Governance, violence and the struggle for economic regulation in South Sudan: the case of Budi County (Eastern Equatoria)

Abstract

This article analyses how Budi County in Eastern Equatoria State (South Sudan) was governed during the 1990s and up to mid-2007. Because its capital Chukudum was the SPLM/A headquarters almost throughout that period, it provides us with an interesting case from which to explore how the SPLM/A governed during the war and how this impacts on the post-war peace. One observation is that the war, besides a period of devastation and human suffering, was also a time of economic opportunities and social differentiation. For that reason this article will also explore livestock trade as a new mode of wealth appropriation and the changing nature of cattle raiding, and how this interferes with the struggle for regulatory power and governable “spaces”. This means that we comprehend the economy as a political terrain. At the same time we leave room for sociological perspectives, to complement the more restricted “competition for resources and gains” approach to conflict and violence. The article is written in three sections. In the first section we briefly clarify why in 1999 there was an uprising in Budi County against SPLM/A rule and why it engendered massive local support. In the second section we examine one of the most destructive manifestations of violence that affect Budi county: cattle raiding. We look at it from a perspective that has been under-researched in the eld: that of trans-border trade. In the last section we look at how, after the peace of 2005, newly appointed local government authorities are (re)claiming do- mains of state regulation that previously lay rmly in the hands of the military. Particular attention is given to the capacity of the local authorities to guarantee security and provide protection. Key words: governance, violent conflict, regulatory power, trans-border trade, South Sudan Eastern Equatoria

The Strength of Weak States? Non‐State Security Forces and Hybrid Governance in Africa

“…But there is considerable evidence that a long‐run tendency for violent non‐state actors to become embedded in socially legitimate behaviour cannot be taken for granted. Walraet's (2008) account of militarized Dinka trading networks in Southern Sudan, and Mulugeta and Hagmann's (2008) work on Karrayu cattle raiders in the Ethiopian Awash Valley show that legitimate indigenous structures of authority are being eroded by new non‐state actors, environmental pressures and global market incentives. Highlighting the fragility of legitimate traditional systems of governance under contemporary conditions, Doornbos (2010: 761) warns that ‘traditional negotiation mechanisms can become vulnerable in the face of changing forms of livelihood and economic entrepreneurship, and dwindle into oblivion’.…”

Paying ‘buckets of blood’ for the land: moral debates over economy, war and state in Southern Sudan

“…Military commanders also encouraged raiding for cattle and the ' steady siphoning ' of civilian assets into their hands (Jok & Hutchinson 1999 : 133;Walraet 2008). Johnson (2003 : 166) describes the 'highly individualised economic policy' of the SPLM/A, whose leaders were able to ' strike deals of their own', and control the export trade in livestock, timber and minerals.…”

“…However, the ambivalence with which people view the state and its economy ensures that even this form of government patronage is frequently interpreted as part of a wider, unwelcome, expansion of the state, blamed for the greater inequality and individualisation discussed above, and for an escalation of local conflicts. Many Southern Sudanese people are adamant that increasing conflicts since 2005 -too often labelled as 'tribalist ' -are the result of political instigation or a new economy of cattle raids and trade controlled by military officers, so that ' tribal political vultures would like conflict to continue' (Vuni 2007;see Billy 2005 ;Walraet 2008). Similarly, a young man in Rumbek asserted that SPLA officers were profiting from sales of arms and raided cattle, with a particularly blunt formulation of the monetisation of human life and kinship values : ' The blood of your brother becomes your own money.…”

Displacement in Post-War Southern Sudan: Survival and Accumulation within Urban Perimeters

“…The commodities purchased with the proceeds from livestock sale were not limited to scarce necessities, but also included guns and bullets sold at the many arms markets along the Sudanese border with Uganda and Kenya and offered for sale by the armies and militias active in this borderland. 55 The weapons subsequently found their way to the civilians where they impacted on the escalation of cattle raiding and animosity between local communities, reinforcing ethnicity as the default explanation for local violence (King & MusakaMugerwa, 2002;Mkutu, 2006;Schomerus, 2008;Walraet, 2008).…”

“…In fact, the border area of Eastern Equatoria state with Kenya, where Narus and Kapoeta are located, was the SPLM/A's stronghold during the war and provided a vital economic life-line to its army. Consequently, both the political and economic terrain were firmly in the hands of the military, whose dominance was at times heavily opposed by the local population (see amongst others Branch & Mampilly, 2004;Rolandsen, 2005;Walraet, 2008). Since the 2005 peace agreement, the competition for power and resources has obviously entered a new phase.…”