2009 Sobat River ambush

Last updated
2009 Sobat River conflict
Part of Sudanese nomadic conflicts
LocationSouthSudan.svg
Date12 June 2009
Location
Belligerents
Flag of South Sudan.svg Sudan People's Liberation Army Jikany Nuer tribesmen
Strength
27 barges carrying food aid with a 150-man SPLA escort, four other barges Unknown
Casualties and losses
At least 40 soldiers and civilians killed [1]
735 tonnes of food aid looted or destroyed, 11 UN barges missing [1]
South Sudan adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Nasir
The attack took place near the town of Nasir, South Sudan, near the border with Ethiopia

The 2009 Sobat River ambush was a battle between Jikany Nuer tribesmen and the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) which was escorting a United Nations (UN) aid convoy on 12 June 2009.

Contents

Inspection and exchange of gunfire

The UN convoy consisted of 27 barges travelling on the Sobat River from Nasir to Akobo, in Southern Sudan near the border with Ethiopia. [2] Following rains which washed away roads, the river was the only way to move aid around the south of the country, which has suffered from tribal fighting – the river itself being closed earlier in the year due to increased tension in the area. [1] [2] The 27 UN barges were travelling in company with four other barges. [3] The barges were only allowed to use the river following negotiations with high-ranking government officials, who agreed to a 150-man SPLA escort. [3] [4] The convoy was operating under the auspices of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and was to have helped support around 18,000 of the 135,000 people displaced by recent tribal fighting which claimed hundreds of lives. [1] [5]

The convoy was stopped about ten or twenty miles downstream of Nasir by a force of Jikany Nuer tribesmen. [2] [4] The tribesmen demanded to search the barges to check that arms and ammunition were not being shipped to their rivals in the Lou Nuer tribe. [1] They searched one barge, finding only food, but opened fire when the rest of the convoy tried to continue its journey. [1] The attack killed at least 40 Sudanese soldiers and wounded 30 others. [3] The deaths of several women and children by gunfire or drowning have also been reported. [1] The wounded were taken to a Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Nasir which was braced to accept further casualties. [3] This was believed to be the first time the SPLA has suffered significant casualties in the recent tribal violence. [1]

Aftermath

While sixteen UN barges were able to return to Nasir, the other eleven remain unaccounted for, and are believed to have been sunk or looted. [2] [3] The WFP lost 735 tonnes of food aid in the attack and airlifted ten tonnes of aid to the area on 13 June. [1] The attack may have been made to prevent the food supplies reaching the Lou Nuer tribe which is alleged to have killed around 70 members of the Jikany Nuer tribe in attacks in May 2009. [5] It is feared that the Lou Nuer may be planning a retaliatory strike against the Jikany Nuer. [1]

There is fear of renewed fighting in the area, following the recent end of the Second Sudanese Civil War and the upcoming 2010 national elections and 2011 referendum on independence for Southern Sudan. [1] [2]

Clashes between rival tribes and ethnic groupings are common in Southern Sudan and usually occur over cattle or access to natural resources. [4] Fighting in May 2009 in South Kurdufan between the Rizeigat and Messiria tribes claimed more than 1,000 lives.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonglei State</span> State of South Sudan

Jonglei State is a state of South Sudan with Bor as its centre of government and the biggest city. Jonglei state comprises nine counties: Bor, Akobo, Ayod, Uror, Duk, Nyirol, Pigi, Twic East, and Fangak. Jonglei State is the largest state by area before reorganisation, with an area of approximately 122,581 km2, as well as the most populous according to the 2008 census conducted in present-day South Sudan's second period of autonomy. The boundaries of the state were again changed as a result of a peace agreement signed on 22 February 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shilluk people</span> Nilotic ethnic group of South Sudan

The Shilluk is a major Luo Nilotic ethnic group that resides in the northeastern Upper Nile state of South Sudan on both banks of the Nile River in Malakal. Before the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Shilluk also lived in settlements on the northern bank of the Sobat River, close to where the Sobat joins the Nile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riek Machar</span> South Sudanese politician (born 1952)

Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon is a South Sudanese politician who has served as the First Vice President of South Sudan since 2020.

Sobat may refer to:

Nasir is a city in the Nasir County of Upper Nile State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. The city is on the north side of the Sobat River, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Ethiopian border. It is the administrative center of Nasir County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudanese nomadic conflicts</span> Non-state conflicts between rival nomadic tribes

Sudanese nomadic conflicts are non-state conflicts between rival nomadic tribes taking place in the territory of Sudan and, since 2011, South Sudan. Conflict between nomadic tribes in Sudan is common, with fights breaking out over scarce resources, including grazing land, cattle and drinking water. Some of the tribes involved in these clashes have been the Messiria, Maalia, Rizeigat and Bani Hussein Arabic tribes inhabiting Darfur and West Kordofan, and the Dinka, Nuer and Murle African ethnic groups inhabiting South Sudan. Conflicts have been fueled by other major wars taking place in the same regions, in particular the Second Sudanese Civil War, the War in Darfur and the Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.

