Mundri East County, Western Equatoria State

DEMOGRAPHY

2008 NBS Census population: 48,318
2021 NBS PES population estimate*: 80,189
2022 UN OCHA population estimate*: 100,275

Ethnic groups: Moru, Moru/Moro Kodo**, Mundu

Displacement Figures Q3 2022: 4,515 IDPs (-17,342 Q1 2020) and 30,615 returnees (+12,965 Q1 2020)
IPC Food Security: November 2022 – Crisis (Phase 3); IPC Projections: December 2022 to March 2023 – Crisis (Phase 3); April to July 2023 – Crisis (Phase 3)

ECONOMY & LIVELIHOODS

Mundri East County is located in Western Equatoria State. It borders Mundri West County to the west and Mvolo County to the north-west. It also borders Central Equatoria State (Terekeka and Juba counties) to the northeast and southeast.

The county falls within South Sudan’s greenbelt zone and is defined as an equatorial maize and cassava livelihoods zone (FEWSNET 2018), with an estimated 45% of households engaging in agriculture (FAO/WFP 2018). This estimate had increased to 60% by 2021 (FAO/WFP 2022). Common crops grown in the area include sorghum, millet, cassava, sweet potatoes, maize, beans, pumpkins, okra, tomatoes, groundnuts and sesame (simsim), with animal husbandry of goats, sheep, chicken, ducks and some cattle occurring on a subsistence scale. Gross cereal yields were estimated to be 1.15 tonnes per hectare in 2021, declining to 1.0 tonne per hectare in 2022 (FAO/WFP 2022; FAO/WFP 2023).

Mundri East’s proximity to other states with large pastoralist communities means that during the dry season, when grazing land and water sources become scarcer in other parts of the country, cattle-keeping groups (mainly from Lakes and Central Equatoria) migrate towards the area. At times this has been linked to conflict, as is discussed in the Conflict Dynamics sections below.

In November 2022, Mundri East County was determined to be experiencing Crisis (IPC Phase 3) levels of food insecurity. This is predicted to be maintained until at least July 2023.  A 2020 REACH assessment found that residents in all settlements reported having access to a functional market. Livelihoods and food security in Mundri East have been impacted by a variety of cyclical and structural factors including climate change and unpredictable rain. This – combined with the financial crisis in South Sudan and insecurity in the area  – led to market shortages and a lack of basic staples and foodstuffs, with several markets ceasing to function altogether.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICES

The county headquarters are located in Kedi’ba/Kediba town in Kedi’ba Payam. The infrastructure and services available in Mundri East have been impacted by ongoing insecurity, low rainfall, as well as instability along major trade and transportation routes that pass through the area, namely the Jambo-Kemande road linking Jambo and Lui. As a result, there were widespread market closures, and food insecurity increased. Increased stability in 2019 led to improved access for humanitarian organizations and commercial vehicles. MTN and Zain were reported to be functional throughout the county in 2020.

Mundri East is home to nine (9) Early Childhood Development centres, forty-four and (44) primary schools and two (2) secondary schools, including Lui Girls National Secondary school located in Lozoh Payam, a co-educational institution.

Mundri East County was reported to have twenty-one (21) health facilities, all of which were reported to be functional. Among them are seventeen (17) PHCUs, three (3) PHCCs and one (1) hospital in 2022. This means that there were an estimated 2.55 PHCUs per 15,000 people and 1.50 PHCCs per 50,000 people according to the WHO. Lui Hospital was reported to be moderately functional.

According to OCHA’s Humanitarian Needs Overview for 2023, over 59,658 people in the county have humanitarian needs (down from around 62,100 in 2021), which represents 59% of the estimated population for Mundri East County reported in the HNO. In 2021, Mundri East was identified as one of five counties which experienced high access constraints in 2020 related to active hostilities, violence against humanitarian personnel as well as the physical environment. Part of the access restraints include the high levels of explosive remnants of war and landmine contamination, with Mundri East identified as one of eight Equatorian counties experiencing significant contamination issues.

While Mundri East was not severely impacted by flooding in 2021, it was significantly affected in 2020. A September 2020 IRNA found that a total of 12,516 individuals (2,086 households) were displaced by the flooding. IDPs were found to have reduced access to food, a lack of safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, to be living in unhygienic conditions in overcrowded settlements and to be engaging in negative coping strategies such as skipped days between eating.

