Budi County, Eastern Equatoria State

Demographics

2008 NBS Census population: 99,234

2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 101,474

2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 104,986

2024 UN OCHA population estimate*: 101,473

2024 IPC population estimate: 108,136

Ethnic groups: Didinga and Buya/Larim**

Displacement Figures as of September 2024: 3,895 IDPs (-1,300 Sept. 2023) and 3,505 returnees ( -6,876 Sept. 2023)
IPC Food Security: November 2024 – Crisis (Phase 3); IPC Projections: December to March 2025 – Emergency (Phase 4); April to July 2025 – Crisis (Phase 3)

Economy & Livelihoods

Budi County is located in Eastern Equatoria State. It borders Lopa/Lafon County to the northwest, Kapoeta North County to the northeast, Kapoeta South County and Kapoeta East County to the east, and Ikotos County and Torit County to the west. It also shares a border with Uganda to the southeast. The area is known for the Didinga Hills, named after one of the ethnic groups that inhabit the area.

The county is categorized within the highland forest and sorghum livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018). Agriculture and pastoralism are the primary livelihoods in Budi, with sorghum, maize, millet, sesame, and beans being the main crops grown in the area. A 2018 report estimated that 85% of households engage in agriculture (FAO/WFP 2018), with the same estimate reported in 2022 data (FAO/WFP 2023). In 2022, gross cereal yields were estimated to be 1.3 tonnes per hectare (FAO/WFP 2023).

Deforestation in Budi has made forestry a less viable livelihood for local populations, as South Sudan and local communities lack reforestation practices. Although it is unclear exactly how many residents engage in artisanal mining, many in the area – especially young men – have pursued gold mining to support their households. Cattle grazing and displacement have also degraded the quality of arable land, forcing farmers to cultivate lower-quality soil. Additionally, successive droughts have strained locally sourced food supplies, and swarms of desert locusts significantly reduced crop harvests throughout 2020.

The IPC projected that the county would be in a crisis (IPC level 3) of food insecurity in November 2024, with conditions expected to deteriorate to emergency (IPC level 4) from December through March, before returning to crisis (IPC level 3) between April and July 2025.

Infrastructure & Services

The county headquarters are currently located in Chukudum in Komiri Payam. Although the county lacks primary roads connecting it to Uganda, its border position supports modest cross-border trade. A cross-border market linking Budi County to Beri in northern Uganda opened in 2017. However, sustained insecurity in the area has disrupted major transportation and trade routes, limiting supplies to local markets. A REACH assessment conducted in March 2019 found that 64% of assessed households reported having to travel from one hour to multiple days to reach a market.

Budi County is home to fifty-four (54) Early Childhood Development centers, one hundred and fourteen (114) primary schools, and twenty-two (22) secondary schools. Two of the secondary schools are near the county capital in Komiri Payam, while Lotukei Secondary is in Lotukei Payam.

In December 2024, the WHO reported that Budi County had twenty-three (23) health facilities, of which twenty-one (21) were functional. These functional facilities comprised fourteen (14) primary health care units (PHCUs), six (6) primary health care centers (PHCCs), and one (1) hospital. This meant there were approximately 1.94 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 2.77 PHCCs per 50,000 people in the county at that time. The Chukudum Civil Hospital was reported to be moderately functional.

According to OCHA’s 2025 Humanitarian Needs Overview, an estimated 54,308 people in Budi County are in need, representing approximately 50% of the county’s total population as reported by OCHA for 2025. For comparison, in 2024, OCHA reported that an estimated 55,969 people in Budi County were in need, of whom 51,529 were non-displaced, with the remainder comprising IDPs and returnees. Additionally, an insecure context has limited development initiatives in the area and prevented consistent access to aid organizations. The killing of an aid worker in March 2021 while traveling from Chukudum to a health facility in Kapoeta was widely condemned and prompted calls for security-related improvements in the county and more broadly.

