signed in September 2018. Soldiers began moving into assigned cantonment sites in preparation for the formation of the new government, which contributed to the decrease in clashes. However, occasional clashes between armed cattle keepers and farmers – such as in Kuarjena in March 2019 – continue to trigger new displacement (DTM, 2019).

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Baggari (County Headquarters), Besselia, Kpaile, Wau North, Wau South

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

Roads:

• The state capital, Wau, has several primary road connections to regional towns of importance, including Aweil (Northern Bahr el Ghazal State), Kuajok (Warrap State), Tambura (Western Equatoria State) and Rumbek (Lakes State). Wau also connects to neighbouring Raja County’s Deim Zubeir and Raja towns. All of these roads were designated as being passable during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023, with the exception of the road to Tambura, which was deemed “passable with difficulties” across the same time period.
• An additional primary road runs north-east from Wau to Lunyaker in Gogrial East County. The condition of this road is unknown. A secondary road forks from this road in eastern Jur River County, running to Warrap town in Tonj North County. The condition of this road is also unknown.
• A tertiary road network runs in the far north of the county, and in the far north-east of the county covering villages surrounding Wau town. The condition of this road network is unknown.

UNHAS recognised Heli and Fixed-Wing Airplane Airstrips: Wau

REFERENCES

BBC News. (2012). South Sudanese army shoots dead 10 protesters in Wau. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

DTM. (2019). South Sudan – Event Tracking: Jur River. Retrieved 18 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 10 July 2023.

FSL Cluster. (2019). FSL cluster coordination mission report to Wau (former WBEG state): 3-7^th June 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

IOM. (2016). Humanitarian Needs Spike for 83,000 Displaced in Wau, South Sudan. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

OCHA. (2019). Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2023.

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

Radio Tamazuj. (2021) SPLA-IO detain Wau County Commissioner. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

REACH. (2018). Situation Overview: Greater Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

UNSC. (2014). Report of the United Nations Hugh Commissioner for Human Rights on the situation of human rights in South Sudan. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Vuylsteke, S. (2018) Identity and Self-Determination: The Fertit opposition in South Sudan. Small Arms Survey/HSBA. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

REPORTS on WAU

Antoni, D. et al. (2020). Working to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals Through Enhancing Women’s Access to Land in Post Conflict Context: The Case of Wau State in South Sudan. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Boyong, C. S. J., et al. (2018). Dynamics of tuberculosis in Wau, South Sudan during a period of armed conflict. Journal of clinical tuberculosis and other mycobacterial diseases, 12, 54-65. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Deng, D.K. (2019). Housing, Land and Property Disputes in South Sudan: Findings from a survey, Nimule, Torit, Wau and Yei. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

IOM (2019). Displacement and Return in Wau, South Sudan. International Organisation for Migration. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

IOM (2019). Disability and Inclusion Survey, Wau PoC AA. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Kühhas, B., Taaka, J., & Bragin, M. (2017). Development of participatory psychosocial well-being indicators for IOM-MHPSS programming in Wau, South Sudan. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Luedke, A. (2020). Violence, Crime and Gender in South Sudan: Reflections from the Field on Militias and Gangs. LSE Conflict Research Programme. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Saferworld. (2021). Enhancing people’s resilience to resolve conflicts in Western Bahr el Ghazal state. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

South Sudan Council of Churches and UK Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund. (2020). The Impact of Logging Activities on Local Communities. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Ukelo, D. (2019). The War of Destiny: Triggers of Insurgent Evolution. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse.

Vuylsteke, S. (2018) Identity and Self-Determination: The Fertit opposition in South Sudan. Small Arms Survey/HSBA. Retrieved 18 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.

** Note: SAMS enrolment data from 2022 indicates that there is a disproportionately large number of schools in Western Bahr-el Ghazal State which have fewer than ten pupils enrolled.