CONFLICT DYNAMICS

Sitting along the border region between Western and Central Equatoria states, the greater Mundri area has been affected by growing polarisation between agriculturalist and pastoralist communities, as forms of localised and national violence have increasingly intersected with one another. Dispute resolution mechanisms that once helped ensure generally peaceable relations have been gradually replaced with institutions that have not commanded widespread local support, pushing apart agriculturalist and pastoralists communities. Moreover, friction between some residents of the area and local and national authorities – and the emergence of local community protection forces – have further complicated these dynamics. As a result of the friction generated by these processes, political discontent in parts of Mundri East and Mundri West counties (referred to here as greater Mundri) has risen, drawing greater Mundri into the recent national conflict (discussed below).

These trends have occurred despite once amicable relations between agriculturalists and pastoralists in Mundri East. The Moru community of the county has a history of positive relations with pastoralists from the Mundari community who settled in Mundri East during the British colonial era, including inter-marriage. Although tensions had occurred (usually linked to cattle eating crops), mediation and compensation mechanisms were generally effective at resolving disputes, with cattle migration regulated by local institutions (Veuillet 2020, pp.95-96; Schomerus 2015, p.128). However, as is discussed further below relations between agriculturalist and pastoralist communities (both from the Mundari community, alongside the Dinka Bor) have experienced increasing strains, and at points have escalated into conflict.

Greater Mundri during the second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005)

There was significant fighting in the greater Mundri area at the outset of the second Sudanese civil war (1983-2005) (Johnson 2003, pp.70, 86), and by the late 1980s the wider Mundri area provided many recruits to the SPLM/A. However, strains between some local residents and the SPLM/A reportedly emerged due to problems relating to conscription, requisitioning of food, and allegations of misconduct by soldiers (Veuillet 2020, p.98). Following conflict between the SPLM/A and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in parts of greater Mundri in the early 1990s, significant fighting took place in the wider Mundri area in 1994, resulting in large-scale displacement. During the fighting, the SAF and allied militia from part of the Mundari community made gains in the area, as control of Mundri town oscillated between the SPLM/A and the SAF (HRW 1994, pp.100, 116; Action Africa in Need 1994, pp.4-5, 13).

The greater Mundri area experienced intermittent fighting and periodic bombing by the Sudanese air force over the following years (Africa Confidential 2005, HRW 1996; OLS 1996). The SPLM/A would consolidate gains in the wider Mundri area after 1997’s Operation Thunderbolt, though aerial bombing would continue until 2004, resulting in significant quantities of unexploded cluster munitions being present in the Mundri area (The World 2010). Additionally, Mundri was affected by the actions of a group of deserting SPLM/A soldiers in 2002 (discussed further in the profile for Torit County), with abductions, arson, and looting being reported as the soldiers passed through the area (Anonymous 2002, p.8).

Following the 1991 SPLM/A split, large numbers of displaced Dinka Bor pastoralists arrived in the grazing areas of greater Mundri (Okoth 2015, p.85). Although the wider Mundri area has hosted pastoralists from the Atuot/Atwot and Dinka Agar communities from Lakes State – as well as there being an initial willingness on the part of the host community to support the IDPs – disputes would mount between the host and IDP communities over the course of the 1990s and early 2000s. Disputes would emerge over various issues, including the size of the cattle herds that arrived in the area as the decade progressed and crop damage caused by cattle, alongside other tensions linked to land access and usage (PACT Sudan 2006, pp.159-160). This would result in limited violence by the late 1990s.

The deteriorating relations between parts of the Moru and Dinka Bor communities also contributed to tensions between parts of the Moru community and the SPLM/A, due to the alleged ownership of some cattle herds by SPLM/A commanders (Veuillet 2020, pp.101-4). Whereas previous methods of dispute resolution had resulted in largely peaceable relations between agriculturalist and pastoralist communities in the wider Mundri area, dispute resolution was increasingly overshadowed by perceived biases and power imbalances between the two communities (Veuillet 2020, p.109). In the early 2000s, parts of greater Mundri would experience further acts of violence involving parts of the Moru and Dinka Bor communities (IRIN 2004).