Conflict Dynamics

Situated on the eastern bank of the Kidepo Valley along the Ugandan border, Budi County is enmeshed in long-standing patterns of conflict and cooperation that bind the various groups based in and around the valley. The name of Budi County derives from the two ethnic groups that have historically resided in the area – the Buya/Larim and the Didinga (Walraet 2008, fn.40). The Buya/Larim are reported to live in the low-lying northern areas of the county, whereas the Didinga have tended to occupy the southern areas (OCHA 2005). Budi’s largest town, Chukudum, is notable for hosting the April 1994 SPLM/A National Convention, during which a number of political, institutional, and legal reforms were outlined (SPLM 1994; Rolandsen, 2005). In December of the same year, a series of meetings in the town produced the Chukudum Accord, which consolidated links between the SPLM/A and northern Sudanese opposition groups and established a set of common principles among the parties for a future political dispensation in Sudan (Collins, 1999).

The security context in Budi County has been affected by violence from multiple sources since the 1980s. The SPLM/A arrived in Budi in 1985 to an initially warm reception, though relations reportedly deteriorated between the movement and parts of the local community (including traditional authorities) in the following years (Walraet 2008, p.56, 63). In 1992, the SPLM/A moved its Equatoria headquarters to Chukudum after losing the town of Torit, bringing large numbers of soldiers and IDPs to the area. Chukudum became one of several towns in the area to experience fighting between government (and government-aligned) forces and the SPLM/A, with pro-government forces repulsed during an attack on the town in late 1993 (Simonse 2000, p.25). Meanwhile, the increased presence of SPLM/A forces in and around Chukudum led to further tensions and clashes with parts of the Didinga community, while the area became a hub for cross-border trade into Kenya and Uganda (Johnson, 2003, p.109). Cross-border trade that had primarily been based on tobacco from the Didinga Hills increasingly became associated with the trade in (sometimes stolen) cattle and firearms into Agoro in northern Uganda, while competition over the control of commodity chains was linked to further friction within Budi (Walraet, 2008).

In 1999, in-fighting was reported within the SPLM/A stationed in Budi – known locally as the ‘Chukudum Crisis’ – which escalated violence among soldiers from the Dinka and Didinga communities and led to the laying of several landmines in the area (OCHA 2005, p.3). The violence also heightened insecurity at Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries, as well as the torching of shelters at the camp (Kurimoto, 2004, p.39). Localised insecurity persisted in parts of Budi until a local peace agreement was signed in 2002 (Walraet, 2008) and reportedly flared again in 2006 (UN, 2006).

Following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, conflict increased in and around Budi County, often tied to disputes over boundaries and resources. Within Budi, low-level conflict involving parts of the Buya/Larim and Didinga communities was reportedly linked to Buya/Larim elements seeking to establish a county based on their perceived ethnic boundaries (Walraet, 2008, p. 64), consistent with a broader ethnicisation of administrative boundaries across much of Eastern Equatoria State (Okech, 2015). Tensions between parts of the Didinga and Toposa communities in nearby Kapoeta also persisted during this period, despite a 2003 peace agreement between the two groups to curb prior conflict (OCHA 2005, p. 3). In May 2007, reports emerged of an alleged attack on Didinga civilians by an armed group reportedly from the Toposa community in northeastern Budi, resulting in a significant loss of life (Sudan Tribune 2007). The incident was variously reported as linked to a boundary dispute over a potential gold-mining site and/or to local political rivalries (Walraet, 2008, pp. 64-66; Schomerus & Allen, 2010, p. 61). Finally, long-standing patterns of cross-border raiding – alongside attempts to re-establish more peaceful relations – have involved groups from Budi and Ikotos counties, and are discussed further in the profile for Ikotos County.

During the national conflict (2013-2018), although Budi experienced lower levels of conflict and insecurity than other parts of the country, localised tensions and intermittent violence were reported in 2014 and 2015. Insecurity is primarily linked to political tensions between parts of the Didinga and Buya/Larim communities, as well as tensions between some Budi residents, local authorities, and the military (UNMISS/HRD 2015; UNHRC 2015). In one incident of localised violence in February 2014, sixteen people were killed, and a number of houses were burned, leading to short-term displacement (Eye Radio, 2014). In October 2016, fighting broke out among military units in the county. Limited information is available on the fighting, with some reports indicating that SPLA forces and alleged deserters were involved and that the latter temporarily seized control of Chukudum town (Radio Tamazuj, 2016). The violence resulted in significant displacement, with returnees reportedly finding their homes looted of food and possessions (REACH, 2017).

