Protection Assessment

Buaw, Koch County, State

August 30 – September 10, 2014

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Table of Contents Protection Assessment ...... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1. Executive Summary ...... 3 2. Recommendations ...... 4 To All Parties in Conflict ...... 4 To Protection Actors ...... 4 To the United Nations Mission in (UNMISS) ...... 4 To Other Humanitarian Actors ...... 4 3. Methodology ...... 4 4. Context Overview ...... 5 5. Humanitarian Intervention...... 6 Food Security ...... 6 Non-Food Items (NFI) ...... 7 WASH Activities ...... 7 Education ...... 7 6. Protection Concerns ...... 8 Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) ...... 8 Forcible Recruitment ...... 9 Child Soldiers ...... 10 Occupation of Health Facilities...... Error! Bookmark not defined. Unexploded Ordnance/Remnants of War ...... 10 Drunken Soldiers ...... 10 Proximity to the Front Lines ...... 10 7. Conclusion ...... 10

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1. Executive Summary

From August 31 to September 10, 2014, Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) travelled to Buaw Payam, Koch County, Unity State in support of a General Food Distribution (GFD) conducted by the World Food Program (WFP).

The goals of the mission were to –

1. Engage in protection work related to the distribution, including the identification and consideration of vulnerable populations;

2. Follow up on previously identified protection concerns including rape, harassment, and forcible recruitment of civilians in the area.

Buaw has been an important transit point for opposition soldiers for the last several months. During heavy fighting in Koch County early in the year, nearly all residents fled to the bush and returned shortly after the battlefronts stabilized in May 2014. While Buaw did not experience the destruction of homes and infrastructure seen in other areas (and thus not in as much need of shelter items), it did suffer from extensive looting of household NFIs and medical supplies, which host community members identified as top priorities for further humanitarian intervention. Local civil authorities and host communities identified four primary needs – food security, NFI, health, and education.

The NP team identified several protection concerns. These include the rape, harassment, and abduction of women who continue to make the journey to Mayom for food and market goods, an issue first identified by NP in June1. Though food distributions in Leer, Mayendit, and Koch Counties have reduced the number, there are still significant risks to those who make the journey. Forced recruitment, including of children, has taken place throughout Unity State. The occupation of health facilities, ill-disciplined soldiers, and proximity to the front lines all affect civilian feelings of security, while unexploded ordnance and explosive remnants of war (UXO/ERW) also pose a significant risk to host populations and must be cleared to protect not only civilians but humanitarian assistance as well.

1 See the Capacities and Vulnerabilities Assessment (CVA) conducted by NP from 2 – 6 June, 2014 in Leer County.

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2. Recommendations

Based on the findings of this Protection Assessment, NP recommends:

To All Parties in Conflict 1. Respect International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law and South Sudanese law regarding violence against civilians; and 2. Fully implement the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement from January 23rd, 2014 and the May 9th Agreement, with particular attention to Section 3 of the Cessation of Hostilities regarding Protection of Civilians.

To Protection Actors 1. Further assessment to Mayom County, especially to Wicok, Wang Kai, and Mayom town, in order to assess and monitor previously identified concerns, especially regarding women paid to travel in search of food and market goods; 2. Provide protective accompaniment and proactive presence for civilians in areas where risk of violence is acute; and 3. Protection mainstreaming and direct protection support for distributions and other humanitarian activities.

To the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) 1. Investigation of human rights abuses, especially of forced recruitment throughout Unity State, and of allegations of rape and abduction by various actors in southern Mayom County; and 2. Assist with the IGAD teams monitoring violations of the CoH agreements, particularly Section 3 on Protection of Civilians.

To Other Humanitarian Actors 1. Scale up humanitarian response in Koch County away from the front lines, focusing on Food Security, WASH, NFI, and Protection; and 2. Prioritize protection mainstreaming among respective agencies to incorporate protection concerns into planning and implementation of distributions.

