South Sudan is amongst the poorest, most insecure countries in the world. The decades-long civil war has left the country with little or no infrastructure and it has some of the worst health indicators globally. Violence remains an everyday reality for many, making it a very dangerous place to live particularly for those living in more rural areas. Fighting between numerous armed groups and community-based conflicts, occurring over competition of resources or involving cattle raiding, are becoming more and more violent. To understand more about the context of our projects in South Sudan and the ongoing insecurity that our national staff and the people that we work with face, it is vital to understand the ongoing conflicts, in particular cattle raiding, within the country’s war-torn context.

Cattle raiding (also known as cattle rustling) is the act of stealing cattle and has been a traditional practice in many East African countries within pastoralist societies, used for the purpose of restocking cattle. Life for these communities revolves around cattle which are a symbol of wealth and status, and the main asset for herders and pastoralist communities. They are bartered for grain, sold for cash and even used in traditional ceremonies. Many nomadic communities live and move from place to place with their cattle.

Cattle raiding has always been a source of insecurity to the health and wellbeing of these communities, with violent raids causing death and loss of cattle resulting in loss of food and income. The raiders are often young men themselves, and the practice is contributing to high death rates of youth in South Sudan. Cattle raiding goes hand-in-hand with the parallel trade in illegal small arms, and after decades of civil conflict and an increase in weapons, raiders are now heavily armed and military-style attacks on whole communities can claim hundreds of lives at a time - in 2015 a single raid resulted in over 200 people killed, 160 children abducted and more than 2000 cattle taken. Women and girls have been implicated in the raids, with violence towards women being used a weapon of the conflict and many women and girls being abducted and forced to marry their captors.

In South Sudan the practice has been incorporated into the complex political conflict, where groups have manipulated these local conflicts in order to mobilise armed herders for political gain. This has only intensified the violence and increased challenges towards peacebuilding in the country. Civilians are frequently incorporated into cattle raids, turning the practice into deadly organised crime. Cattle raiding is considered a form of revenge attack on enemy groups in order to weaken their financial strength by looting their cattle. Commercialisation of cattle raids, whereby cattle stolen from far away communities are sold in markets in exchange of cash, has been a lucrative income for many communities. Often these transactions take place with full knowledge and active support of local elders and leaders, making it impossible to denounce the practice or bring the culprits to justice.

Cattle raids are also hugely linked to cattle dowries, which is the payment of bride prices in the form of cattle. In the rural culture of South Sudan, marriage is very important and traditionally the family of a prospective groom offers the bride’s family a dowry in the form of cattle. The dowry can range from 35 to 200 head of cattle with the current market rates of US$300 per head, a total of $10,000 and $60,000. A huge cost, given that South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world. It’s no surprise that few families can afford such, and many men, unable to meet rising dowry demands, enrol in militias and join cattle raids.

The explanations for the rise in cattle raiding must be seen within the context of the collapse of social order and the rule of law in South Sudan: this has become the basis for crime. Many South Sudanese are experiencing insecurity, a lack of access to basic services and increasing inequalities. Pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in remote border areas are particularly affected by insecurity and by a lack of social services, and women, who have little decision-making power, are especially marginalised. The ongoing insecurity is detriment to the lives of those people living in such areas who are caught up in the violence or who have their own cattle stolen. Feeling unsafe leads to a lot of stress, and worrying that you or your family and friends might get hurt can cause anxiety and other mental health problems.

Bride dowries is one example of the inequality and oppression of women and girls that persists in South Sudan. Young women and children are being forced into marriage at younger ages to secure bride-wealth cattle for the family. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is rooted in discriminatory social norms and power inequalities between men and women. Violence against women has been used as a weapon of the decades long conflicts becoming normalised in society, with serious consequences on physical, psychological and mental health.

The ongoing violence also affects our operations, and limits our staff being able to reach health posts and particular communities and clinics until the violence has calmed down. Cattle raiders also vandalise health facilities and steal or destroy medicines and medical equipment. Often it takes months for us to rebuild those facilities and restock medicines to continue providing health services to these communities. Sometimes we find it extremely challenging to reach out to those affected to provide immediate treatment for those injured. Often, whole communities are forced to leave their houses and flee to surrounding forests in order to protect their lives.

Our local and national staff work with communities to improve the health and wellbeing of people living in these conflict-affected settings. As well as providing health services, our trained psychosocial focal points are the first point of call to help people who are suffering from the effects of ongoing trauma. These psychosocial focal points also work with families to discourage forced marriages and child marriages for allowing children to remain in education. We also provide psychosocial support and health services to women and girls who are survivors of SGBV, allowing them to take part in community engagement activities and have a voice in decision making processes, whilst working with men and boys contributing to long-term positive changes in knowledge, attitude and practices. By working with communities we strive to restore mutual trust between community members and groups in order to create stronger communities. We work with local health authorities to build a coordinated response through local peace mediation committees to find a lasting solution to this problem.