The Jikany Nuer are a section of the Nuer people who mainly live in the eastern part of Upper Nile state in South Sudan, particularly around Nasir in Nasir County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in South Sudan</span>

Human rights in South Sudan are a contentious issue, owing at least in part to the country's violent history.

Gordon Kong Chuol is a former militia commander in South Sudan, who fought for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and later for the forces led by Riek Machar during the Second Sudanese Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adar oilfield</span> Oilfield in South Sudan

The Adar oilfield, also known as the Adar Yale, Adar Yeil or Adaril field, is an oilfield situated in the Melut in South Sudan estimated to contain about 276 million barrels (43,900,000 m3) of oil. The Chevron Corporation discovered the Adar Yale field in 1981, shortly before the start of the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005). Soon after Chevron had suspended operations in 1984, Sudanese government troops began attacking civilian settlements in the area, burning the houses and driving the people away, and in the late 1990s, Nuer militias from Nasir helped the army in clearing away the people to make way for the roads and infrastructure of the oilfield.

Nasir County also known as KuanyLualThuan is an administrative area of Upper Nile State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. The headquarters is the town of Nasir, on the north side of the Sobat River, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Ethiopian border.

Major General Yohannes Yual Both was a leader of the South Sudan Defense Forces whose mobile forces gave the Sudan People's Liberation Army considerable difficulty during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005).

Ethnic violence in South Sudan has a long history among South Sudan's varied ethnic groups. South Sudan has 64 tribes with the largest being the Dinka, who constitute about 35% of the population and predominate in government. The second largest are the Nuers. Conflict is often aggravated among nomadic groups over the issue of cattle and grazing land and is part of the wider Sudanese nomadic conflicts.

The Nuer White Army, sometimes decapitalised as the "white army", is a semi-official name for a militant organisation formed by the Nuer people of central and eastern Greater Upper Nile in modern-day South Sudan as early as 1991. According to the Small Arms Survey, it arose from the 1991 schism within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) for the dual purpose of defending Nuer cattle herds from neighbouring groups and fighting in the Second Sudanese Civil War between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Sudanese Civil War</span> 2013–2020 civil war in South Sudan

The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and 10 others of attempting a coup d'état. Machar denied trying to start a coup and fled to lead the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO). Fighting broke out between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and SPLM-IO, igniting the civil war. Ugandan troops were deployed to fight alongside the South Sudanese government. The United Nations has peacekeepers in the country as part of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Yuai is the capital of Uror County, Jonglei State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It is the most populous place in Uror County. It has historically been associated with the Nuer White Army.

Peter Par Jiek was a brigadier general of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and veteran of the Second Sudanese Civil War. In the course of that conflict, Par fought under Riek Machar with several rebel and pro-government groups, and eventually became a powerful militia commander in Unity State. In that region, he established his own fiefdom and gained some notoriety for his rivalry with another rebel leader, Peter Gadet. Even though he had followed Machar during the whole Second Sudanese Civil War until 2005, Par sided with President Salva Kiir Mayardit upon the outbreak of the South Sudanese Civil War in 2013. Leading pro-government counter-insurgency forces in Wau State since 2014, Par was eventually ambushed and killed by SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Machar in 2017.

The War of the Peters was a conflict primarily fought between the forces of Peter Par Jiek and Peter Gadet from June 2000 to August 2001 in Unity State, Sudan. Though both were leaders of local branches of larger rebel groups that were involved in the Second Sudanese Civil War, the confrontation between the two commanders was essentially a private war. As Par and Gadet battled each other, the Sudanese government exploited the inter-rebel conflict as part of a divide and rule strategy, aimed at weakening the rebellion at large and allowing for the extraction of valuable oil in Unity State. In the end, Gadet and Par reconciled when their respective superiors agreed to merge the SPDF and SPLA.

Motot is a town in the Uror County of Jonglei State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Athor's rebellion</span>

George Athor's rebellion was an uprising in the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region which lasted from April 2010 to December 2011. Organized by South Sudanese military commander and politician George Athor, the conflict mainly took place in the states of Upper Nile and Jonglei as well as some border areas.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "South Sudan river ambush kills at least 40 - official". Reuters. 14 June 2009. Archived from the original on June 18, 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Sudan tribesmen attack UN barges". BBC. 14 June 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "40 reported dead in south Sudan river clashes". Agence France Presse. 14 June 2009. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 "South Sudan gunmen attack UN food aid shipments". Agence France Presse. 13 June 2009. Archived from the original on June 19, 2009.
  5. 1 2 "Armed tribesmen clash with SPLA after attack on relief barges". Sudan Tribune. 14 June 2009. Archived from the original on 18 June 2009. Retrieved 14 June 2009.

8°36′59″N33°03′25″E / 8.61627°N 33.056889°E / 8.61627; 33.056889