3. Methodology

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The assessment team gathered information and perspectives on needs by conducting several key informant interviews (KII) and focus group discussions (FGD) with traditional leaders, soldiers, health workers, women, and children in Buaw Town as well as local authorities from Koch and Mayom Counties. The total number of individuals participating was 79.

4. Context Overview

Buaw Payam is located in the north-west corner of Koch County, which lies at the heart of Unity State. Koch is made up almost entirely of Jagey Nuer, with the Lam subclan occupying Buaw and its environs. The Jagey are traditional rivals of the Bul Nuer and the Leek Nuer from Mayom and Rubkona Counties, respectively, making Buaw a hot-spot for cattle raids from these counties and from Dinka areas in Warrap State. The current conflict has forced a truce between the various Nuer clans, but there is no indication how long that will last.

The most heavily-contested areas in Unity State have proven to be Mayom and Rubkona Counties, which are currently split between government and opposition. Buaw Payam borders Rubkona and Mayom Counties, and is the last point on the road that connects Koch to the main north-south highway running through Southern Unity. This makes Bauw the last place easily accessible by road during the rainy season leading to extensive troop movement through the area.

With nearly all opposition-occupied territory in Unity State extremely food-insecure, Buaw has been a particularly important waypoint for informal trade. Mayom County had a good harvest last year, and much of its yellow maize has made its way into Koch, Leer, and Mayendit Counties through Buaw. In addition, Mayom’s trade routes to Warrap and Abyei have remained open, making it an important centre for food and non-food items including salt, sugar, coffee, tea, biscuits, soap, clothing, batteries, and other goods. However, these routes have put those who travel them at high risk of rape, abduction, and death from armed actors.

Buaw’s close proximity to Mayom County also presents potential volatility unique to the area due to the struggle for power and control in the territory of the Bul Nuer. Though the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) has been incorporated into the SPLA since a 2013 amnesty, there was a split in the command structure that presents potential for further fracturing in the area. Peter Gadet is the Bul Nuer commander of opposition forces in Unity State. His former lieutenants, Bapiny Monytuil and Matthew Pul Jang, with the bulk force of

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the SSLA, have remained loyal to the government side, splitting the Bul Nuer between the two opposing camps.2

Finally, it should be noted that the opposition has recently named new commissioners for both Koch and Mayom Counties. While little is known about these changes, the presence of both men in Buaw reflects the town’s importance within the region.

5. Humanitarian Intervention

The host community of Buaw is experiencing several effects of conflict such as food insecurity, and a lack of medicine, non-food items, and access to markets and trade. At the time of assessment, Buaw had not experienced much humanitarian intervention despite its security over the past several months and its designation as an area for priority response. There is currently a scale up in Koch Country of humanitarian actors, which will be an important step for improving the humanitarian situation in the county, and by extension, reduce the risk for dangerous movement to access markets.

Food Security NP accompanied WFP and World Relief in support of a general food distribution from 31 August to 10 September, 2014. Working with the two organizations, NP was able to support the mainstreaming of protection into the distribution and support the most vulnerable in both registration and distribution exercises.

In total, WFP and World Relief were able to feed over 18,000 individuals from Buaw and Pakur payams, with some traveling two to three hours from Nihaldu in order to access food.

Hunger, however, continues to be an issue for many. Buaw and Pakur payams historically generate the highest grain yields in Koch County, yet even before the war, the two payams had been depopulated due to violent cattle raids from Mayom and Rubkona Counties as well as from Warrap State and therefore were underproducing. Though the harvest is coming now, people throughout the region have relied on market links to distribute the crop throughout the state. With the war, these links have been broken and Buaw remains isolated.

The team was able to buy yellow maize from the host community and witnessed many women and children snacking on the roasted corn throughout the registration and

2 See Crisis Group Africa Report N°179 “South Sudan: Compounding Instability in Unity State.” 17 October 2011. For more information

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distribution exercises, yet the team was informed by a couple of civilians that the selling of maize started when the population was sure of the food distribution. When the food drops started to take place, the team witnessed many households using their final stock of Maize right before ending of the food distribution. Unfortunately these yields are not representative of the rest of Unity State, where many were not able to plant due to the conflict.

