- The Azande Avongara elite around Jemma Nunu Kumba, the speaker of South Sudan’s Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA), are making a concerted effort to remove the opposition governor of Western Equatoria state, Alfred Futuyo Karaba. The governor is likewise moving against Jemma Nunu. This political strife has inflamed tensions on the ground, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in-Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) and government forces have been patrolling independently in the state capital, Yambio.
- Futuyo, who is of Balanda and Zande heritage, has refashioned himself as a Balanda ethnonationalist. Since the 2021 violence in Tambura county, politics in Western Equatoria has become increasingly ethnicized, with the Avongara successfully transposing political tension between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and SPLM/A-IO onto ethnic tension between the Azande and Balanda.
- The state government is divided between the two political parties, with both sides building up war chests in preparation for future conflict. Such violence could easily spill over South Sudan’s borders. In 2021, Futuyo called on support from forces in the Central African Republic (CAR), and continuing violence in the CAR between Azande militias and the Peuhl-dominated Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) could spark clashes in Western Equatoria.
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