Wulu County, Lakes State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 40,550
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 69,428
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 89,226

Ethnic groups and languages: Belle/‘Jur Bel(i)’, Bongo

Displacement Figures Q2 2022: 12,907 IDPs (+901 Q1 2020) and 8,959 returnees (+2,830 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

Wulu County is located in Lakes State and is the largest county in Lakes. It borders Cueibet County to the north, Rumbek Centre and Rumbek East Counties to the north-east, Yirol West County to the east. It also borders Warrap State (Tonj South County) to the north-west and Western Equatoria State to the west, south and south-east. The Gulnam and Roah rivers flow through the county.

The county is classified as belonging to the ironstone plateau agro-pastoral livelihood zone, which is characterized by open savannah woodlands. The sandy-clay soil is considered moderately fertile and supports production of a variety of crops. The peoples of Wulu County Lakes State predominantly practice agriculture and fishing, with many households also supplement their livelihoods by raising animals (such as goats, sheep and poultry). While the Belle and Bongo are the majority within the county, they are minorities within Lakes States. An estimated 80% of households engaged in agriculture in Wulu County in 2018 (FAO/WFP 2018). This remains the case in figures from 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022). Gross cereal yields for Wulu County were at 1.3 tonnes per hectare in 2021 and 2022 (FAO/WFP 2023). Communities also practice beekeeping and are providers of honey to residents of Lakes State and some neighbouring communities, with some honey also exported to urban areas of the country. Crops cultivated include sorghum, millet, cow peas, green gram, groundnut and sweet potatoes. In some regions, pumpkin, maize and cassava are also grown on a limited scale.

Honey is a unique local product, which residents harvest three times a year, in March, June and August/September. Within the Belle community, the number of beehives owned by a household is an indicator of its wealth. Poor households may own between 5-10 beehives, while households owning 150-300 are considered wealthy (UNMISS 2018). Beekeeping requires little startup capital and has both direct benefits (in the form of honey and beeswax cash crops), as well as indirect benefits from pollination.

Food security in Wulu County has deteriorated over the past few years. IPC projections put Wulu County at crisis (IPC level 3) levels in November 2022, with food insecurity conditions projected to persist at the same level until at least July 2023. Despite the severity of food insecurity, Wulu is the only county in Lakes State not to be projected to experience emergency (IPC level 4) levels of food insecurity in Q2 2023.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES

Wulu was administered as part of Western Lakes State between 2015 and 2020 and Wulu town is the county HQ. A local market in Wulu town serves the county, although the availability and price of goods have been impacted by inflation and insecurity. Wulu is perhaps one of the most neglected counties in Lakes State in terms of infrastructure. Roads connecting Rumbek Centre to the Wulu County Administrative Headquarters are poor and many parts are insecure.

While home to a single school only a decade ago, Wulu County now offers its youth more educational opportunities. Wulu County is now home to one (1) Early Childhood Development centre, thirty-five (35) primary schools and Wulu Secondary School, located in Wulu Payam.

Wulu County was reported to have fourteen (14) health facilities, all of which were reported to be functional. Among them are thirteen (13) PHCUs and one (1) PHCC in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 2.19 PHCUs per 15,000 people and .56 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. No hospitals were reported in Wulu County.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, over 54,000 people in Wulu County have humanitarian needs (up sharply from 30,400 in 2021), which is 60% of the estimated population of Wulu County reported in the HNO. In 2020, Wulu was listed by the HNO as one of fourteen counties in “extreme” need of SGBV services, though it was not clear if this was due to high severity or lack of coverage with existing services. Flooding in 2020 compounded food insecurity in the county. With unreliable rainfall in previous years, farmers resorted to cultivating in lowlands capable of better retaining water. When excessive rainfall led to flooding in July and August of 2020, this proved disastrous. Over 1,100 households were affected by flooding with significant displacement as well as the destruction of crops, livestock, and homes. Prices in the local markets were reported to have doubled in the wake of the flooding (IRNA 2021).

