New HSBA Situation Update on the UPDF in Eastern Equatoria, South Sudan

Louis Lobong Lojore has been the governor of Eastern Equatoria since 2010. He has entrenched his control of the state by building an elite coalition across ethnic lines and disbursing revenues related to the state’s gold-mining sector. Yet, Lobong’s reign in Eastern Equatoria is built on shaky foundations. His support is largely constituted by elites who have profited from his time in office, while the people of Eastern Equatoria are struggling to defend their lands from encroachments by Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) and Dinka cattle guards from Jonglei.

Living with Lobong: Power, Gold, and the UPDF in Eastern Equatoria—a new Situation Update from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA)—examines Lobong’s grasp on the state; how his exploitation of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) plays into his strategies, and how a lack of political opposition has forced local communities to seemingly be the sole protest against Lobong’s domination.

Read: Living with Lobong: Power, Gold, and the UPDF in Eastern Equatoria

For more, check out:

• Port Sudan: The Political Economy of a Potential Administrative Capital—a Situation Update that explores the fragile political landscape in and surrounding the city
• Nuba Hopes and Fears: Fuelling SPLA-North Mobilization in South Kordofan—a Situation Update that examines the clashes between the three main political stakeholders in South Kordofan, Sudan
• Pay Day Loans and Backroom Empires: South Sudan’s Political Economy since 2018—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 SANA Situation Update on Tunisia’s immigration crisis and Briefing Paper on Türkiye’s strategy in Libya
• New Situation Update on trends in firearms trafficking in the Caribbean and Latin America
• New Briefing Paper on improving point of injury trauma care for IED victims
• Nouvelle note d’information SANA sur les armes à feu artisanales en Guinée
• New SANA Briefing Paper on the global struggle to halve violent deaths by 2030
• New Situation Update on the dynamics of firearms possession in Ukraine
• New Survey Report on the Arms Trade Treaty in the Indo-Pacific region