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UNISCI Discussion Papers, Nº 33 (Octubre / October 2013) ISSN 1696-2206Government Council as: “community government that exists at the levels of governmentclosest to the people in the states as provided for under Article 47(c) of the Constitution andestablished in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act, 2009”. Being thelevel of government closest to the people, Counties are therefore considered as entitled tomanage oil revenues on behalf of the communities, though the debate on which Countyinstitution should be in charge – the Council or the County Development Committee - is stillongoing. In 2013, some changes have been introduced in the draft bill, distinguishing betweenimmediate communities, neighboring communities and all other communities, entitled to45%, 30% and 20% of the 3% Local Government Council oil revenues respectively. Thisintroduces another element of potential inequality among different communities, self-definedin tribal terms and bound to a particular territory whose border definition will have anoutstanding importance in entitling its members to oil revenues. 68 “How do you address thelocal people? Who are their legitimate representatives? (…)If it is not clear what we meanwith community, this can cause problems over boundaries”, warns a Juba University lecturerduring an interview on the distribution of oil revenues. 695. Unity State Case-StudyUnity State is a relatively homogeneous area in terms of ethnic composition, being mainlyinhabited by Nuer sub-sections with Dinka minorities in Pariang, Abiemnom and the northernpart of Rubkhona counties. Nonetheless, the area has experienced an incredibly high rate ofinter-communal fighting during the war not only on the Dinka-Nuer fault line manipulated bySPLA mainstream and Nasir faction, but also in the form of intra-Nuer sub-section and clanfighting. SPLA control in the area has been historically challenged by a number of other rebelgroups and militia, and even today’s tensions between different SPLM factions at nationallevel are locally very visible. 70Together with this history of internal fighting, the region is also very rich in naturalresources, both land, with the toic representing only one of the pasture areas over whichdifferent communities compete, and oil.For these reasons, Unity State is an interesting case-study to look at to assess the localeffects of the delimitation of territorial unities while decentralizing the government of SouthSudan.5.1. A Historical BackgroundUnity State, once known as Western Upper Nile (WUN), is situated in the north-central partof South Sudan, with a surface of approximately 36.000 square km. The oil discoveries in thearea in the late ’70 deeply affected the local population that was deliberately targeted andforced to flee by government proxy militias.Since the beginning of the ‘80s, a mostly Nuer rebel movement called Anyanya II wasactive in the area and its attacks against Chevron facilities and personnel caused the company68 Akec John A. and Schenkel Kathelijne: “Petroleum revenues distribution to local communities in SouthSudan”, Sudan Tribune (5 June 2013).69 Interview in Juba, 17 January 2013.70 The latest example is the removal of Unity State governor Taban Deng Gai in July 2013. Sudan Tribune:“South Sudan’s Kiir relieves Unity State governor Taban Deng”, 7 July 2013.48
UNISCI Discussion Papers, Nº 33 (Octubre / October 2013) ISSN 1696-2206shut-down of activities. Only after having absorbed part of Anyanya II, between 1984 and1986, was the SPLA able to enter the area and put under its control most of WUN territory,except for some garrison towns and oilfields in the north. By the end of the ‘80s, the bulk ofAnyanya II joined the rebel movement, except for Bul Nuer forces of Paulino Matiep thatremained active in Mayom and Mankien and allied with Khartoum. After a short period ofunity, new militias opposing the rebel movement started to operate. In 1991 Riek MacharTeny, former SPLA Zonal Commander in Western Upper Nile, Gordon Kong (a Nuer fromNasir) and Lam Akol (a Shilluk from Upper Nile) broke away from SPLA after an attemptedcoup against its leader John Garang. The split, which led to the creation of the SPLM-Nasirfaction, caused huge losses to the SPLA in terms of soldiers and control of the territory, withmajor oilfields under SPLM-Nasir (later on SPLM-United and South Sudan IndependentMovement).For almost a decade, Western Upper Nile was under the control of splinter groups,which alternatively allied with the government, fighting each other and the SPLA. 71 Ethnicitywas widely manipulated during the 90s, affecting not only Dinka-Nuer relations (Garangversus Riek Machar) but also intra-Nuer relations. 72Bentiu remained under direct control of the Sudanese army as other garrison towns inSouthern Sudan, while most of the rural areas were under Riek Machar’s forces or othermilitias’ control, that were virtually neutralized with the signing of the Khartoum PeaceAgreement (1997). Before entering the peace agreement, Paulino Matiep’s Bul Nuer militiawas used by the government to secure the oilfields in the western part of Western Upper Nile.He was then integrated in the Sudanese Army as a Major General, and his movement wasrenamed South Sudan Unity Movement/Army. He continued to be active in Mayom area. 73Baggara militias, which seasonally migrated to southern Dinka and Nuer lands in search forwater and pastures, were also armed and used to displace people.The control of the area between 1991 and 2002 was contended between PaulinoMatiep’s militia and Riek Machar’s faction, with the current governor Taban Deng Gai as akey figure in the area and a number of splinter micro-groups allying alternatively with rebelfactions or the Khartoum government. 74 By the end of the 90s, SSDF in Western Upper Nile,headed by Tito Biel, started to realign with the SPLM/A, but the rebel movement´s physicalpresence in the area was only re-established after Peter Gadet’s defection to SPLM/A in2000. 75In 2002, the South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF), created by the Khartoum PeaceAgreement and led by Riek Machar, rejoined the SPLA after negotiations held in Nairobibetween the SPLM/A headquarter and Taban Deng Gai on behalf of SSDF. The latter wasappointed Unity State governor after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in2005 and was confirmed in the position by 2010 highly contested election.71 Johnson D. H.: The root causes…, op. cit.; Human Rights Watch (2003): Sudan, Oil and Human Rights, NewYork, HRW, available at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/sudan1103/sudanprint.pdf.72 Johnson D. H.: The root causes…, op. cit.; Hutchinson: “A curse from God?...”, op. cit. ; Human RightsWatch, op. cit.; African Rights, op. cit.73 Human Rights Watch, op. cit.74 Ibid.75 Peter Gadet was formerly Zonal Commander in Paulino Matiep’s South Sudan Unity Movement/Army. Hismunity caused the loss of most of SSUM/A Bul and Leek Nuer troops in Mankien. Ibid.49
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