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On the backdrop of the 1999 Wunlit Peace Conference, this briefing focuses on contentious issues in the Wunlit Triangle across Unity, Warrap, and Lakes States, as discussed by local communities. It also provides recommendation from participants on how communities can peacefully resolve disputes across boundaries. Read more here

This Briefing Paper from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA) project—analyses the components of Rin Tueny’s, current Lakes State Governor, ‘inclusive deterrence’ approach in Lakes state, South Sudan, and its blind spots. The report finds that, since assuming office in 2021, the governor has largely succeeded in reducing the level of crime and violence, as such the paper also discusses the possibility of this approach being institutionalized…

In January 2023, a PAX interviewer conducted 12 interviews with local security experts in Lakes State. The group of experts included local government officials, police chiefs, court officials, communal chiefs, religious leaders, and women leaders. This report summarizes the security dynamics observed by the consulted experts during Q3 and Q4 of 2022. Highlights: All consulted local security experts unanimously claimed that the local security situation in Greater Yirol had further improved during the second half…

Based on cases studies from the two neighbouring communities of Payinjair of Unity State and Yirol East of Lakes State, the paper examines the effectiveness of local level conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms. The paper finds that local level mechanisms was instrumental in dispute resolution and violence reduction between them. It shares some insights and lessons learned for promoting local conflict prevention and resolution as well as peacebuilding in South Sudan and elsewhere. Download

In early September 2021, a group of men sat in the shade of a tree in Nyang, the capital of Yirol East County. The men – some of them former cattle camp leaders – engaged in a lively discussion about livestock. In February 2021, state authorities had temporarily introduced mobile courts made up of former cattle camp leaders who successfully addressed unresolved livestock disputes and cattle raiding in Yirol East County and other counties in…

Cueibet – a county in Lakes state – is the current epicentre of intra-communal violence in the state. Although most people living in the county are from the Gok Dinka sub-tribe, relations among people from various clans within the Gok Dinka have been conflict-ridden, exacerbated by an abundance of small arms and light weapons in civilian hands. This brief provides a context update about the current situation in Cueibet –a county in Lakes state in…

Summary This research paper reflects on the myriad ways in which militarised and criminalised forms of authority in South Sudan, specifically militias and gangs interpret norms around gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). It is founded on extended local fieldwork conducted throughout the first half of 2019 across four field locations, including: Wau Town in Western Bahr el Ghazal State; Yirol East in Lakes State; Ganyiel in Unity State; and the Juba…

Abstract Background: Despite high rates of violence against women and girls (VAWG) in conflict and humanitariancontexts, many survivors do not tell anyone about their experience or seek help from support r services (e.g. health, legal, psychosocial support, police). Methods: This paper examines disclosure and help seeking behaviours of survivors of non-partner sexual violence (NPSV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) among women and girls aged 15–64 from three sites in South Sudan. It seeks to understand…

Abstract Background Conflict and humanitarian crises increase the risk of both intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence against women and girls. The authors measured the prevalence and risk factors of different forms of violence against women and girls in South Sudan, which has suffered decades of conflict, most recently in 2013. Methods A population-based survey was conducted among women aged 15–64 in three conflict-affected sites in South Sudan: Juba, Rumbek, and the Protection of…

There is a normalisation of violence that permeates the reality of the cattle camps in Lakes State. There is also rich tradition, legacy, community, discipline, organisation and an aspiration for a peaceful and prosperous future. Often the conversation around the cattle camps is anchored around the moment of violence and the ‘problem’ of cattle camp youth. This research approaches the inquiry from the foundation of broader cattle camp values and identity. We distil from that…

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