Eastern Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 73,472 km2. The capital City is Torit. On October 1, 1972, the state was divided into Imatong and Namorunyang states and was re-established by a peace agreement signed on 22 February 2020.
The Didinga (Didinga) are a Surmic ethnic group that occupy the Didinga Mountains region in Budi County, Eastern Equatoria State in South Sudan. They live in the valleys, on the plateaus and slopes, and on the adjacent plains of the region. Their neighbors include the Toposa, Turkana, Boya, Ketebo, Logir, Ik, Dodos and Dongotona peoples - groups with whom the Didinga have had frequent conflicts due to economic pressures.
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.
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.
The Toposa are a Nilotic ethnic group in South Sudan, living in the Greater Kapoeta region of Eastern Equatoria state. They have traditionally lived by herding cattle, sheep and goats, and in the past were involved in the ivory trade. They have a tradition of constant low-level warfare, usually cattle raids, against their neighbors.
The SPLA-Nasir was a splinter faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel group that fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Originally created as an attempt by the Nuer tribe to replace SPLA leader John Garang in August 1991, it gradually became coopted by the government. The break away of Riek Machar from SPLM/A resulted in Nuer ethnic group massacring Garang's ethnic Dinka from Bor in the Bor massacre in 1991. This split resulted in the 1994 National Convention of New Sudan in Chukudum.
The Abyei Area is an area of 10,546 km2 or 4,072 sq mi on the border between South Sudan and Sudan that has been accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. The capital of the Abyei Area is Abyei Town. Under the terms of the Abyei Protocol, the Abyei Area is considered, on an interim basis, to be simultaneously part of both the Republic of South Sudan and Republic of Sudan, effectively a condominium.
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.
Ikotos County is an administrative area in the Eastern Equatoria state of South Sudan with headquarters in the town of Ikotos. The people, who live in the county's area by subsistence agriculture and cattle herding, are poverty-stricken. Years of civil war have made violence commonplace: most people have experienced the murder of a close family member. In 2009, AK-47 rifles were used in 42 per cent of killings.
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.
Budi County is an administrative area of Eastern Equatoria state in South Sudan, with headquarters in Chukudum.
Peter Lorot is a former officer who served with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). He broke away from the SPLA in 1999 with a Didinga force based on Chukudum, in Budi County of Eastern Equatoria State in South Sudan. In the resulting conflict many people were displaced. As of April 2011 Lorot's forces were still not reconciled with the de facto SPLM government.
Narus is a community in the Eastern Equatoria State of South Sudan. It is the headquarters of Kapoeta East County.
Nadapal is a community in the south west of Kapoeta East County, South Sudan near the border with the Rift Valley province of Kenya. The Nadapal belt is an area stretching 25 kilometres (16 mi) southward from the border with South Sudan to Lokichogio in Kenya.
Natinga originated from Didinga's common word "kitingatek" which literarily means let's force it.
Mongalla or Mangalla is a Payam in Juba County, Central Equatoria State in South Sudan, on the east side of the Bahr al Jebel or White Nile river. It lies about 75 km by road northeast of Juba. The towns of Terekeka and Bor lie downstream, north of Mongalla.
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.
Armed clashes took in Wau State from late June 2016 to January 2019 between the Dinka-dominated Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and local opposition forces, consisting of tribal Fertit militias as well as fighters claiming allegiance to Riek Machar. It is unclear to what extent these rebels were actually part of the SPLM-IO or acting independently while using the SPLM-IO's name. The clashes resulted in the arrest of the state's governor, Elias Waya Nyipuoc, widespread death and destruction in the state capital, Wau town, and the displacement of up to 150,000 people.
The 1987 Dhein Massacre began on the evening of Friday, 27 March 1987, when the Muraheleen militia attacked a church where 25 Dinkas had gathered for evening prayers. Subsequently, they or another group targeted nearby Dinka homes, setting fire to several houses and killing 5 or 7 individuals. That Friday night, some Dinkas fled, with some hiding with local families in Dhein, while others sought refuge in Hillat Sikka Hadid, a neighbourhood near the railway station, where they were under police protection.
The South Sudanese wars of independence was the armed struggle for autonomy or independence of South Sudan from Sudan. Rebels in southern Sudan fought for greater self-determination against the central government of Sudan, which tried to suppress the uprising using the army and allied militias. The first civil war lasted from 1955 to 1972, the second civil war from 1983 to 2005. The reasons for the conflict were the large ethnic, cultural and religious differences between southern and northern Sudan, the economic exploitation of the natural resources of the south by the north and the lack of political participation of the Southern Sudanese both in their own region and in the country as a whole.
South Sudan 