After the signing of the R-ARCSS in 2018, Budi has experienced escalating insecurity, including road ambushes and violence often organised along ethnic lines. This has included cross-border raiding between parts of the Toposa community in Kapoeta North and South counties and parts of the Buya/Larim and Didinga groups. Within Budi County, recent tensions between the Buya/Larim and the Toposa have tended to be concentrated in the grazing areas of Kimotong Payam (UNDP, 2020, pp. 11-13). However, tensions between parts of the two communities escalated markedly in early 2021, leading to significant violence around Camp 15 in central Budi, including an attack on the convoy of the Eastern Equatoria State Governor (Radio Tamazuj, 2021; UNSC 2021, p. 5). Clashes were also reported in a gold-mining area within Kimotong Payam in mid-2023 (The Radio Community 2023), and further clashes occurred along a disputed border area between Budi and Kapoeta South counties in January 2024 (Eye Radio, 2024). Tensions between some residents of Chukudum and elements of the security services have also been reported (Radio Tamazuj, 2023a), while insecurity along roads has persisted, affecting the aid and humanitarian sector (Radio Tamazuj, 2022; Radio Tamazuj, 2023b).

Administration & Logistics 

Payams: Kimotong, Komori (County HQ in Chukudum), Loriyok, Lotukei, Loudo, Nagishot, Napak, Nauro

UN OCHA 2020 map of BudiCounty: https://reliefweb.int/map/south-sudan/south-sudan-budi-county-reference-map-march-2020

Roads:

• A primary road from Torit town to Kapoeta town runs east-west through northern Budi County, and was passable during both the rainy season of 2024 and the dry season of 2025.  A tertiary road connects Chukudum town to this primary road at Camp 15 (and later forks to Lafon and Kapoeta North counties), though the condition of the tertiary road network is unknown.
• A secondary road connects Chukudum town to Kapoeta South County, terminating in Kapoeta town. This road was deemed passable during both the 2024 rainy season and the 2025 dry season.
• A secondary road connects Chukudum town and Ikotos town to the west. The condition of the road is unknown.
• A secondary road also runs south to the Uganda border via Kikilai village (from which a separate tertiary road runs west to southern Ikotos County). The condition of these roads is unknown.

UNHAS-recognised Heli and Fixed-Wing Airplane Airstrips: None

Additional MAF-Recognised Airstrips: Chukudum, Kimotong, and Naqichot/Nagshot

References

Collins, R.O. (1999). ‘Africans, Arabs, and Islamists: From the Conference Tables to the Battlefields in the Sudan’. African Studies Review 42 (2), pp. 105–123. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Eye Radio. (2014). Investigation into Budi County killings begins. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Eye Radio. (2024). 8 killed in Kapoeta gold mine attack: commissioner. Retrieved 29 January 2024.

FAO/WFP. (2023). Special Report: FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission to South Sudan. Retrieved 31 July 2023. See equivalent versions of the CFSAM report online for data from previous years.

FEWSNET. (2018). Livelihoods Zone Map and Descriptions for the Republic of South Sudan (Updated). Retrieved 10 July 2023.

Johnson, D.H. (2003). The Root Causes of Sudan’s Civil Wars. Oxford: James Currey.

OCHA. (2005). Sudan Transition & Recovery Database: Budi County. Retrieved via WayBack Machine on 24 January 2024.

OCHA. (2021). Humanitarian Needs Overview: South Sudan 2021. Retrieved 10 July 2023.

Okech, A. (2015). ‘How has conflict been described in post-CPA writing on the Greater Equatoria region? An overview of recent literature.’ in Schomerus, M. (eds.) Conflict and Cooperation in the Equatorias, pp.21-41. AECOM/USAID.

