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UNISCI Discussion Papers, Nº 33 (Octubre / October 2013) ISSN 1696-2206This individual perspective would not be enough, however, to understand why disputesarise and articulate on county borders: the same issue of individual access to land could, andindeed does, emerge also at Payam and Boma levels on clan and sub-clan bases, 92 though thechairman of the Land Committee in Unity State Legislative Assembly suggests that thesedisputes are usually solved more easily by Head Chiefs and Executive chiefs. 93Access to land on a collective basis entails a broader perspective of what it means interms of access to resources, that goes beyond subsistence usage. As shown above, LocalGovernment Councils (i.e. Counties), are increasingly identified as key actors in anydevelopment activity, which include, among other things, also benefiting from the revenuesderiving from natural resources exploitation. Though not yet implemented, provisionscontained in the legislation have the potential of making natural resources –including land- animportant source of income for local governments.The second issue mentioned, tax collection, represents both a source of income that canbe seen in a similar way, and a powerful symbolic act. From tax collectors´ point of view, taxcollection has the symbolic meaning of being capable to control a territory. From the point ofview of those that pay taxes, it means that they “belong” to a certain group or community, andin this way show their participation and allegiance to a polity. When asked to which countythe port and market on the river Nam belonged, the traders replied that it belonged to GuitCounty, because it was Guit authorities that collected taxes from them. 94 People do not wantto be taxed by authorities that they perceive as alien: for example, in the case of BimRuo/Yoanyang, the dispute reportedly started as a quarrel between tax collectors and laterescalated into inter-clan fighting between Jikany and Leek clans because the people did notwant to demonstrate allegiance to the other’s County authorities, even if before 2005 thepeople were living together because Guit County did not exist. 95The availability of revenues (from tax collection, natural resources exploitation orsimply government or donor grants) is associated with service delivery and developmentopportunities, the lack of which is seen not as a “failure of [institutional] accountability butrather a failure of political representation and access to political power”. 96 Social services anddevelopment opportunities, epitomized by Garang’s statement “Taking towns to the people”,are widely believed to be delivered based on tribal affiliation, as it is exemplified by thedispute between Leek and Jikani Nuer to control parts of Bentiu town. “The proximity of thecounty capital is seen to be accompanied by improved disbursement of funds for basicservices. Access to affordable food and available medical services and schools are seen to bea product of having the ‘government’ nearby”, 97 and this “nearby government” is supposed tobe the “community government”.Communities are identified and identify themselves in tribal and clanic terms, and thisis most evident in the effort of turning “traditional” customary boundaries into “modern”92 Schomerus and Allen, op. cit.; Interviews with Member of Parliament from Guit County, Unity StateLegislative Assembly, Bentiu, February 2013, Unity State Land Commission chairman, Bentiu, March 2013.93 Interviewed in Bentiu, March 2013.94 Informal talks with traders in the Mina port and market area on the river Nam, March 2013.95 Interview with Member of Parliament from Guit County, Unity State Legislative Assembly, Bentiu, February2013. Rubkhona and Guit County are considered to belong respectively to the Leek Nuer sub-tribe and to JikanyNuer sub-tribe. The dispute arose as soon as both counties authorities started to try to collect taxes, in 2007, asbetween 2005 and 2007 the area was still partly controlled by an armed militia.96 Schomerus and Allen, op. cit. p.42.97 Ibid. The control over Bentiu town also entails higher revenues in terms of commodity tax collection, as thecapital town is where major markets are located.54
UNISCI Discussion Papers, Nº 33 (Octubre / October 2013) ISSN 1696-2206administrative borders. The overlapping of the particularistic sphere of the community and theuniversalistic one of the local government in charge of development and service delivery, issomehow endorsed by the Local Government Act that recognizes the “traditional communityauthority” as expression of the people’s self-rule 98 implying therefore a stronger role for thechiefs without however mentioning specific mechanisms to entrench their downwardaccountability nor possible safeguard mechanisms for “aliens” to a particular community. Thecall for self-rule constitutes the other outstanding element of the Government of SouthSudan’s commitment to decentralization. If the two things, self-rule and service delivery, areto go together in a decentralized system, it seems that the persistent perception of access toresources being granted along tribal lines while officializing them into administrative bordersis more likely to cause localized conflicts than to solve them, especially in a context such asUnity State -and the broader South Sudan- where ethnicity has already been extensivelyexploited for political reasons along its whole history.6. ConclusionsThis paper has shown how the creation of a decentralized system of government in a contextof post-conflict state-building needs necessarily to cope with the challenges stemming fromthe delimitation of territorial units that will form the base for local government empowerment.The idea, popular among international agencies contributing to South Sudan state-buildingeffort, that a decentralized government would best meet the goals of peace-building seemssometimes to overlook the fact that, although beneficial for managing tensions at a nationallevel allowing broader political inclusion through the creation of a number of new localpolitical arena, it can sometimes have contrasting impacts on the local level.Though the majority of my interviewees supported the idea that a decentralized systemis the best way to govern South Sudan respecting its people’s right to self-rule, this paper hasraised some critical aspects on the local impact of the creation of decentralized governmentalstructures, starting from local borders. According to Schomerus and Allen, “Decentralization,while theoretically the best way to govern Southern Sudan, has in reality become aninstrument to entrench ‘tribal’ lines over competition for resources, manifesting itself in aproliferation of new counties”. 99In particular, Unity State case-study showed that institutionalization of county bordersis going hand in hand with an increase in localized disputes over resources. These disputeshave to do with the overlapping of the “traditional” customary domain with the “modern”administrative local government unit, creating tensions between a particularistic, identitybasedidea of self-rule, and universalistic statehood supposed to protect the rights to resourcesaccess of all its citizens. This tension is likely to increase the more the local government willbe empowered to carry out its tasks with increased access to natural resources revenues. Sofar, violent clashes have occurred only occasionally, but if the issue is not addressed andcontinues to be postponed to when all major troubles with Sudan and the international borderwill be solved, its capacity of deteriorating local relations between communities and hinderingstate-building at a local level (represented by state institutions that do not deliver what areexpected to) should be taken into account.98 Local Government Act, op. cit, art. 114.99 Schomerus and Allen, op. cit., p. 955
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