This should not be read as an endorsement of any GFD north or west of Buaw. The insecurity of the front-line areas as well as reports of soldiers deserting due to a lack of food present too many protection issues in the current climate. The team was able to hear from some individuals that the remaining civilians in front-line areas have stayed in order to protect their crops and their cattle, but that they may move to better-served areas if their needs are not met.

Non-Food Items (NFI) According to many in the host community, the fighting in Buaw in January left them nearly no time to evacuate their personal belongings as they fled into the bush. The result is that when the situation stabilized, the host community returned to looted homes with only what they carried. Though homes and the market were not targeted for destruction to the same degree as those further south around Leer and Mirmir, the host community lacks resources. Any NFI intervention should look critically at how to effecively serve both the host and IDP communities.

WASH Activities Polluted groundwater and a lack of working pumps were both mentioned in the report from the Inter-Agency Rapid Needs Assessment that took place in June. At the time of this assessment only two of the five pumps in town are operational. Long queues form for water, and the boreholes are not drawing water efficiently, putting even more strain on the pumps. The host community practices open defecation as the only latrines are found at the Buaw Public Healthcare Clinic and are all full. In Koch, the team heard from several people, especially around the Thar Jath oil fields that their ground water is polluted with chemicals and unsafe for drinking. These are often the only water sources available if the community is forced to flee into the bush. Additionally, there is no soap to be found in market, and many women and even soldiers requested soap for hygiene and washing clothing.

Education Even before the conflict, Buaw had no permanent facility for a school. A local education official told the team that a school was supposed to have been built in 2012, but that it

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had been delayed. Instead, teachers met with students under trees. Buaw has many children who were students in nearby or in Koch town and who have not been able to continue their education. The lack of opportunities for education exacerbates the risk of recruitment for these children. Several boys in particular expressed a desire to return to school and expressed frustration at their lack of opportunities. There are still teachers in Buaw, but they lack of supplies and support.

6. Protection Concerns

There are numerous protection concerns in the areas around Bauw. However, many of the host community were reluctant to speak to outsiders. The team had an overall sense that fear or mistrust pervaded those from the host community whenever discussing protection- related issues.

The following concerns were mostly obtained through key informant interviews and direct observation. The team heard many stories second-hand about women who had experienced rape, beatings and/or harassment while walking to Mayom in search of food or who had members of their family forcibly recruited. However, it was difficult to get first- hand reports, unsurprisingly for such sensitive issues. This was likely partially due to stigma and truama, but the team was given indications that it also stemmed from a fear of retribution. This possibility needs to be taken into account by any protection actor engaging on these issues in the future.

Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) NP first received reports of rape, harassment and abduction on the routes from Southern Unity into Mayom in June 2014. From the earliest reports, it seemed that hundreds of women were traveling into Mayom County in search of food. This number has dwindled significantly for two reasons. The first is the continuing delivery of food relief to populations in Koch, Leer, and Mayendit Counties. The availability of food aid to these populations has substantively decreased the need for women to make the dangerous decision of movement for food, which indicates that continuing availability is crucial for continuing to lower that risk. The second stems from reports of food shortages on Mayom side. This may not relate to food shortages in Mayom town itself, but rather from the southern payams of Mayom County. More information will need to come from sources within Mayom for confirmation.

In the past several months, women from more southerly areas had used Buaw as a staging area, taking cattle, sisal, or other tradable goods to barter with the payams and bomas in southern Mayom County. Women reported that the greatest number of attacks during

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these trips came from areas around Tuarkei, Chot Chora, and Toic, by what were essentially bandits.

Women from Buaw, however, reported that they typically travelled across the River Naam to Mankien, Mayom, and Wang Kai in search of market goods. It seems as though shopkeepers paid women around 300 SSP to make the trip, often carrying goods amounting to 1000 SSP. However, after crossing the frontline they were attacked by men in uniform, and typically beaten and robbed. Some of the victims reported sexual violence still taking place until June, yet, as mentioned above, it was difficult to get first-hand reports.

