South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Okech Francis
Floods, droughts, cattle raids, all combined to send Ateng Mach fleeing his home in Anyidi of Bor South County for safety elsewhere.
Bor South County of Jonglei State is one of South Sudan regions hit hardest by 3 years of torrential rains, cattle related intercommunal violence-all coming after a devastating political conflict.
“I didn’t have an option but to relocate my cattle to a place where they would be safe,” the 65 year old told The Dawn by phone from Mundri of Western Equatoria State where he sought refuge.
With 200 heads of cattle, Mach, in the company of family and other community members, braved challenges as he migrated in search of new pastureland.
“Problems came up, they didn’t want us because they thought we would move in and destroy their farms,” he said.
“This created friction and we have decided that in order to avoid conflict, not only young people are advised to restrain- all community members are advised to shun conflict and embrace peaceful approach to any issue that arises.”
Since 2020, when the latest floods, the worst in South Sudan in 60 years first hit, migrations like that of Mach have been blamed for heightened insecurity with resulting intercommunal violence leading to further displacements including among host communities.
Devastating Effects
Areas including Magwi in Eastern Equatoria, Yei and Kajo Keji in Central Equatoria have had vicious violence that led to destruction of livelihoods and loss of lives of both farmers and cattle keepers.
This has slowed promotion of peace and security which a transitional government of national unity in South Sudan is struggling to create in order to pacify the country following a political crisis which began in 2013.
The crisis left 400,000 people dead, displaced four million others and slashed crude production leaving South Sudan’s economy in chaos.
Despite the institution of the transitional arrangement between the government and groups which opposed it, picking up the pieces in livelihood development have been tough for communities.
Edmund Yakani, who heads the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, a civil society group which monitors conflicts in South Sudan points at climate change as the new trigger of “deadly violence.”
“It is real and it is getting worse slowly with less attention of the various government authorities at national, state and local government,” Yakani told The Dawn in Juba.
Yakani said the floods disrupted the livelihoods of cattle keeping communities from Jonglei State, created massive immigration of the people and their animals to Magwi County of Eastern Equatoria State and set on course “deadly violence among the farmers and pastoralists” undermining “peaceful coexistence and security among the communities.”
Mabior Mangok, a local acting chief in Wangulei of Twic East County of Jonglei State corroborates Yakani, noting that the nasty confrontation in Eastern Equatoria has tasked cattle keepers with seeking quick solutions with communities they move to.
“When there is conflict it is always quickly resolved by leaders on both sides who are mainly responsible for solving issues that arises either within or across the borders,” the 54 year old community leader told The Dawn by phone.
Martin Mogga, the Deputy Presiding Bishop of the African Inland Church which works towards conflict resolutions blamed the government for “failure” to provide response to people affected by climate change.
“They already feel nobody cares for them, the drought is causing a big problem in their lives, floods are keeping them on the run and people are feeling bad,” Mogga told The Dawn in an interview in Juba.
“Some people are invading land to settle under the pretext of cattle raids and are actually not after cattle but armed communities grabbing land belonging to others,” Mogga said.
“They want new land to settle because in their own, the resources have dwindled.”
Government Inability to Respond
According to the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs [NUPI], a leading center for research on international issues, conflict, governance deficits, insufficient resources, knowledge gaps and low technical expertise and capacity have weakened the ability of the government of South Sudan to integrate climate-related security risks into its efforts to manage communal and natural resource conflicts, as well as conflicts over land ownership and rights.
“Unpredictable annual variations in extreme weather events, like flooding and droughts, affect agriculture-dependent communities and influence pastoralist mobility patterns and routes,” and “such changes may intensify the risk of tensions between herders and farmers, often in connection with land, grazing, water and communal affairs,” NUPI said.
“Climate-related livestock losses compounded by pre-existing rivalries increase the risk of cattle raiding, which can trigger retaliation, communal conflict, displacement, deepening intercommunal rivalry and the formation of armed groups.”
The government admitted the problem but is calling for collective responsibility from stakeholders.
“We clearly know it is the responsibility of the government to create awareness on climate change and yet the issues of violence and conflict is not only a responsibility of the government to resolve alone but all stakeholders including the communities involved,” Pia Philip Michael, Undersecretary at the Ministry of Peace Building in South Sudan told The Dawn in an interview.
“While the government comes in to play its part to deescalate tensions, there is need for the communities to understand that the problems associated with climate change will not go away soon and they must find solutions to deal with it amicably,” he said.
Michael said the government is undertaking peace building projects together with partners in hotspots including Malakal in Upper Nile, Bor in Jonglei and Wau in Western Bahr el Ghazal.
The project, he said, includes dialogues with the communities around planning drought resistant crops, and common rules of respect to one another when they are forced to come together.
“The plans are still at a very initial stage and as a government we need to wrap it all up and work towards making the community understand about climate change.”
Reluctance Spurs Community Violence
Lack of proper planning is one weakness in battling climate change in the country, Yakani said.
“Government efforts are always late and inadequate because the government authorities always never plan in advance for climate change threats and risks,” he said.
People most affected by adverse effects of climate change are communities at the grassroots, internally displaced, and vulnerable groups including people living with disabilities.
“The absence of plans by the government in responding to climate change shocks have contributed to grilling shocks that is triggering deadly violence and insecurity across the country,” Yakani said.
“This is so because climate change security is not part of the government’s national security plan.”
Communities are also part of the stakeholders who lack the capacity to deal with new adversities caused by climate change, Yakani argued.
“The level of knowledge among various stakeholders on climate change is limited and worst, the knowledge in terms of early responses” is wanting, he said.
Okello Peter fled Magwi when his farms were destroyed when cattle keeping communities invaded the area in 2022 in violations of earlier orders from the government that all cattle from neighboring communities must leave Equatoria land.
According to the United Nations, stresses among these two groups had been simmering for years and matters worsened as widespread floods across the country led cattle herders to Eastern Equatoria in search of dry land for their animals to graze and consequences of escalations uprooted thousands of members of the farming communities.
Peter, one of them, abandoned his farm and now owns a motorcycle taxi (boda boda) in Juba instead of farming. “The farm was destroyed and it’s very difficult to return since my worry is that the cattle keepers will keep coming,” he told The Dawn in Juba.
Like him, many people have sought displacement and even changed livelihoods.