Radio Tamazuj. (2016). Gunmen control part of Chukudum town in Eastern Equatoria. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2021). 14 killed, 7 critically injured in Camp 15 attack. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2022). Budi County authorities investigate ambush of humanitarian vehicle. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2023a). Three aid workers stripped, tortured in Budi County. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2023b). National Security officer killed by angry mob in Budi. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

REACH. (2017). Overview of Settlements in Budi County – Assessment of Hard to Reach Areas in Eastern Equatoria State, November 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

REACH. (2020). Integrated Needs Tracking (INT) County Profile – Budi County. Retrieved 13 July 2023.

Rolandsen, Ø. (2005). Guerrilla Government: Political Changes in the Southern Sudan during the 1990s. Mordiska Afrikainstitutet.

Schomerus, M. and Allen, T. (2010). Southern Sudan at odds with itself: dynamics of conflict and predicaments of peace. Retrieved 17 November 2023.

Simonse, S. 2000. Conflicts and Peace Initiative in East Bank Equatoria, South Sudan: 1992-1999 (draft). Pax Christi. Retrieved via Sudan Open Archive on 19 January 2024.

SPLM, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. (1994). A Major Watershed: SPLM/A First National Convention Resolutions, Appointments and Protocol. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Sudan Tribune. (2007). Cattle raiders kill 54 in Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

The Radio Community. (2023). Gunmen kill 7 people in Budi. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

UN. (2006). United Nations Sudan Situation Report 23 Jun 2006. Retrieved via ReliefWeb on 24 January 2024.

UNHRC. (2015). Human rights situation in South Sudan: Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, A/HRC/28/49. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

UNMISS/HRD. (2015). The State of Human Rights in the Protracted Conflict in South Sudan. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

UNSC. (2021). Situation in South Sudan: Report of the Secretary-General, S/2021/566. Retrieved 24 January 2024.

Reports on Budi

Action Against Hunger. (2022). Nutrition and Mortality SMART Survey Final Report, Budi County of Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan, June, 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2025.

Kurimoto, E. (2004). A Report of the Evaluation Survey on Peace-Building Programmes in the East Bank, Equatoria Region, South Sudan, Sponsored by Pax Christi Netherlands. Retrieved via Sudan Open Archive on 24 January 2024.

Presbyterian World Service & Development. (2022). Chukudum Crisis Peace Conference 20 Aug 2002. Retrieved via ReliefWeb on 24 January 2024.

Schomerus, M. (2008). Violent Legacies: Insecurity in Sudan’s Central and Eastern Equatoria. Small Arms Survey/HSBA. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Simonse, S. (1992/2017). Kings of Disaster: Dualism, Centralism and the Scapegoat King in Southeastern Sudan. Kampala: Fountain Publishers.

UNDP. (2020). Greater Kapoeta Conflict and Gender Assessment. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

Walraet, A. (2008). Governance, violence, and struggle for economic regulation in South Sudan: the case of Budi County (Eastern Equatoria). Afrika Focus 21(2) p.53–70. Retrieved 14 July 2023.

* Note: The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Population Estimation Survey (PES) was published in April 2023 based on data collected in May-June 2021. This uses a different method from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Population Working Group (PWG) figures, which are based on a combination of 2008 census data and population movement data up to 2022. The large discrepancies are primarily attributable to these different methods rather than changes in the actual population numbers over time, and have been disputed by some civil society and analysts. Although the later PWG figures were produced more recently for the HNO 2023, at the request of the Government of South Sudan the data and method used by the PES is being used as the basis for the Common Operational Dataset (COD) for the UN system for the HNO 2024 and likely beyond. For further details on this and other sources used in the county profiles, see the accompanying Methodological Note.

** Note: Although most groups and official documents refer to this group as the ‘Buya’ (sometimes spelled ‘Boya’), most Buya people themselves prefer the term ‘Larim’. This is similar to how the ‘Dinka’ refer to themselves as the ‘Jieng’ or the ‘Shilluk’ as the ‘Chollo’.