The team suspects that the lack of men and the number of soldiers that transit through Buaw may have created an environment of increased vulnerability to SGBV. Buaw has no facilities for survivors of sexual violence, nor are there any actors present who provide psychosocial support. The health facility was doubling as a prison for at least seven to ten men.

Forced Recruitment The team received numerous and consistent reports of forcible recruitment throughout Unity State as recently as August. For example, one key informant reported that he had been forcibly recruited some months ago; he had been wounded and wanted to return home and to school.

Many women reported forced recruitment of men, and one woman reported forced recruitment of her child, stating he was taken in broad daylight by men in uniforms. Most women spoken to had not heard from their men since their forced recruitment. One person told NP that if a man refused to join them, the soldiers would take his cattle. When asked how many they took, the person replied, “If you are quiet, they take two or three.” While in Buaw, the team witnessed 150 to 200 new recruits in civilian clothing moving north through Buaw. New recruits slept not on the road or in open areas, as witnessed in Koch, but in host community tukuls.

The new commissioner-iO of Koch County has reportedly sworn to end forced recruitment. This may be because there are so few men left. Two people told the team that the lack of men had put the community at risk of increased cattle raiding from Warrap State. As one put it, “[The commissioner] had to make that promise. There is no one left to defend.”

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Child Soldiers In addition to the reports of forced recruitment of men and children, the team witnessed 15 underage children in uniform and handling weapons. The team also witnessed children behaving as porters for armed groups. One boy, who confirmed he was 14, complained that he wanted to go to the front line, but that he had not yet been allowed. He was seen on several occasions carrying an AK-47 and three extra ammunition clips, but for the most part he seemed to be acting as a porter.

The boys in uniform in Buaw point to greater numbers on the front line. The team witnessed one fourteen year-old boy being treated for a bullet wound he had sustained fighting in Bentiu only two weeks before. Several boys reported the forced recruitment of their friends, especially those who had come from areas closer to the front lines near Nihaldu.

Unexploded Ordnance/Remnants of War The team witnessed two chaches of ammunition that had been piled haphazardly and left unattended. The first was at the primary healthcare facility, and the second was near the WFP food registration site, both of which pose risks to local civilians and humanitarian workers.

While in Buaw, the team witnessed a child of twelve brought to the health facility because he had been playing with live 12.7 ammunition. The bullet had exploded, taking off his finger and grazing his arm.

Drunken Soldiers Undisciplined firing of small arms is a regular occurrence. The team was warned they might hear shooting during the night, but that if they did it was “just drunken soldiers shooting their guns whenever they have sex.” The first night, around sunset, the team heard a heavy weapon being discharged into the air. This was repeated a few hours later, and again a few hours after that. The Koch County Commissioner-iO told the team he would put a stop to it. The team heard no more gunshots for the remainder of the visit.

Proximity to the Front Lines Though Buaw is not considered a front line area and has been designated for priority intervention, there is still a risk that the front line could shift to incorporate the payam. Armed actors reported fighting in areas not far from Bauw, such as Wicok and Nihaldu, and reports of a commando raid only weeks before show that fighting could take place in Buaw. Security risks must be managed appropriately.

7. Conclusion

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The situation in Buaw is relatively stable, with the majority of the host community returning and few IDPs from Bentiu or Mayom. However, despite WFP intervention and a good harvest, Buaw is susceptible to severe food insecurity, which will only grow worse once the harvest’s cereal reserves are exhausted in the next few months. Women especially have been exposed to violence in their efforts to get food. There is also a need for the humanitarian community to follow up on the needs identified during the June Inter- Agency Rapid Needs Assessment to Koch County.

As humanitarian actors move forward on response in Buaw, there should be a strong focus on mainstreaming protection into all interventions to reflect the contextual realities of insecurity and exposure to violence. Continued protection actor presence for longer periods of time would be beneficial in order to gain the community’s trust and acceptance so that we can better understand from them the sensitive security issues.

This report was made possible with the generous contribution of:

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