New HSBA Situation Update on the war in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal states

Clashes in South Sudan’s Western Bahr el Ghazal and Western Equatoria are not a breakdown of order; they fulfil a political purpose. This disorder has enabled President Salva Kiir’s regime to weaken its rivals in Juba, while fracturing opposition forces on the ground.

Making the Enemy: The War in Western Equatoria and Western Bahr el Ghazal States—a new Situation Update from the Small Arms Survey’s Human Security Baseline Assessment for Sudan and South Sudan (HSBA) project—analyses South Sudan’s government counterinsurgency strategy in areas where the government has no legitimacy; instead of eliminating the opposition, the government will create an enemy—an insurgency it can then suppress.