New HSBA Situation Update on the efforts to remove Alfred Futuyo Karaba, the governor of Western Equatoria state, South Sudan

GENEVA—Since 2021, politics in Western Equatoria have become increasingly ethnicized, with heightening tension between the Azande and Balanda. The situation has been inflamed by the political strife between Jemma Nunu Kumba, the speaker of South Sudan’s Transitional National Legislative Assembly, and the opposition-party governor of Western Equatoria state, Alfred Futuyo Karaba. Tensions are high as armed troops from both the government forces and Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO) patrol the state capital, Yambio, and state politicians amass war chests.
 
Jemma’s War: Political Strife in Western Equatoria—a new Situation Update from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA) project—examines how politics in Western Equatoria state have become highly ethnicized and why these dynamics could spark violent conflict in the lead-up to South Sudan’s 2024 elections.

• Read Jemma’s War: Political Strife in Western Equatoria

For more, check out:

• Pay Day Loans and Backroom Empires: South Sudan’s Political Economy since 2018—our new Briefing Paper on the predatory nature of the political economy in South Sudan
• 'And Everything Became War': Warrap State since the Signing of the R-ARCSS—an in-depth report on current political and conflict dynamics in Warrap state
• The Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) project page
• South Sudan outputs in our Resource Library

Other news from the Survey:

• New HSBA Briefing Paper on South Sudan’s political economy under President Salva Kiir
• The Small Arms Survey signs project partnership with CARICOM IMPACS, the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the University of the West Indies George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre (GA-CDRC)
• New HSBA Situation Update on Sarah Cleto’s precarious tenure over Western Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan
• The National Agency for Controlled Materials of Argentina and the Small Arms Survey sign a Memorandum of Understanding
• New HSBA Situation Update on Nguen Monytuil Wejang’s control over Unity state, South Sudan