Bentiu بانتيو | |
|---|---|
 Part of the UN's refugee camp in Bentiu. | |
  Bentiu Location in South Sudan | |
| Coordinates: 9°15′36″N29°48′00″E / 9.26000°N 29.80000°E | |
| Country |  South Sudan |
| Region | Greater Upper Nile |
| State | Unity State |
| County | Rubkona County |
| Elevation | 347 m (1,138 ft) |
| Population (2010 est.) | |
| • Total | 6,508 (plus 120,000 in the surrounding refugee/IDP camp) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
Bentiu, also spelled Bantiu, is a city in South Sudan. It is the capital of Unity State.
Bentiu is located in Rubkona County, Unity State, [1] in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan, near the international border with the Republic of the Sudan. It lies approximately 654 kilometers (406 miles), by road, northwest of Juba, the capital and largest city in the country. [2] Bentiu sits on the southern bank of the Bahr el Ghazal River that separates it from the town of Rubkona, which sits on the river's northern bank. The two towns are joined by the El Salaam Bridge that spans the river. [3] This bridge, along with a market, was bombed and partially damaged by North Sudanese MiG-29 bomber airplanes on April 23, 2012, during the Heglig Crisis. [4] At least three people were killed in the raid. [5]
As of 2006 [update] , the population of Bentiu including entire Guit County Payams was estimated at 100,230. [6]
The town was the administrative, political and commercial center of Unity state before its reorganisation in 2015 into the three new states of Ruweng, Southern Liech, and Northern Liech, and since the state's re-establishment. [7] The state governor maintains the headquarters of the state in the town, however the county headquarters for Rubkona County are situated in the town of Rubkona, across the river.
During the South Sudanese conflict that began in December 2013, the national government lost control of the town to a commander loyal to former vice president Riek Machar, although Machar denied this. [8] [9] Violence in the area continued, and on January 17, 2014, a United Nations official was quoted as saying that the town "simply did not exist anymore", and that "it was completely burnt down". [10] In April 2014, hundreds of Bentiu civilians were massacred by the "Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition Army" led by Machar. [11]
In December 2014, between 40,000 and 50,000 people lived in Bentiu's refugee/IDP camp, located outside the ransacked town of Bentiu, and Doctors Without Borders had begun to provide medical services. [12]
A 2015 survey indicated that Nuer was the preferred language for radio and news in the camp. [13]
By 2016, the camp was considered the largest refugee camp in South Sudan, and over 120,000 people had sought refuge there to escape fighting. Conditions in the camp were especially difficult in the dry season, when temperatures can reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit. [14] [15] Additional wells were drilled to increase the available water supply, with the assistance of the Groundwater Relief charitable organization. [16]
In 2018, a tree nursery pilot project was implemented for the camp, by the International Organization for Migration South Sudan, with support from the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and the European Commission Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, using "local trees such as mango, guava, neem, dinkipesha, ban, keer, meth, lemon, bannes, powpow, dhuras, chokas, etc." [17]
In November 2018, Doctors without Borders reported that a series of shocking attacks had occurred, against 125 women and girls who were walking to a food distribution center in Bentiu. [18] [19] On December 20, the Government of South Sudan said "claims of sexual attacks on more than 150 women and girls outside Bentiu in Northern Liech State are unfounded and baseless." [20] The United Nations Mission in South Sudan deployed a human rights team to the area to investigate allegations of 150 rapes, added patrols for additional protection, and began clearing brush and vegetation from roadsides to deter attackers. [21]
A 2021 documentary, Voices from Bentiu, portrays the work of Doctors not Borders staff and patients. [22]
The population count at the camp as of October 2023 was fluctuating between roughly 100,000 to 160,000, as people sought refuge from armed conflicts and two years of flooding due to heavy rainfall. [23] [24]
After the destruction during the Second Sudanese Civil War, infrastructure in and around Bentiu is now being rebuilt. The projects that have been rehabilitated, constructed, or restored include the following:
Bentiu is also the location of the planned Western Upper Nile University, a promise by the state's education officials to speed up the higher education system in what was then Unity state. Bentiu has three primary schools and two secondary schools. These schools were teaching in Arabic before 2005, and as of 2011, English is being taught. [28]
Unity State, also known as Western Upper Nile, is a state in South Sudan. Unity State is in the Greater Upper Nile region. Unity is inhabited predominantly by two ethnic groups: the Nuer majority, and the Dinka minority.
