Water Shortage Violence in South Sudan

Making sure that freshwater is globally and widely accessible remains one of humanity’s biggest challenge.

South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation after gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. The young nation experiences flooding for over half of the year, has the White Nile passing through it and sits on 3 transboundary aquifers - it is not short on water. However, civil war has ensued the country, where they have faced several humanitarian crises: 80% of South Sudan’s population is without access to clean water. Civil unrest has nominally ‘ended’, but water now stands at the core for the increase in violent and less-than human acts of kidnappings and rape.

Due to the ensuing violence, infrastructure key to delivering clean, safe water has been destroyed through acts of political violence. In a warming climate, clean water is becoming more essential to our lives, and the drive to secure it has lead to armed political conflicts and statements between the different ethnic groups that make-up South Sudan. Women most often fall victim to the water shortage crisis as they are the ones who make the long, dangerous journey to collect and provide water for the household. Women are having to trek 8 hours to access the nearest water pump in parts of South Sudan as many boreholes that would have previously provided water to the villages were destroyed by armed groups who targeted water infrastructures of opposing ethnicities. Now, bodies of women who have died from dehydration from collecting water pile up on dirt tracks, and those who survive, are met by another challenge - men who attack and rape women to take their hard-earned collected water. The rise in repulsive desperation crimes against women is becoming all too common in South Sudan, and serious political restructuring from within needs to occur imminently.

Lack of water also means a shortage of food. Over 70% of South Sudan’s population will experience food insecurity, of which 8.3 million people will face extreme hunger, making the nation highly susceptible to hostile politics. In the midst of all of this, South Sudanese officials continue to state that ‘there is more than enough water to serve the population’, and this ignorant response from the country’s top is a key issue that needs to be resolved internally.

Political conflict currently remains local, however there is a potential for it to transform into a national one. Water is imperative to life, not only for drinking purposes but also for food production, and as an act of desperation, the South Sudanese are turning to violence to make meet ends.

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