Tensions, community mobilisation, and conflict during the CPA era (2005 and 2011)

Tensions between host and displaced pastoralist communities from Jonglei State increased in several parts of Western Equatoria following the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), with a number of displaced pastoralists remaining in the greater Mundri area despite local resolutions and attempts by the SPLM/A to facilitate their return to Jonglei State (IRIN 2004; PACT Sudan 2006, p.160). Some of the attempts to relocate the pastoralists to Jonglei did not have the consent of the pastoralist community, and left them exposed to attack on the return journey (Murphy 2005). Within greater Mundri, serious violence was reported after September 2005, with over a hundred people reportedly killed over two months of conflict (Veuillet 2020, pp.89, 107-8; UNSC 2005, p.5).

At the outset of the 2005 violence, a community defence group emerged among parts of the Moro community in greater Mundri, and were active in conflict with parts of the Dinka Bor. This group was known locally as the Nyarango Boys, with nyarango referring to a white sorghum cultivated in the area (Craze 2023, p.7; Veuillet 2020, fn.9). These served a similar function to Arrow Boys groups elsewhere in the state, which are discussed further in other profiles in Western Equatoria. In addition to conflict involving parts of the Moru and Dinka Bor, in December 2005 violence was reported between parts of the Moru and Mbororo-Fulani communities (UNSC 2005, p.5).

Although the Mundari pastoralist and Moru agriculturalist communities had generally amicable relations prior to the second civil war, relations became strained between these communities during the CPA era, albeit to a lesser extent than relations between parts of the Dinka Bor and Moru. Before the second civil war, positive relations between the Moru and Mundari were upheld in part because of the close social connections between the communities, alongside regulation of cattle movements and disputes by largely effective institutions (Veuillet 2020, p.97). However, these conditions were not maintained across the war, creating conditions for tensions to periodically escalate after the CPA. This was partly due to the government’s use of militias from part of the Mundari community in the Mundri area (Africa Action in Need 1994, p.2), but also due the effects of increasing polarisation along ethno-political and livelihood lines outlined above, as well as the erosion of effective and popularly supported dispute resolution mechanisms.

Occasional tensions have subsequently affected relations between parts of the Moru and Mundari ethnic groups: these include issues surrounding outbreaks of East Coast Fever in parts of greater Mundri in 2008 and 2011 (Okoth 2015, pp.88-89, 91), as well as disputes between parts of the Moru and Mundari communities over the Lake Reri area of Mundri East (USAID 2010, p.185). Periodic tensions have also occurred between some Dinka Bor and Mundari pastoralists over cattle raiding within Mundri East (Okoth 2015, p.94).

In addition to being involved in conflict with some pastoralists, the Nyarango Boys were also involved in protecting local communities amid Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) activity. Violence linked to the LRA was reported in parts of the wider Mundri area in 2008 and 2009, generating displacement to Mundri town in Mundri West County (BBC News 2009; HRW 2009; IRIN 2009).

Overlapping localised and national-level conflicts (2013-2018)

As with many other areas in Western Equatoria State, the greater Mundri area experienced few direct effects of violence during the early stages of the national conflict (2013-2018). However, the area soon became increasingly militarised, driven by localised tensions relating to an influx of displaced Dinka Bor pastoralists (Kuol 2017, p.25). Tensions morphed into localised conflict in late 2014, and fed into escalating opposition activity across 2015. As with other parts of Western Equatoria, local and irregular forces would gradually become absorbed into the SPLA-IO. In the case of greater Mundri, parts of what would become the local branch of the SPLA-IO had emerged out of the Nyarango Boys network in early 2014. These forces initially had a relatively loose affiliation with the SPLA-IO, and were located in the Gariya area of Mundri West County (Small Arms Survey 2016, pp.8-9).

In a process that has similarities to the early 1990s, increasing numbers of displaced pastoralists from Jonglei arrived in Mundri East and West counties after the national conflict began, reviving pre-existing tensions over land use and destruction of crops by cattle (Okoth 2015, pp.80, 89). Dinka Bor pastoralists had initially moved their cattle to Lakes State after fighting broke out in and around Bor town, though insecurity and pressures over grazing land within Lakes prompted some pastoralists to move with their cattle southwards to the Mundri area by February 2014. Within several months of the arrival of the pastoralists, tensions had escalated between the Moru and Dinka Bor communities in the greater Mundri area, while a resolution reached at a peace conference in Mundri town to relocate the cattle by mid-July was not implemented. Allegations were also made of affiliations between some pastoralists and parts of the military (Schomerus and Taban 2017, p.10).