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Much of Wulu’s population is clustered in the far north-east of the county, with southern and western areas of the county adjoining Western Equatoria and Warrap states being isolated from road infrastructure. During the 1990s, Belle communities from the areas of Mvolo and Wulu hosted displaced Dinka communities from conflict-affected areas of Lakes, and provided assistance during the 1998 famine (PACT 2004). Wulu is notable for hosting a follow-up conference from the Wunlit Peace Conference in 2000 as part of the People-to-People peace process. This conference was held under the theme of “Strategic Linkages” and was intended to build towards political reconciliation among John Garang and Riek Machar (Ashworth 2019). Wulu was also the site of a 2004 meeting under the auspices of the Panakar Peace Council, which addressed deteriorating relations between parts of the Belle and Dinka communities, including disputes relating to insecurity, social tensions and damage to crops (PACT 2004).

Pastoralists from neighbouring areas of Lakes State have sought pasture and water for cattle in Wulu, at times causing tensions with local communities, particularly if damage is caused to local farms, beehives and water sources used for fishing. These have sometimes resulted in clashes between youth from parts of the resident communities and groups of pastoralists from the Gok and Agar Dinka clans. Conflict. The following year, community leaders initiated a reconciliation process between the two parties to the conflict. Tensions have also arisen with youth from Mvolo County in neighbouring Western Equatoria State, with a land dispute resulting in fighting in 2012 and the destruction of a healthcare centre in Bidibadai in April 2013 (The Niles 2013).

Local information indicates the conflict relates to an attempt by a group from Ngaap Boma in Bargel Payam to leave Western Lakes State and join Gok State (both of which had been established out of the former Lakes State).

Following the signing of the R-ARCSS in 2018, i raids on cattle camps have continued to occur within Wulu County, though the identity of the attackers is often either unclear or disputed (Sudan Tribune 2015; Radio Tamazuj 2019). In some instances, raids are reported to have been conducted within or between parts of the Gok and Agar Dinka communities, and on occasion have allegedly involved Atuot/Atwot pastoralists from Yirol West. Occasional clashes have also occurred between pastoralists and security forces (Radio Tamazuj 2014). In December 2019, six Gok Dinka cattle traders were killed and a significant number of cattle stolen whilst the traders transited through Wulu County to reach Maridi, though there is no information regarding the identity of the attackers (Sudan Tribune 2019). More recent clashes have taken place in June and September 2023 (The Radio Community 2023). The security situation along roads in Wulu is reported to have improved since early 2022.

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams: Wulu (County Headquarters), Bargel, Domoloto, Makundi

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

Roads:

• A primary road runs from Rumbek town to Mundri (Western Equatoria State) via Wulu town. The Logistics Cluster deemed this road passable during both the rainy season of 2022 and dry season of 2023.
• A secondary road running northwest connects Wulu to Cueibet. Seasonal conditions of the road are unknown.
• A tertiary road running northeast connects Wulu to Pacong town in Rumbek East County. Seasonal conditions of the road are unknown.
• A long tertiary road runs from the north of the county down to the south-west, and terminating in Yambio and Nzara towns in Western Equatoria State. Seasonal conditions of the road are unknown.

 UNHAS-Recognized Heli Landing Sites and Airstrips: None

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 13 July 2023.

IRNA. (2020). Wulu – Cueibet Counties, Lakes State. 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.

Sudan Tribune. (2009). Nine people dead as 175 people flee clashes in Lakes State. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

The Niles. (2013). Health centre set ablaze over land disputes in Wulu County. Retrieved via Wayback Machine 18 July 2023.

UNMISS. (2018). Money for honey: Bee keeping an economic lifeline for Wulu residents. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

REPORTS on WULU

Ayeni, G. O. et al. (2020). Factors Influencing Compliance with The Utilization of Effective Malaria Treatment and Preventive Measures in Wulu, South Sudan. Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences, 30 (4). Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Ayeni, G.O., et al. (2020). Perception of basic package of health services’ impact on health service delivery and mortality among residents of Wulu County, South Sudan. Journal of Public Health 14 p.135-151. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Ayeni, G.O., et al. (2017). Pattern and Distribution of Malaria Disease in Wulu – A Typical County in South Sudan. International Journal of Public Health 5. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

Chilvers, R. (2015). Six Lessons from the Within and Without the State Programme in South Sudan. Retrieved 18 July 2023.

REACH. (2014). Conflict Analysis: Lakes, Northern Bahr El Gazhal and Warrap States. 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.