Murle Conflict

For much of my working career I have been involved with the Murle people of South Sudan. I first met the Murle when Barb and I did a linguistic survey of the South Sudan in 1975. We were intrigued by these traditional people living on the floodplains and a year later we moved to Pibor to live among them. We built a simple house overlooking the river and spent the next eight years studying the Murle language and culture. We made many good friends among the Murle, but in 1984 we had to leave the area due to the oncoming civil war. We continued the translation of the Murle New Testament in Kenya and upon its completion we distributed 4000 copies to the Murle people. Although the Murle were experiencing the stress of the civil war the number of churches continued to grow until they exceeded sixty. In May of 2011 I was able to return to Pibor for a short visit. I discovered that although the civil war was over, there were now serious tensions between the Murle and the neighboring people called the Nuer. An attack took place at a village called Lekwongole. Well-armed Nuer warriors attacked and killed 200 Murle, many of them women and children. The Murle have a reputation as ferocious fighters and they quickly organized a revenge attack on the Nuer. In turn the Nuer attacked again and these tit-for-tat fights have been taking place frequently over the past two years. Both sides are well armed with AK47s and the deaths on both sides have numbered in the hundreds. In December of 2011 the Nuer mustered over 7000 warriors and marched on Pibor town. Over 90,000 Murle fled to avoid the attack, but others were trapped and over 1500 Murle people were killed. International peacekeepers observed the fighting, but did nothing to stop the massacre. Afterwards hundreds of the wounded Murle were flown by helicopters to Juba for medical treatment. At this point the Sudan military forces were brought in to Pibor with orders to disarm the Murle warriors. The Murle men naturally resisted giving up their guns and were badly treated by the military, resulting in Murle people being killed, raped and tortured. Some of the younger Murle warriors were so angered by this mistreatment that they have joined a newly formed rebel movement and are making periodic attacks against the government forces. Since the December massacre at Pibor I have been receiving various messages from Murle pastors, explaining the situation and asking for help. In January I was passing through Kenya on my way to Tanzania. Here I met with a diplomat who knew about the Murle massacre. We talked about the plight of the Murle and he pushed me to stand up for the Murle people. He stated that no other expatriate knew the Murle language and culture. Nobody was speaking out on the side of the Murle and therefore the Murle were being demonized in the media as the “bad guys” who deserved the treatment they were receiving. His words rang true and after careful consideration I wrote a four-page memorandum in defense of the Murle people. This I sent to everyone I knew who had connections with the South Sudan. Within a month I heard from the United Nations and from USAID wanting more information on the Murle situation. They then went ahead and organized a three-day forum that was held in Nairobi in March. Over 20 NGOs (Non Government Organizations) were represented. I was invited as the anthropologist with a specialty focusing on the Murle. I presented four papers explaining the history and culture of the Murle and then gave the background to the present conflict. My son Mike was also invited to the forum since he had just spent three months with the Nuer and the Murle and he had the most up-to-date information. The forum was a positive means of getting the appropriate information into the right hands. Since the forum the Murle conflict has been more visible and various organizations have been trying to help. But the conflict continues and much more needs to be done. In September I was invited to be part of a conflict assessment team sponsored by the US government. I spent three days in Washington D.C. briefing personnel in organizations such as USAID, the State Department and the US Institute for Peace. Then earlier this month I was invited to spend eight days in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. There I spent much of my time with the conflict assessment team and evaluated their findings. The fighting in the Murle area was a focus of their research. At the same time I met with many Murle church leaders who were living in Juba and I was able to get their perspective on the ongoing conflict. Many of them have lost family members and were pleading for their position to be heard. I listened carefully and passed on their concerns to a number of important leaders such as the US Ambassador, Director of Internal Affairs for the United Nations, a Sudanese general, and the heads of a number of NGOs. There are now many influential people seeking a solution to the Murle conflict, but it is still a very complicated situation with many stakeholders. I was also able to work with the Murle church leaders in Juba. After much discussion we arranged a reprinting of the Murle New Testament and a restart of the Murle literacy program. In addition we arranged for translation of Old Testament books and preparation of a book on dealing with trauma. Overall the week spent in Juba was one of the most busy and stressful weeks of my life. Peace can only come when all the parties involved agree to peace. It is now in their hands. At the present moment the sides are not actively fighting, but holding positions while they are considering offers of amnesty. All we can do is pray for the situation. In Juba I gave a talk to over 60 leaders interested in knowing more about the Murle situation. At the end of my talk a Director from the UN stood up and asked me what I would do to stop the fighting. This was a very tough question with no easy answer, but I dared to make a suggestion. I said there needed to be three phases. 1. Rescue – People are suffering and there is immediate need for medicine, food and shelter. These are important, but these just treat the symptoms of war and they do not solve the underlying problem. 2. Roust – Something must be done to stop the violent offenders in this conflict. The Murle people as a whole are suffering, but it is the young warriors who keep the fighting going. On the other side of the conflict it is the bad characters in the army that mistreat the Murle people. The fighters on both sides must be stopped, arrested and punished. 3. Rehabilitation – With the fighting stopped there will be opportunity for the various NGOs to come into the area and offer vital services to the Murle people. They need to find something to live for something other than fighting and cattle raiding. They need clinics, schools, churches, technical training, jobs, and trade. For too long the Murle have been largely ignored under the new government and this has led to their feelings of helplessness and frustration.