The Conflict in Unity State
Publisher: The Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan
Date: 2015
Topics: Conflict Causes, Extractive Resources
Countries: South Sudan
It is now thirteen months since the beginning of the South Sudanese conflict. Both the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) have spent the rainy season reinforcing their military positions in Unity state—as elsewhere—in anticipation of a dry season military campaign. The beginning of 2015 has already seen clashes just south of Bentiu—the state capital—in Guit county, and around the oil fields of Rubkona and Pariang counties. As of January 2015, the SPLA maintains control of the northern and western counties of Pariang and Abiemnom, as well as of Bentiu. The SPLA-IO controls Unity’s southern counties, andmuch of Guit and Rubkona. Mayom, a strategically important county that contains the road from Warrap state—along which SPLA reinforcements could travel—is largely under the control of the SPLA. As dry season begins, the frontlines are just south of Bentiu, in Guit and Rubkona, and just north and west of the oil fields in Rubkona and Pariang: both the oil fields and the state capital will be important SPLA-IO strategic targets in the coming months.