2022 Jonglei attacks

Background

In 2020, the South Sudanese Civil War formally ended with the creation of a unity government between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), led by President Salva Kiir (of Dinka origin), and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), led by Vice-President Riek Machar (of Nuer origin). Despite the peace agreement, Jonglei State remained a center of intercommunal violence involving Nuer militias such as the White Army and other ethnically organized armed groups. According to reporting on the case, these outbreaks were often preceded by ethnic mobilization, a recurring feature of militia activity in South Sudan, and were at times reportedly backed by state actors including the SPLM-IO, the South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), and the National Security Service (NSS), as well as by groups that did not sign the 2018 peace agreement. Communal conflicts in the region are described as ranging from revenge attacks and cattle raids to more severe ethnic violence.

Ethnic conflict in Jonglei escalated notably in spring 2020, when Lou Nuer and Gawaar Nuer militias allied with Greater Bor Dinka militias against the Murle community. Fighting began in Pibor, the largest Murle city, and expanded into Uror County before Nuer forces launched a counter-offensive into southwestern Pibor county. This period of fighting killed more than a thousand people and displaced nearly 90,000 Murle and nearly 80,000 Lou Nuer people.

Violence resumed in Pibor county on May 7, 2021, when Gawaar Nuer youth militias carried out cattle raids on Murle civilians. That round of fighting lasted about ten days and killed dozens of people. In response, President Kiir removed and replaced local leadership in southern Jonglei with predominantly Murle officials. The specific trigger for the January 2022 violence described below is not established in available reporting.

The January 2022 Attacks

Clashes began on January 23, 2022, when Murle militias attacked the Bor Dinka village of Baidit Payam, wounding at least 26 people, with many others reported unaccounted for. Subsequent attacks struck the Bor Dinka villages of Dungrut and Machined, killing at least 32 people. During these raids, property was looted and houses were burned; three women were killed, and three children reportedly drowned while attempting to flee the violence.

The attacks continued through late January and into early February 2022, spreading further into Uror County and Twic East County in western Jonglei State. Reporting indicates there was little indication that the violence had continued beyond February 2022.