Table Of ContentThe Politics of Fear in South Sudan
About the author
Daniel Akech Thiong was born in 1980 in Sudan and started formal schooling
at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya at the age of 19. The rudimentary
knowledge of mathematics and English he gained allowed him to continue
his studies and, within two years, he ranked among the top ten students in his
eighth-grade class. After emigrating to the United States as one of the Lost Boys
of Sudan in 2001, he continued to learn, passing his high school equivalency
exam within three months of arrival and later obtaining a BA in theology and
a BA in mathematics from the University of San Diego in California in 2007.
He went on to obtain an MA in mathematics at the University of Colorado
at Boulder in 2010. He has worked for a year as a full-time maths instructor
at Pennsylvania State University and is currently a PhD candidate at the
Institute of Mathematical Sciences at Claremont Graduate University with a
research focus on matrix analysis and functional analysis. He is an adjunct
maths instructor at the University of La Verne. He has applied the same
methodological acumen required to solve math problems to understanding
current affairs in South Sudan and has become a proficient writer on the
topic. His analytical insights have been recognized by multiple economic,
political and natural resource think tanks, and he published articles in top-
ranked African journals, including the Oxford Journal of African Affairs. He is
currently working as an independent consultant doing analysis on the political
economy of public authority as it relates to violence in South Sudan.
Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa
Published by one of the world’s leading publishers on African issues, ‘Politics
and Development in Contemporary Africa’ seeks to provide accessible but
in-depth analysis of key contemporary issues affecting countries within the
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The principal aim of the International African Institute is to promote
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www.internationalafricaninstitute.org
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Series Editors: Jon Schubert (Brunel University) and Elliot Green (London
School of Economics and Political Science)
Editorial board
Rita Abrahamsen (University of Ottawa); Morten Boas (Norwegian Institute
of International Affairs); David Booth (Overseas Development Institute);
Padraig Carmody (Trinity College Dublin); Neil Carrier (University of Bristol);
Fantu Cheru (Leiden University); Kevin Dunn (Hobart and William Smith
Colleges); Amanda Hammar (University of Copenhagen); Alcinda Honwana
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Lynch (University of Warwick); Zachariah Mampilly (Vassar College);
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Town); Mareike Schomerus (Overseas Development Institute); Laura Seay
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(Uppsala University); Alex de Waal (Tufts University)
Already published:
Mobility between Africa, Asia and Latin America: Economic Networks and
Cultural Interactions, edited by Ute Röschenthaler and Alessandro Jedlowski
Agricultural Reform in Rwanda: Authoritarianism, Markets and Spaces of
Governance, Chris Huggins
Liberia’s Female Veterans: War, Roles and Reintegration, Leena Vastapuu and
Emmi Nieminen
Food Aid in Sudan: A History of Power, Politics and Profit, Susanne Jaspars
Kakuma Refugee Camp: Humanitarian Urbanism in Kenya’s Accidental City,
Bram J. Jansen
Development Planning in South Africa: Provincial Policy and State Power in
the Eastern Cape, John Reynolds
Uganda: The Dynamics of Neoliberal Transformation, Jörg Wiegratz,
Giuliano Martiniello and Elisa Greco
AIDS in the Shadow of Biomedicine: Inside South Africa’s Epidemic,
Isak Niehaus
Negotiating Public Services in the Congo: State, Society and Governance, Tom
De Herdt and Kristof Titeca
BRICS and Resistance in Africa: Contention, Assimilation and Co-optation,
edited by Justin van der Merwe, Patrick Bond and Nicole Dodd
Ironies of Solidarity: Insurance and Financialization of Kinship in South
Africa, Erik Bähre
Africa’s Shadow Rise: China and the Mirage of African Economic
Development, Pádraig Carmody, Peter Kragelund and Ricardo Reboredo
Malawi: Economy, Society and Political Affairs, edited by Matthias Rompel
and Reimer Gronemeyer
Entrepreneurs and SMEs in Rwanda Conspicuous by Their Absence,
David Poole
Forthcoming titles:
Youth on the Move: Views from Below on Ethiopian International Migration,
Fana Gebresenbet and Asnake Kefale
The Politics of Fear in South Sudan: Generating Chaos, Creating Conflict,
Daniel Akech Thiong
Decolonizing Civil Society in Mozambique, Tanja Kleibl
War, Women and Post-Conflict Empowerment: Lessons from Sierra Leone,
Josephine Beoku-Betts and Fredline M’Cormack-Hale
Angola’s Securitized State: Reframing Hegemonic Power and National
Identity, Paula Roque
Economic Diversification in Nigeria: Fractious Politics and an Economy
Beyond, Zainab Usman
The Politics of Fear in South Sudan
Generating Chaos, Creating Conflict
Daniel Akech Thiong
Zed Books
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
29 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, Ireland
First published in Great Britain 2021
Copyright © Daniel Akech Thiong, 2021
Daniel Akech Thiong has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. xix constitute an extension
of this copyright page.
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Cover image © Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images
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Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any
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book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any
inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can
accept no responsibility for any such changes.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN: HB: 978-1-7869-9678-7
ePDF: 978-1-7869-9680-0
eBook: 978-1-7869-9681-7
Series: Politics and Development in Contemporary Africa
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To the late Commander William Nyuon Bany, a dedicated freedom
fighter who shot one of the first bullets in Ayod in June 1983 and led to our
independence, it is a blessing that you were the father to Nyadol and now a
grandfather to my two angels: Angeth and Thiong, who are the silent thrust of
my journey.
viii
Contents
Preface xi
Organization of the book xvii
Acknowledgements xix
1 The role of historical legacy in South Sudan’s conflict dynamics 1
The origin of the SPLM/A 3
How the SPLM/A actually operated 8
John Garang: Positive attributes of the man and his ideas 17
2 Integrating existing approaches 21
Security dilemma model 21
Greed, neopatrimonialism and identity 23
3 Internal dynamics of South Sudan’s ruling elite 35
Salva Kiir and Riek Machar: Fighting each other through
targeting each other’s fans 36
Competition within the SPLA 42
Competition within the SPLM 50
4 Governing through fearful means 67
A rule by decree 68
Unleashing hunger to make examples of dissenters 69
Humiliating ex-rivals 71
Divide and conquer as a coercive tool of managing groups 73
Arrests 77
Unknown gunmen 79
5 Fear of domination triggered by corruption 85
Linking fear of domination to corruption 86
Starting on a wrong footing 90
Different markets of corruption 93
Anti-corruption measures as weapons of fear 102
Conclusion 105