Across the second half of 2014, violence between parts of the Moru and Dinka Bor communities escalated in Mundri West, before spreading to Mundri East. Localised tensions would intensify into episodes of violence and displacement, alongside attacks on assets critical to both the livelihood needs of agriculturalist and pastoralist communities. This included attacks on beehives and mango trees used by the Moru, as well as cattle owned by the Dinka Bor (de Vries 2015, pp.105-6; Radio Tamazuj 2014). These events resulted in increasing polarisation between parts of the affected communities, and also fuelled tensions between some local residents and authorities at both the local and national levels (de Vries 2015, pp.109-12). Despite a further peace conference in January 2015 ordering cattle to vacate the Mundri area – and a presidential decree issued the following April stipulating that pastoralist were to leave the state – sporadic localised violence involving parts of the affected communities was also reported across 2015 (Braak 2016, pp.55, 70; Small Arms Survey 2016, p.9).

Meanwhile, opposition activity increased in greater Mundri across 2015 (UN Panel of Experts 2016, pp.23-24, 41). Although the lines were initially blurred between localised conflict linked to agriculturalist-pastoralist tensions and political disputes, as the year progressed local forces would become increasingly integrated into the wider SPLA-IO movement (ICG 2016, p.14). Fighting escalated in several areas in the region, with opposition-linked forces making several incursions into Mundri town. As insurgency and counter-insurgency activity increased, the Small Arms Survey (2016, p.9) and International Crisis Group (2016, p.16) reported allegations of abuses against civilians and civilian property, alongside rising levels of displacement.

In November 2015, a church-led peacebuilding effort to bring a stop to the violence in greater Mundri was signed by figures from the SPLA and local civil society, though violence re-escalated later the same month (PA-X, n.d.; Braak 2016, p.73). Fighting continued in the greater Mundri area for the remainder of the national conflict, with frequent clashes taking place until January 2018.

Mundri East after the R-ARCSS (2018-present)

While the signing of the R-ARCSS in September 2018 brought relative stability and the return of some IDPs to Mundri East, conflict linked to the arrival of the National Salvation Front (NAS) opposition group in the county , who were not party to the 2018 R-ARCSS peace deal, has led to further localised displacement and instability. In early 2019, NAS forces were alleged to have engaged SPLA-IO forces in the Kedi’ba and Wani areas of the county (CTSAMVM 2019, pp.28-29), with SPLA-IO forces in turn launching operations against NAS in Witto Payam to prevent alleged NAS recruitment activities in the area (UNSC 2019, p.6).

In recent years, NAS have maintained an operational presence around Lozoh and Witto payams, with periodic clashes reported with the SSPDF. During this time, there have been increasing road ambushes and abductions in the county, with ambiguity surrounding the identity of the groups involved (VOA 2021; Radio Tamazuj 2022). In February 2023, accounts of significant fighting between NAS and government security forces surfaced in Mundri East in disputed circumstances (Sudans Post 2023), at the same time as reports emerged of a failed peace negotiation involving a group of NAS soldiers in the Minga area (Eye Radio 2023a). Further fighting was also reported between the SSPDF and NAS in March 2024 in Ming(a) and Lozoh payams, causing displacement to the county headquarters at Kedi’ba, and to Juba County’s Rokon Payam (Radio Tamazuj 2024; UNSC 2024, p.5). Meanwhile, Mundri East has also experienced periodic internal fighting among factions of both the NAS and SPLA-IO groups in recent years.

Although there have been no instances of serious conflict between local agriculturalists and Mundari pastoralists during the national conflict and its immediate aftermath, several small-scale incidents allegedly involving some Mundari pastoralists and the local Moru community have been reported since early 2022. Additionally, tensions between parts of the Moru and Mundari communities escalated into localised conflict in Lakamadi Payam in December 2023 that displaced nearly 12,000 people (Eye Radio 2023b; OCHA 2024). Mundri East has also hosted displaced persons in recent years: in early 2023, IDPs from the Nyangwara*** community of Juba County arrived in the Ming(a) area of Mundri East, following reports of conflict with parts of the Mundari community in Juba’s Rokon Payam (Radio Tamazuj 2023).