The South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) is an armed group that operates in the Upper Nile Region of South Sudan. The group's creation was announced in November 1999 by people of the Nuer ethnicity who were in both the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the government-allied South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF) gathered in Waat. The SSLM was declared to be unaligned in the Second Sudanese Civil War, then entering its sixteenth year. The name "South Sudan Liberation Movement" was decided upon the next year, borrowing from the earlier Southern Sudan Liberation Movement, which existed in the 1980s.
Salva Kiir Mayardit, also known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who has been the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, as well as First Vice President of Sudan, from 2005 to 2011. He was named Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2005, following the death of John Garang.
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key participant of the Second Sudanese Civil War, led by John Garang. After Garang's death in 2005, Salva Kiir was named the SPLA's new Commander-in-Chief. As of 2010, the SPLA was divided into divisions of 10,000–14,000 soldiers.
Bentiu Airport is an airport in South Sudan. It is located just north of Rubkona, a town that sits across the Bahr el Ghazal River from Bentiu. Via El Salaam Bridge, the airport is 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) by road from Bentiu.
The States of South Sudan were created out of the three historic former provinces of Bahr el Ghazal (northwest), Equatoria (southern), and Greater Upper Nile (northeast). The states are further divided into 79 counties.
The Greater Upper Nile is a region of northeastern South Sudan. It is named for the White Nile, a tributary of the Nile River in North and East Africa.
The history of South Sudan comprises the history of the territory of present-day South Sudan and the peoples inhabiting the region.
Leer is a town in the Leer County of Unity State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It is the capital of Leer County and was the capital of the former Southern Liech State. It is the most densely populated county in South Sudan.
Mayom is a community in the Mayom County of Unity State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It is located west of Bentiu. It is the headquarters of Mayom County.
Rubkona is a town in the Rubkona County of Unity State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. It lies on the northern bank of the Bahr el Ghazal River, connected via the El Salaam Bridge to the state capital, Bentiu. This bridge was bombed by North Sudanese MiG-29 bomber airplanes on April 23, 2012, during the Heglig Crisis. Rubkona is the administrative center of Rubkona County.
Rubkona County is an administrative division of Unity State, South Sudan.
The Heglig Crisis was a brief war fought between the countries of Sudan and South Sudan in 2012 over oil-rich regions between South Sudan's Unity and Sudan's South Kordofan states. South Sudan invaded and briefly occupied the small border town of Heglig before being pushed back by the Sudanese army. Small-scale clashes continued until an agreement on borders and natural resources was signed on 26 September, resolving most aspects of the conflict.
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).
The Ruweng Administrative Area is an administrative area in South Sudan. The area was known as Ruweng State between 2 October 2015 and 22 February 2020 when it was a state of South Sudan.
Santino Deng Wol is a South Sudanese military figure serving as the chief of defence forces of the South Sudan People's Defence Forces. He served as Lion Division commander from 2007 to 2017 and currently serving as the Assistant Chief of Defence Force for Administration, Finance and Personnel of South Sudanese army, SSPDF after being transferred from the post of Ground Force Commander. His hometown is Udhum which is part of Aweil West County in Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
Mathiang Anyoor, also spelled Mathiang Anyur, also known as Dot Ke Beny, is a Dinka-affiliated militia group in South Sudan. Originally an ad-hoc volunteer force founded in 2012, the militia was transformed into a private army to protect President Salva Kiir Mayardit and army chief Paul Malong Awan. However, the South Sudanese military (SPLA) claims that it is just another battalion. Much of the ethnic violence against non-Dinkas in the South Sudanese Civil War is attributed to the militia.
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 2014 retreat from Western Bahr el Ghazal, also called the long march north, was an unorganized withdrawal by hundreds of Nuer Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) deserters who sought to flee from Bahr el Ghazal to Sudan during the South Sudanese Civil War. After longstanding tensions between SPLA soldiers belonging to the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups escalated on 25 April 2014, leading to a massacre of Nuer soldiers at Mapel in Western Bahr el Ghazal, a large number of Nuer SPLA soldiers deserted to escape ethnic prosecution and loyalist SPLA forces. Though some deserters joined SPLM-IO rebels or surrendered to the government, a large number of them marched northward, joined by other SPLA defectors from Northern Bahr el Ghazal. After covering over 400 kilometres (250 mi), this trek eventually arrived in Sudan on 4 August 2014, where they were disarmed.
This article lists events from the year 2019 in South Sudan