The economy and culture of the Nilotic people of southern Sudan are based on cattle. Protecting that precious asset is a central concern, particularly among youth in the cattle camps. With the intensification of the southern civil war in the  early 1990s,  the  youth  of  Nuerland  began  acquiring  large  numbers  of modern small arms and light weapons, which allowed them to protect com­munity  property  and  obtain  cattle  and  other  goods  from  their  neighbours.

This study reviews the limited literature on the history, organization, and operation of the white army in the context of the civil war that erupted in December 2013. The present research has two main components. First, based primarily on interviews, it provides a broad picture of the contemporary white army and attempts to give its fighters a human face.