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.
The Murle are a Surmic ethnic group inhabiting the Pibor County and Boma area in Greater Pibor Administrative area, South Sudan, as well as parts of southwestern Ethiopia. They have also been referred as Beir by the Dinka and as Jebe by the Luo and Nuer, among others. The Murle speak the Murle language, which is part of the Surmic language family. The language cluster includes some adjoining groups in Sudan, as well as some non-contiguous Surmic populations in southwestern Ethiopia.
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.
Bor is a city and county in the central region of South Sudan.
South Sudan is home to around 60 indigenous ethnic groups and 80 linguistic partitions among a 2021 population of around 11 million. Historically, most ethnic groups were lacking in formal Western political institutions, with land held by the community and elders acting as problem solvers and adjudicators. Today, most ethnic groups still embrace a cattle culture in which livestock is the main measure of wealth and used for bride wealth.
The Southern Sudan Peace Commission (SSPC) was established in 2006. The purpose of the Peace Commission is promote peace among the people of South Sudan and to help consolidate the results of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in January 2005 between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan.
Ayod is a town in Jonglei, South Sudan, headquarters of Ayod County. The Nuer people are the main inhabitants. Riek Machar, first vice-president of South Sudan, is the 26th son of the chief of both Ayod and Leer.
Fangak County is an administrative area in Jonglei State, South Sudan, with headquarters in the town of Phom el Zaraf.
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 South Sudan Democratic Movement (SSDM), sometimes called the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army (SSDM/A), was a South Sudanese militant group. Along with its armed wing, the South Sudan Defence Army (SSDA), rebelled against the government of South Sudan led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.
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.
Pochalla is a county in Pibor Administrative Area, South Sudan. The capital of the state, where the governor and state parliament is located, is in Bor town, which is situated on the Nile River at the western end of the state. Pochalla is to the extreme east of the state, located on the border with Ethiopia. Much of the County is sandwiched between two rivers, the Akobo, which forms the national boundary to the east, and the Oboth to the west. The dominant people group are the Anyuak who border the Murle to the west and the Nuer to the North, both of whom are cattle keeping tribes, who have a culture of raiding to increase their cattle numbers. To the east in Ethiopia, the Anuak have had tensions with the government, so communications are weak.
David Yau Yau is a South Sudanese politician and former militant. He served as Governor of Boma State from 2018 to 2020 and as the Chief Administrator of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area of South Sudan. He was previously the leader of a Murle insurrection against the South Sudanese government.
The Greater Pibor Administrative Area is an administrative area in South Sudan.
The Pibor massacre occurred in Pibor County, South Sudan from 23 December 2011 to 4 January 2012. The fighting was between the Murle and the Lou Nuer, mostly over raiding cattle and abducting children to raise as their own. The Nuer White Army released a statement stating its intention to "wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer’s cattle". A report by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan estimated that about 900 were killed. Joshua Konyi, the commissioner of Pibor County and a Murle, estimated that 2,182 women and children and 959 men were killed, 1,293 children were abducted and 375,186 cows were stolen.
The disarmament of the Lou Nuer was a forcible disarmament campaign undertaken by the SPLA in Southern Sudan in December 2005. While other groups had been peacefully disarmed, the Lou section of the Nuer in Northern Jonglei State refused to comply. The SPLA organized a force under Peter Bol Kong to forcibly disarm the Lou Nuer, whose White Army resisted until a defeat in the battle of Motot, after which they fled the area.
Elections were held in Jonglei State on 10–15 April 2010 as part of the 2010 Sudanese general election, with voting for President of Sudan, National Assembly of Sudan, President of Southern Sudan, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, Governor of Jonglei State and the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly. The elections were the first in Sudan for over two decades, held in the aftermath of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan of Omar al-Bashir. The election was carried out in precarious security conditions, with ethnic conflicts prevalent in the state. The elections were won by the SPLM, with the exception of a handful of seats. Disputes over the election results led to the outbreak of two armed insurgencies.
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.
In January 2022, armed Murle militias attacked Bor Dinka villages in Jonglei State, South Sudan, killing dozens of people.
South Sudan 