ADMINISTRATION & LOGISTICS

Payams listed in Government and UN documents: Kedi’ba (County Headquarters), Lakamadi, Lozoh, Ming(a), Witto
Additional payams listed by local actors: Lui

UN OCHA 2020 map for Mundri East County: https://reliefweb.int/map/south-sudan/south-sudan-mundri-east-county-reference-map-march-2020

Roads:

• A primary road running east from Lui to Juba was deemed passable by the Logistics Cluster in both the rainy and dry seasons of 2022 and 2023, respectively. The same road runs west to Wau via Yambio. In the rainy season of 2022, this road was deemed passable between Lui and Maridi, and then ‘passable with difficulties’ west of Maridi up to Wau. In the dry season of 2023, the entirety of the road was considered passable between Juba and Tambura, and ‘passable with difficulties’ between Tambura and Wau.
• A secondary road connects the county to Lainya town in Central Equatoria via a spur at Jambo town. Seasonal road conditions are unknown.
• A secondary road runs through the northernmost part of the county to Terekeka town in Central Equatoria State, becoming a tertiary road at Tali in Terekeka County. This road was deemed passable during both the rainy and dry seasons of 2022 and 2023, respectively.
• A tertiary road runs East-West across the county to Tindalo in Terekeka County (Central Equatoria State) via Kediba town. Seasonal road conditions are unknown.

UNHAS-Recognized Heli-Landing Sites and Airstrips: None

REFERENCES

Action Africa in Need. (1994). Progress Report: Mundri Maridi Emergency Programme, October 1993 to May 1994. Retrieved via Sudan Open Archive 16 March 2024.

Africa Confidential. (2005). From the ground up. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

Anonymous. (2002). Confidential Report on the Emergency Consultative Meeting for Equatoria – On the Impact Created by Particular Groups of Army Deserters in September, 2002. Retrieved via Sudan Open Archive 14 March 2024.

BBC News. (2009). Living in fear after LRA atrocities. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

Braak, B. (2016). Exploring Primary Justice in South Sudan: Challenges, concerns, and elements that work. Leiden: Van Vollenhoven Institute, Leiden University/Cordaid. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

Craze, J. (2023). Jemma’s War: Political Strife in Western Equatoria. Small Arms Survey. Retrieved 4 December 2023.

CTSAMVM. (2019). CTSAMVM Technical Committee Meeting No. 9 – Outcomes Report. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

Eye Radio. (2023a). SPLM member killed while mediating peace with NAS in Mundri – Family. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

Eye Radio. (2023b). WES: Hundreds of Lakamadi households displaced in revenge attacks. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

FAO/WFP. (2023). South Sudan 2022 Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) Summary of findings. Retrieved 10 July 2023.

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

HRW, Human Rights Watch. (1994). Civilian Devastation: Abuses by All Parties in the War in Southern Sudan. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

HRW, Human Rights Watch. (1996). Behind the Red Line: Political Repression in Sudan. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

HRW, Human Rights Watch. (2009). The Christmas Massacres: LRA attacks on Civilians in Northern Congo. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

IRIN [The New Humanitarian]. (2004). Rising tensions between IDPs and host community in southern Sudan. Retrieved via Sudan Tribune website 16 March 2024.

IRIN [The New Humanitarian]. (2009). Civilians flee LRA “revenge” attacks. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

IRNA. (2020). Floods Fact Finding Mission Report Mundri West and Mundri East Counties, Western Equatoria, September 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Kuol, L.D.B. (2017). ‘Dinka youth in civil war: Between cattle, community and government’. Chapter 3 in ‘Informal Armies: Community defence groups in South Sudan’s civil war’, Saferworld. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Murphy, P. (2005). ‘Assisting the return of displaced Dinka Bor’, Forced Migration Review issue 24, pp.36-37. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

OCHA. (2024). South Sudan: Humanitarian Snapshot (January 2024). Retrieved 17 March 2024.

OLS, Operation Lifeline Sudan. (1996). OLS Southern Sector Update 96/34, 27 August 1996. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

PA-X, Peace Agreements Database. (n.d.). Mundri Agreement. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

PACT Sudan. (2006). Sudan Peace Fund (SPF): Final Report October 2022 – December 2005. USAID.

