New HSBA Briefing Paper on the state of the Nuer White Armies of South Sudan

In Thuok Riekni, the camp of the SPLM/A-IO-loyal Gawaar Nuer prophet Makuach Tut, one can grasp the predicament of South Sudan’s present. The government has completely withdrawn from service provision and wage payments, flooding and conflict have rendered private enterprise almost impossible and, with the collapse in humanitarian funding in South Sudan, gone are aid agency wages that would sustain extended families. It is both the violent presence of President Kiir’s regime and the absence of government that pushes communities to organize self-defence forces, such as the white armies.

A Country for Old Men: The State of the Nuer White Armies of South Sudan—a new Briefing Paper from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA) project—examines the state of the Nuer self-defence forces, commonly referred to as the ‘white army’, in the context of the Government of the Republic of South Sudan’s counterinsurgency.

Read: A Country for Old Men: The State of the Nuer White Armies of South Sudan

For more, check out:

• Making the Enemy: The War in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal States (November 2025)—a Situation Update that examines the war in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal states
• Wun Weng’s Victory: The Rise and Fall of Benjamin Bol Mel (November 2025)—a Situation Update that examines former Vice-President Bol Mel’s rise and fall
• On The Brink: The Politics of Violence in South Sudan (March 2025)—a Briefing Paper that examines what led South Sudan to delay elections scheduled for December 2024 and considers the civil war.
• The Republic of Kadamol: A Portrait of the Rapid Support Forces at War (January 2025)—a Briefing Paper that offers an insight into RSF recruitment strategies, war aims, and command and control problems
• Living with Lobong: Power, Gold, and the UPDF in Eastern Equatoria (November 2024)—a Situation Update that explores Lobong’s grasp on the state
• Pay Day Loans and Backroom Empires: South Sudan’s Political Economy since (October 2023)—a Briefing Paper on the predatory nature of the political economy in South Sudan
• The Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) project page
• South Sudan outputs in our Resource Library

Other news from the Survey:

• New Report on small arms proliferation in Ukraine
• New HSBA Situation Update on the war in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal states
• New HSBA Situation Update on the rise and fall of Benjamin Bol Mel
• New Report on firearm-related violence and trafficking in the Caribbean
• Joint Release — New Report Calls For Coordinated, Multi-sectoral Action to Tackle Firearm-related Violence and Trafficking in the Caribbean
• New Situation Update on the global authorized trade in small arms
• New podcast on explosive precursor chemicals regulation