Main conclusions

• Security perception: improved
• Increased reliance on: police
• Most needed improvement: economic development

Recommendations

• From the onset of data collection in 2017, the general security perceptions of local communities across Yirol West, Yirol East and Awerial counties have improved, despite deteriorated security levels reported between 2018-2020. A factor behind this improvement is the signing of a 2018 peace agreement with the neighboring Nuer communities in Unity. However, this improvement was not directly evident in the high frequency of reported incidents between 2017-2020 (i.e. cattle raiding, murders, robberies). Despite a later decline in most incidents between 2021-2022, forced marriage cases have risen. PAX recommends continued monitoring of the Yirol-Payinjiar peace agreement and the development of legitimate community security mechanisms to address intra/intercommunal violence, as well as communal strategies that can diffuse tensions and prevent the outbreak of future violence.
• The performance of all domestic security actors (police, armed youth, SSPDF) has seen a similar trajectory in Greater Yirol: negative perceptions between 2018-2020, followed by improved perceptions in 2020-2022. In contrast, Perceptions on UNMISS performance have gone from positive in 2018-2020, to negative in 2020-2022. In line with this, respondents have consistently requested that police (as the most prominent law enforcement actor) have an increased presence and more training. Notably, in several survey rounds, a third of respondents indicated a reliance on armed youth militias for security, compared with two-thirds of respondents who endorsed the police. PAX recommends increased investment in the training and basic maintenance of legitimate law enforcement actors such as the police, communal chiefs, courts and local government officials. This is proposed with the goal of bridging the apparent law enforcement gap, improving community engagement and building on current levels of relative stability and legitimacy.
• Communities in Greater Yirol prioritize sustaining the current peace agreement with the neighboring Nuer communities of Unity. Vulnerabilities in security provision remain, yet the sharing of pastures, freedom of movement and renewed opportunities for intercommunal trade have revealed the immediate benefits of the agreement. However, respondents have also indicated that more emphasis needs to be put on the economic development of the area (i.e. access to basic services, creation of jobs/ livelihood opportunities, the construction of roads and other infrastructure). Respondents also stress the importance of continued dialogue & reconciliation within and between communities, and frequently request drives for civilian disarmament in the area. PAX recommends investing in access to basic services and alternative livelihoods for youth for the communities of Greater Yirol as an important means to protect the intercommunal peace, but also to keep investing in intra- and intercommunal peacebuilding and dialogue activities, in order to address current security concerns.

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