Radio Tamazuj. (2014). Soldiers negotiating return of nomads in W. Equatoria to Lakes. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2022). 1 driver killed, 3 goods vehicles torched on Juba-Mundri highway. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2023). Over 800 IDPs from C. Equatoria arrive in Mundri. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

Radio Tamazuj. (2024). SSPDF on the spot over recruitment of soldiers in Aweil. Retrieved 10 May 2024.

REACH. (2020). Integrated Needs Tracking (INT) County Profile – Mundri East County. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Schomerus, M. (2015). ‘Protection and militarisation in Western Equatoria’ in Schomerus, M. (ed.) Conflict and Cooperation in the Equatorias, pp.114-149. AECOM/USAID.

Schomerus, M. and Taban, C. (2017). ‘Arrow boys, armed groups and the SPLA: intensifying insecurity in the Western Equatorian states’. Chapter 2 in ‘Informal Armies: Community defence groups in South Sudan’s civil war’, Saferworld. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Small Arms Survey. (2016). Conflict in Western Equatoria: Describing events through 17 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Sudans Post. (2023). 13 government soldiers allegedly killed during attack on Cirilo’s rebels. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

The World. (2010). De-bombing South Sudan. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

UN Panel of Experts. (2016). Final report of the Panel of Experts on South Sudan established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2206 (2015), S/2016/70. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

UNSC. (2005). Report of the Secretary-General on the Sudan, S/2005/821. Retrieved 16 March 2024.

UNSC. (2019). Situation in South Sudan: Report of the Secretary-General, S/2019/491. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

UNSC. (2024). Situation in South Sudan: Report of the Secretary-General, S/2024/572. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

USAID. (2010). ‘Conflict Over Resources Among Rural Communities in Southern Sudan: A Case Study of Lake Girindi, Mvolo County, Western Equatoria State (WES),’ in Land Tenure Issues in Southern Sudan: Key Findings and Recommendations for Southern Sudan Land Policy, pp.180-209. Note that that pages referred to use the location within the PDF document, the rather than the page numbering system used in the original document.

VOA. (2021). South Sudan in Focus: 22 October 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

REPORTS on MUNDRI EAST

Boswell, A. (2017). Spreading Fallout: The Collapse of the ARCSS and New Conflict along the Equatorias-DRC border. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Boswell, A. (2019). Do local peace deals work? Evidence from South Sudan’s civil war. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

ICG, International Crisis Group. (2016). South Sudan’s South: Conflict in the Equatorias. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Okoth, S. (2015). ‘Livestock diseases and movement as conflict trigger in Greater Equatoria’, in Schomerus, M. (ed.) Conflict and Cooperation in the Equatorias, pp.59-101. AECOM/USAID.

Spencer, P. S., et. al. (2013). ‘Nodding syndrome in Mundri county, South Sudan: environmental, nutritional and infectious factors’, African Health Sciences, 13 (2), pp. 183-204. Retrieved 15 July 2023.

Veuillet, E. (2020). ‘Grain against cattle: Resisting the new socio-political order: Reinterpreting farmer-herder conflicts in the region of Mundri, South Sudan’, Revue internationale des études du développement, 243 (3), pp. 89-113. French language text retrieved 16 March 2024.

de Vries, L. (2015). ‘‘The government belongs to other people.’ Old cycles of violence in a new political order in Mundri?’ in Schomerus, M. (ed.) Conflict and Cooperation in the Equatorias, pp.102-113. AECOM/USAID.

* 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 to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Population Working Group (PWG) figures produced 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 detail on this and other sources used in the county profiles, see the accompanying Methodological Note.

** Note: The Moru Kodo should not be confused with the Moru, who have a distinct language and culture. The former have historically settled in Maridi, Mundri West and Mvolo, and their name is variously described as ‘Moru Kodo’, ‘Moro Kodo’, ‘Morokodo’ or ‘Kodo Kodo’.

*** Note: The Nyangwara should not be confused with the Mundari-Nyangwara listed under Terekeka County. The former are a separate group who have historically settled in the Rokon area of Juba County. The latter are a section of the Mundari that some people regard as tracing their origin to the Nyangwara people.